-4 



A 



HISTORY OF GERMANY; 

FROM THE 

EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME 



BY FREDERICK KOHLRAUSCH, 

CHIEF COUNSELLOR OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HANOVER, 
AND LATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST GERMAN EDITION, 

BY JAMES D. HAAS. 



WITH A COMPLETE INDEX, 

PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



NEW YORK : 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA : 
GEO. S. APPLETON, 148 CHESNUT STREET. 



M DCCC XLVII. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



The high merits and distinguished character of the original German work 
by Professor Kohlrausch, of which this is a translation, have long been 
acknowledged. A work which during a period of thirty years has enjoyed 
so much popularity as to have gone through several editions, embracing a 
circulation of many thousands of copies ; a production which has extended 
and established its good repute, even in its original form, far beyond its native 
clime, to England, France, Belgium, Italy, America, &c, (in several of which 
countries it has been reprinted in German,) and has thus become a standard 
book of reference in almost all the universities and principal public, as well 
as private educational institutions — such a publication possesses ample testimony 
proving it able to create a lasting interest, and confirming its claims to con- 
sideration and esteem. 

The aim of the distinguished author in this valuable history is thus simply 
but distinctly expressed by himself : " My sole object," he says, " has been 
to produce a succinct and connected development of the vivid and eventful 
course of our country's history, written in a style calculated to excite the 
interest and sympathy of my readers, and of such especially who, not seeking 
to enter upon a very profound study of the sources and more elaborate works 
connected with the annals of our empire, are nevertheless anxious to have 
presented to them the means of acquiring an accurate knowledge of the records 
of our Fatherland, in such a form as to leave upon the mind and heart an 
enduring, indelible impression." 

That our industrious historian has attained his object, the intelligent reader 
will find in the interest excited, the clear views imparted, and the deep impres- 
sion effected by his animated portrayals of both events and individuals. This 
has been the original and acknowledged characteristic of Herr Kohlrausch's 
work throughout its entire existence ; but in the new edition from which this 
translation has been rendered, he has endeavored to make it as perfect as possi- 
ble, both in matter and style, and besides this has enriched it with many valuable 



4 



PREFACE. 



notes not contained in the former editions ; thus making it in reality a concise, 
yet, in every respect, a complete history of Germany. 

It is important to remark, that Professor Kohlrausch is a Protestant, and one 
distinguished not less for his freedom from prejudice and partiality, than for 
the comprehensiveness of his views and the high tone of his philosophy. The 
general adoption of the work — alike by Protestant and Romanist — is proof 
sufficiently convincing of the impartiality of his statements, and of the * justice 
of his reflections and sentiments. 

JAMES D. HAAS. 

London, 1844. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

ANCIENT GERMANY AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

PAGE 

The Sources of the most ancient German His- 
tory — The Nature of the Country — The 
Natives — The Germanic Races — Manners 
and Customs — Civil Institutions — War — 
Regulations and Arms — Religion — Arts 
and Manufactures — The Germanic Tribes 15 



THE MORE ANCIENT GERMAN HISTORY. 
FIRST PERIOD. 

PROM THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES TO THE CONQUESTS 
OF THE FRANKS UNDER CLOVIS, 486 A. D. 



CHAPTER I. 

B. C 113 6 A. D. 

The Cimbri and Teutoni, 113—101 b. c .— 
Caesar and Ariovistus, 58 b. c. — Julius 
Caesar on the Rhine — Commencement of 
the Great German Wars — Drusus in Ger- 
many — Marbodius, King of the Marco- 
manni 43 



CHAPTER II. 
7—374. 

Arminius or Hermann — Arminius and Varus 
— Arminius and Germanicus — The Death 
of Arminius, 21 a. d. — Further Wars be- 
tween the Germans and Romans — War 
with the Marcomanni, 167-180— The Ger- 
manic Confederations — The Alemanni — 
The Franks — The Saxon Confederation — 
The Goths — The Decline of the Roman 
Empire 54 

CHAPTER III. 
375_476. 

The Hunns — Commencement of the Great 
Migration, 375 — Irruption of the Western 
Goths, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, and 
other Tribes into the Western Roman Em- 
pire — Alaric — Attila, God's Scourge, 451 
— The Fall of the Roman Empire in the 
West, 476 68 



SECOND PERIOD. 

FROM THE CONQUESTS OF CLOVIS TO CHARLEMAGNE, 

486—768. 
CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

Clovis, King of the Franks, 482-511— Theo- 
doric, surnamed Dieterich of Berne, 488- 
526 — The Longobardi in Italy, 568 — 
Changes in the Customs and Institu- 
tions of the Germans — The Language — 
Constitution — Feudal System — Laws — 
Pastimes — Christianity in Germany — The 
Grand Chamberlains — Chas. Martel against 
the Arabs, 732— Pepin the Little— The 
Carlovingians 77 



THIRD PERIOD. 

THE CARLOVINGIANS FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO 
HENRY I., 768—919. 

CHAPTER V. 
768—814. 

Charlemagne, 768-814— The State in which 
Charlemagne found the Empire — The East- 
Roman, or Grecian Empire — England — 
The North of Europe— The Spanish Pe- 
ninsula — Italy — Austria and Hungary — 
Germany — The Wars of Charlemagne — 
The Saxons — The Longobardi — The Arabs 
— The Bavarians — The Empire of Charle- 
magne — Charlemagne, Emperor of Rome, 
800— Death of Charlemagne, 814— His 
Portraiture 89 



CHAPTER VI. 
814—918. 

Louis the Pious, 814-840 — Division of the 
Empire among his Sons, Louis, Lothaire, 
and Charles the Bald, 843— The German 
Sovereigns of the Race of the Carlovingians, 
843-911 — Louis, or Ludwig, the German 
— Charles the Fat — Arnulf — Louis the 
Child — The later and concluding Period of 
the Carlovingians — Conrad I., of Franconia, 
911-918 106 



6 



CONTENTS. 



FOURTH PERIOD. 

FROM HENRY I. TO RUDOLPHUS OF HAPSBURG, 919— 

1273. 

CHAPTER VII. 
919—1024. 

PAGE 

Henry I., 919-936— His Wars— The Hungari- 
ans — The Sclavonians — New Institutions — 
Otho I., 936-973— The Hungarians— Bat- 
tle of the Letchfeld — The Western Empire 
renewed, 962— Greece— Otho II., 973-983 
—Otho III., 983-1003— His Religious De- 
votion — His Partiality for Roman and Gre- 
cian Manners and Customs — Henry II., 
1003-1024— Italy— Pavia— Bamburg— His 
Death, 1024 — End of the Saxon Dynasty 117 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SALIC OR FRANCONIAN HOUSE, 1024-1125, TO 
LOTHAIRE THE SAXON, 1137. 

Assemblage of the Ducal States — The Elec- 
tion—Conrad II., 1024-1039— Re-estab- 
lishes Internal Peace — Italy — Canute, King 
of England and Denmark — Burgundy — 
Ernest, Duke of Swabia — The Faust-Recht 
—Conrad's Death, 1039— Henry III., 1039- 
1056— The Popes— Henry's Zeal for the 
Church— His Death, 1056— Henry IV, 
1056, 1106— His Minority— The Arch- 
bishops — Albert of Bremen — Henry and the 
Saxons — Their Hostility — Henry's Revenge 
— Pope Gregory VII. — His Ambition — The 
Right of Investiture — Rupture with the 
Emperor — Henry Excommunicated — The 
Emperor a Fugitive — The Rival Emperors 
and Popes — Rudolphus of Swabia and Pope 
Clement III.— Henry's Death, 1106— Hen- 
ry V, 1106-1125— Rome— Pope Pascal II. 
— The Investiture Contest — Sanguinary 
Battle — Henry Crowned Emperor — His 
Death, 1125— The First Crusade, 1096- 
1099— Lothaire the Saxon, 1125-1137 . . 137 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SWABIAN OR HOHENSTAUFEN HOUSE, 1138-1254. 

1138—1190. 

Conrad III., 1138-1152— The Guelphs and 
Ghibelines — Weinsberg — The Faithful 
Wives — Conrad's Crusade — Disastrous Re- 
sults—His Death, 1152— Frederick I., or 
Barbarossa, 1152-1190— His Noble Cha- 
racter and Distinguished Qualities — Ex- 
tends his Dominions — The Cities of Lom- 
bardy and Milan — Pavia — Pope Adrian IV 
— The Emperor's Homage — Otho of Wit- 
telsbach — Dispute between the Pope and 
the Emperor — Milan taken and razed — 
The Confederation of the Lombardian 
Towns — The Battle of Lignano — Frederick 
Defeated — Pope Alexander and Frederick 
— Venice — Henry the Lion, of Brunswick 
— His Rise and Fall — Reconciliation and 
Peace — Lombardy — Frederick's Crusade 
and Death in Palestine, 1190 158 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM 1190 TO THE INTERREGNUM, 1273. 

PAGE 

Henry VI., 1190-1197— His Mercenary and 
Cruel Character — Richard I. of England — 
Is Seized and Imprisoned by Henry — Na- 
ples and Sicily — The Grandees — Their 
Barbarous Treatment by the Emperor — 
His Death, 1197— The Rival Sovereigns- 
Philip of Swabia, 1197-1208, and Otho IV, 
1197-1215— Their Death— Frederick II., 
1215-1250— His Noble Qualities— Love for 
the Arts and Sciences— His Sarcastic Poetry 
— Preference for Italy — Disputes with the 
Popes — Is Excommunicated — His Crusade 
to the Holy Land — Crowned King of Jeru- 
salem — Marries a Princess of England — 
Italy — Pope Gregory IX. — Frederick De- 
nounced and Deposed — Dissensions in Ger- 
many — The Rival Kings — Death of Fred- 
erick II., 1250 — His Extraordinary Genius 
and Talents — His Zeal for Science and 
Education — A Glance at the East and 
North-Eastern parts of Germany — Progress 
in Civilization — William of Holland, 1247- 
1256 — Conrad IV, 1250-1254 — Then- 
Death— The Interregnum, 1256-1273 — 
Progress of the Germanic Constitution . .170 



CHAPTER XL 

THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Chivalry— The Cities— The Peasantry— The 
Arts and Sciences — The Clergy and Eccle- 
siastical Institutions — The Monasteries and 
Convents — The Faust-Recht — The Ad- 
ministration of Justice — The Vehm-Ge- 
richt, or Secret Tribunal 182 



FIFTH PERIOD. 

FROM RUDOLPHUS I., OF HAPSBURG, TO CHARLES V., 
1273-1520. EMPERORS OF DIFFERENT HOUSES 

CHAPTER XII. 

1273—1347. 

Rudolph I., of Hapsburg, 1273-1291— Adol- 
phus L, of Nassau, 1292-1298— Albert I., 
of Austria, 1298-1308— Switzerland— Con- 
federation of the Swiss — Gessler — William 
Tell— Henry VII., of Luxemburg, 1308- 
1313— Frederick, of Austria, 1314-1330, 
and Lewis, of Bavaria, 1314-1347 — Swit- 
zerland—The Battle of Morgarten, 1315— 
The Battle of Miihldorf, 1322— The First 
Electoral Alliance, 1338 — Death of Lewis, 
1347 205 

CHAPTER XIII. 

EMPERORS OF DIFFERENT HOUSES. 

1347—1437. 

Charles IV, 1347-1378— Wenceslas, 1378- 
1400— Switzerland— The Battle of Sem- 



CONTENTS. 



7 



pach, 1386 — Leopold of Austria — Arnold of 
Winkelried — His Heroism and Self-devo- 
tion — Wenceslas Deposed — Rupert of the 
Palatinate, 1400-1410— Sigismund, 1410- 
1437 — Grand Council of Constance — John 
Huss, and the Hussite Wars — Death of 
Sigismund, 1437 216 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA. 

Albert II., 1438, 1439— His Death— Freder- 
ick III., 1440-1493— The Council of Basle, 
1448— ^neas Sylvius— The Turks— Bel- 
grade — Defeat of the Turks — The Diets — 
The Emperor besieged in Vienna — His 
Resolution — His Brother, Duke Albert — 
The Count Palatine of the Rhine — His 
Hostility — Defeats the Imperialists — Albert 
of Brandenburg, the Achilles of Germany 
— Feuds of the Nobles and Cities — Nurem- 
berg — The Nobles Defeated — Austria and 
Burgundy — Charles the Rash — His Ambi- 
tion — Attacks the Swiss — Defeated at 
Murten— The Battle of Nancy— His Death 
— Mary of Burgundy — Marries Maximilian 
of Austria — Her Death — The Emperor 
Frederick a Fugitive — His Return — Maxi- 
milian, Roman King — The Laws — Their 
Improvement — Frederick's Obstinacy and 
Refusal — Maximilian Appealed to — The 
Swabian League — Death of Frederick III., 
1493— Prussia— The Teutonic Knights— 
Their Decline and Fall — Prussia under 
Polish Sway, 1466 ...... .226 

CHAPTER XV. 

Maximilian I., 1493-1519— His Mental Ac- 
quirements and Chivalric Character — His 
Government — Italy — Charles VIII. and 
Louis XII. of France — Switzerland — The 
Venetian Republic — The League of Cam- 
bray — Maximilian's Honorable and Con- 
sistent Conduct — The Battle of the Spurs 
—Union of Hungary and Bohemia — Inter- 
nal Administration of Affairs — Perpetual 
Peace of the Land — End of the Faust- 
Recht — The Imperial Chamber and Aulic 
Council — Opposition of the States — The 
Emperor triumphant — State of the Coun- 
try — The Nobles, Cities, and Peasantry — 
Gotz von Berlichingen, &c. — Death of the 
Emperor Maximilian, 1519 — Events of his 
Reign, and End of the Middle Ages — Dis- 
covery and Use of Gunpowder — Artillery 
and Fire-Arms — Invention of Printing, 1457 234 

SIXTH PERIOD. 

FROM CHARLES V. TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA, 

1520-1648. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

State of the Empire — Internal Anarchy — 
Charles V. of Spain, and Francis I. of 



France — Frederick the Wise, Elector of 
Saxony — Charles V. elected Emperor of 
Germany — His Character — Jealousy and 
Discontent of the Spaniards — Try to Dis- 
suade Charles from accepting the Imperial 
Crown — New Spain — Discovery of Mexico 
— Arrival of Charles in Germany — His 
Coronation, 1520 — Schism in the Church 
— Causes which produced it — Ignorance of 
the Clergy — Their Vices — Murmurs and 
Discontent of the People — A Reformation 
in the Church universally demanded — 
Scholastic Wisdom — Theology — Enlight- 
enment of Science — John Reuchlin . . . 247 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Outbreak of the Reformation, 1517 — Abuses 
in the Church — Letters of Indulgence — 
Martin Luther, the Reformer — His Expo- 
sure and Condemnation of these Proceed- 
ings — Is summoned to appear in Rome — 
Withheld from going by the Elector of 
Saxony — The Pope's Nuncio, Cardinal 
Cajetan, and Luther at the Diet of Augs- 
burg, 1518 — Refusal of Luther to retract — 
Luther's Appeal to the Pope for a fair Hear- 
ing — Controversial Discussion between Lu- 
ther and Dr. Eck — Luther maintains his 
Ground — The Pope's Bull against Luther 
— The Reformer burns the Bull, with the 
Canon Law and Eck's Writings — Propa- 
gation of the New Doctrine — Luther ad- 
dresses the People — Ulric of Hiitten, and 
Francis of Sickingen — Frederick the Wise 
of Saxony and the Princes in favor of Re- 
form — The Grand Diet at Worms, 1521 — 
Charles V. — The Pope's Legate, Cardinal 
Alexander — Luther's Appearance and Ex- 
amination there — Solemn Refusal to Re- 
tract — The Emperor's Declaration — Lu- 
ther Excommunicated and his Writings 
burnt — Conveyed by the Elector of Sax- 
ony for Safety to the Castle of Wartburg — 
His Translation of the New Testament — 
Tumults and Revolutions of the Peasantry 
— Miinzer the Fanatic — Battle of Franken- 
hausen — Miinzer's Death — Tranquillity re- 
stored 25? 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Foreign Relations of Charles V. — Francis I. 
of France — War between these two rival 
Monarchs — Italy — Milan — The Duke of 
Bourbon — The Chevalier Bayard — The 
Battle of Pavia, 1525 — Defeat of the French 
—Francis I. taken Prisoner — Madrid — The 
King of France liberated — His Dishonor- 
able Breach of Stipulation — The Imperial- 
ists in Rome — The Pope a Prisoner — His 
Ransom — War with France resumed — 
Andrew Doria — Peace of Cambray, 1529 
— Charles V. crowned Emperor and King 
of Lombardy in Bologna — His Generosity 
— Return to Germany — First League of the 
Protestant Princes, 1526 — The Augsburg 
Confession. 1530— Melanchthon— His Cha- 



8 



CONTENTS. 



racter of Charles V. — John, Elector of 
Saxony — His Determination — The Impe- 
rial Council — The Emperor's Declaration 
-Reply of the Protestant Princes — Ferdi- 
nand, King of Rome, 1531 — Religious 
Peace — The Turks in Hungary — Their De- 
feat — Ulric, Duke of Wurtemberg — Re- 
stored to his Possessions by Philip of Hesse 
— Insurrection of the Anabaptists — Their 
Defeat — The Emperor in Africa — Tunis — 
His Triumph and Liberation of 22,000 
Christian Slaves — Francis I. attacks Italy 
— Charles V. enters France — Suspension of 
Arms — Interview between the two Mo- 
narchs at Aigues-Mortes — Revolt in Ghent 
— Progress of Charles V. through France 
and Ghent — Hospitality received — Peace 
restored in Ghent — The Diet at Ratisbon, 
1541 — Charles V. in Algiers — Disastrous 
Expedition — His Fortitude — Return to 
Italy— Francis I, resumes Hostilities — His 
Ill-success — Charles V. on the Rhine — At- 
tacks the Duke of Cleves — Overcomes and 
pardons him — Marches into France — Ad- 
vance upon Paris — The Peace of Crepi, 
1544 263 

CHAPTER XIX. 

State of Religious Affairs in Germany, from 
1534 to 1546 — Vain Attempts at Recon- 
ciliation — Rapid Propagation of the New 
Doctrine — Henry, Duke of Brunswick — 
Death of Martin Luther, 1546— Charles V. 
and the Pope — Their Alliance — Prepara- 
tions for War — The League of Schmal- 
kald — The Elector of Saxony and the Land- 
grave of Hesse — Their Characters contrast- 
ed — Maurice, Duke of Saxony — His extra- 
ordinary Genius — His Adherence to the 
Emperor — The Pope's Bull — The Holy 
War— The Schmalkaldian Army, 1546- 
1547 — General Schartlin — Division among 
the Protestant Leaders — Inglorious Results 
— The Imperial Camp besieged — Charles 
triumphant — Duke Maurice and the Elector 
of Saxony — Treachery of Duke Maurice — 
The Emperor in Upper Germany — Con- 
quers the Imperial Free Cities — Saxony — 
The Battle of Miihlberg— The Saxons de- 
feated — The Elector taken Prisoner — De- 
posed and condemned to Death — The Game 
of Chess — The Elector's Firmness and Re- 
signation — His Life spared — Duke Maurice 
made Elector of Saxony — Wittenberg — 
Charles V. and Philip of Hesse — The Land- 
grave's Submission and Humiliation — De- 
tained a Prisoner, and his Lands seized by 
the Emperor — The Elector Maurice — His 
Mortification and Projects against the Em- 
peror — The Spanish Troops in Germany — 
Their Insolence and Oppression .... 276 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Council of Trent — Rupture between the 
Emperor and the Pope — The Interim or 
Temporary Code of Doctrines — Its Con- 
demnation by both Parties — The Captive 



Elector of Saxony — Refuses to adhere to 
the Interim — His Declaration — Shameful 
Treatment in consequence — The Elector 
Maurice — Magdeburg — Maurice marches 
against that City — The Emperor and Mau- 
rice — Maurice deserts the Emperor, and 
with Albert of Brandenburg joins the Pro- 
testants — Their Declaration against the 
Emperor — His Reply — Albert's Depreda- 
tions — Maurice's Separation from him — 
Charles V. at Inspruck — Pursued by Mau- 
rice — The Emperor a Fugitive in the Moun- 
tains of the Tyrol — His Desolate and For- 
lorn Condition — His Return to Augsburg — 
Release of the Elector John Frederick — His 
Welcome Home — Jena — Treaty of Passau 
— Liberation of Philip of Hesse — Charles V. 
in France — Metz — Unsuccessful Campaign 
— Albert of Brandenburg — Defeated at Lu- 
neberg by Maurice — Death of Maurice and 
Albert — Religious Peace of Augsburg — Fi- 
nal Separation of the Two Religious Par- 
ties — Abdication of Charles V. — Retreat to 
a Hermit's Cell — Rehearsal of his Funeral 
Procession— His Death, 1558 292 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Ferdinand I., 1556-1564 — His Industrious 
Habits — Moderation and Tolerance — The 
Calvinists and Lutherans — Their Hostility 
towards each other — Ferdinand and Pro- 
testantism — The Foundation of the Order 
of Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, 1540 — Its 
rapid and universal Dissemination — The 
Council of Trent — Ferdinand's Ambassa- 
dors — Their Propositions refused — Their 
Letter to the Emperor — Death of Ferdinand 
I., 1564— Maximilian II., 1564-1576— His 
Qualifications and Good Character — Bohe- 
mia — Poland — State of Tranquillity — Wil- 
liam of Grumbach in Franconia — His Re- 
volt and Excommunication — Gotha — The 
Young Prince of Saxony — Joins Grumbach 
— His perpetual Captivity and Death in 
Styria — Grumbach's Execution — The mer- 
cenary Troops — Evils they produce — Ger- 
man Soldiers in Foreign Service — Death of 
Maximilian II., 1576— Rudolphus II., 1576- 
1612 — His Indolence and Irresolution — 
Bad Counsellors — Religious Excitement 
renewed — The Netherlands — The Duke of 
Alba — The Elector Gebhard of Cologne 
and Agnes of Mansfeld, Canoness of Ger- 
resheim — Gebhard Excommunicated — 
John Casimir, the Count Palatine — Calvin- 
ism — Donauwerth — Austria — Rudolphus 
against the Protestants — Deprives them of 
their Churches — Hungary — Revolt of Ste- 
phen Botschkai — The Emperor an Astrolo- 
gist and Alchymist — Neglects his Govern- 
ment more and more — Tycho Brahe and 
Keppler — Rudolphus resigns Hungary to 
his Brother Matthias — Bohemia — The Let- 
ter of Majesty — The Palatinate —The 
Evangelical Union — Juliers — Henry IV. of 
France joins the Union — The Catholic 
League — Prague — Revolt — The Emperor 
a Prisoner— His Death, 1612 302 



CONTENTS. 



9 



CHAPTER XXII. 

] 

Matthias I., 1612-1619— His Coronation- 
Its Pomp and Splendor deceptive — The 
Protestants — Increase of general Discon- 
tent — Austria — Aix-la-Chapelle — Cologne 
— The Prince Palatine Wolfgang William, 
and the Elector of Brandenburg — Their 
Quarrel — Box on the Ear — Baneful Conse- 
quences — Foreign Allies — The Young 
Archduke Ferdinand — Elected King of Bo- 
hemia — His Character — His Devotion to 
Catholicism and Hatred of the Protestants 
— Banishes the New Faith from his Lands 
— The Electoral Princes — Ferdinand warn- 
ed against his Proceedings by the Elector 
of Saxony — Bohemia — The Letter of Ma- 
jesty shamefully infringed — The Protestant 
Churches destroyed— Indignation and Re- 
volt of the Protestants — Their Defender, 
Count Matthias, of Thurn — Counts Marti- 
nitz and Slavata — Their Hostility to the 
Protestants— Prague — The Council Hall — 
Martinitz and Slavata thrown out of the 
Window — General Revolution — The Em- 
peror's Alarm and Desire for Peace — Fer- 
dinand's Declaration in reply — Commence- 
ment of the Thirty Years' War — Count Er- 
nest of Mansfeld, Leader of the Protestants 
— His great Military Genius and heroic 
Character— Death of Matthias L, 1619 — 
Ferdinand II., 1619-1637— Count Thurn 
and the Bohemians in Vienna — Surround 
the Emperor in his Palace — Ferdinand un- 
expectedly rescued — The Bohemians De- 
pose him — The Elector Palatine, Frederick 
V., Son-in-Law of James I. of England, 
King of Bohemia, 1619 — His Irresolution 
and Pusillanimity — Ferdinand and Maxi- 
milian of Bavaria — Their Alliance — Supe- 
riority of the Imperialists over the Bohe- 
mians — Battle of Weissenberg, near Prague, 
1620 — The Bohemians dp^ated and their 
King put to Flight — riis Abdication — 
Prague capitulates — Bohemia severely pun- 
ished by Ferdinand — Thirty thousand Fam- 
ilies banished the Country 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Military Expeditions in Germany, 1621-1624 
— Generals Mansfeld and Tilly — Successes 
of Mansfeld — Joined by the Margrave of 
Baden — Durlach and Christian — Duke of 
Brunswick— Tilly— The Palatinate— The 
Heidelberg Library — Ferdinand resolves to 
continue the War — The Duke of Bavaria 
made Elector Palatine— Tilly defeats the 
Duke of Brunswick in Miinster — War with 
Denmark, 1624-1629 — The Protestant 
Forces under Christian IV. of Denmark — 
The Duke of Brunswick and Mansfeld — 
The Emperor without a Leader — Count 
Wallenstein — His extraordinary Character 
— Ambition — Astrological Studies — Faith 
in Destiny — His Bravery — Weissenberg — 
Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland — His state- 
ly Palace and regal Style of Living — Raises 
an Imperial Army — His Appearance — 



PAGE 

Pursues Mansfeld — Death of Mansfeld, 
1626 — Death of the Duke of Brunswick — 
Christian IV. of Denmark — His Flight — 
Dukes Adolphus and John of Mecklenburg 
i banished — Their Estates seized by Wallen- 
stein — Created Duke of Mecklenburg and 
a Prince of the Empire, 1628 — Pomerania 
— Stralsund — Besieged by Wallenstein— 
Its brave Resistance — Forces Wallenstein 
to retire — Peace between the King of Den- 
mark and the Emperor, 1629 — The Edict 
of Restitution, 1639— Its Effect— Augsburg 
— The Catholic League — Tyranny and 
Cruelty of Wallenstein and his Army — 
Complaints of the Catholics and Protestants 
against Wallenstein to the Emperor — The 
Princes and the Nation insist upon his Dis- 
missal — His Resignation 320 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in Ger- 
many, 1630-1632— His Character — Mo- - 
tives and Plans in favor of Protestantism — 
Stralsund — Gustavus declares War against 

I Ferdinand — Lands with his Army in Pome- 
rania — Stettin — The Protestant Princes 
hesitate to join Gustavus — Ciistrin and 
Spandau — The Elector of Brandenburg — 
The Elector of Saxony — Siege of Magde- 
burg — Count Tilly — Conquers and burns 
the City — Dreadful Massacre — Gustavus 
and Tilly — Battle of Leipsic — Defeat of the 
Imperialists — Glorious Results to Gustavus 
— Surrender of the Cities — Ingolstadt — Til- 
ly wounded — His Death — Munich — Prague 

i — Ferdinand and Wallenstein — Regal 
splendor of Wallenstein — His Palace — Re- 
assembles an Army for the Emperor — Ex- 
travagant Conditions — Appointed General- 
issimo — The Camp of Nuremberg — The 
Swedish and Imperial Armies — Gustavus 
in Saxony — Battle of Liitzen, 1632 — Gus- 
tavus killed — His Death revenged by the 

j Swedes— Total Defeat of Wallenstein— 
Portraiture of Gustavus Adolphus . . . 327 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Continuation of the War, 1632-1635— Chan- 
cellor Oxenstiern — Wallenstein's Inaction 
— Court Martial over his officers — Military 
Executions — Count of Thurn taken Pris- 
oner and released by W^allenstein — The 
Emperor's Remonstrance and Wallenstein's 
Reply — The Swedes in Bavaria — Wallen. 
| stein withholds Assistance — Prohibits his 
Officers from obeying the Imperial Com- 
mands— Pilsen-Militar}'- Council, and Com- 
pact between Wallenstein and his Officers 
— Counts Terzka, Illo, and Piccolomini — 
The Emperor divests Wallenstein of all 
Command — Italian-Spanish Conspiracy 
against Wallenstein — Piccolomini marches 
against Wallenstein — Wallenstein negoti- 
ates with France and Sweden for his Ser- 
vices — The Crown of Bohemia offered to 
him — Retreats to Eger — The Supper in the 



10 



CONTENTS. 



Citadel— Murder of Counts Terzka, Illo, 
and Kinsky, by Deveroux and Geraldin — 
Assassination of Wallenstein, 1634 — His 
Estates confiscated — Succeeded in Com- 
mand by Ferdinand, King of Rome — The 
Battle of Nordlingen— The Elector of Sax- 
ony — Peace of Prague, 1635 — Dreadful 
Condition of Germany — Cardinal Richelieu 
and Chancellor Oxenstiern — French and 
Swedish Alliance against the Emperor — 
Inglorious Character of the War — Death 
of Ferdinand II., 1637 338 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Ferdinand III., 1637-1657 — Continuation of 
the War — Duke Bernard of Weimar on the 
Rhine — His Death — Cardinal Richelieu — 
The Swedish Generals — Banner — Torsten- 
son — Wrangel — Negotiations for Peace — 
Tedious Progress — French and Swedish 
Claims of Indemnification — Humiliation 
and Dismemberment of the Empire — Terri- 
torial Sovereignty of the Princes — Switzer- 
land — The Netherlands — Final Arrange- 
ment and Conclusion of the Peace of West- 
phalia, 1648 342 

SEVENTH PERIOD. 

FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA IN 1648, TO 
THE PRESENT TIME. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

General Observations — State of the Empire — 
Agriculture — Commerce — The Nobility — 
French Language, Fashions, and Customs 
— Decline of National Feeling in Germany 
— Death of Ferdinand III., 1657 — Leopold 
I., 1658-1705 — The Rhenish League- 
Louis XIV. of France — His ambitious and 
aggrandizing Spirit — Conquers the Nether- 
lands — The Elector Frederick William of 
Brandenburg — Westphalia — The Rhine — 
War between France and Germany — Bat- 
tle of Fehrbellin, 1675 — Successes of the 
Elector of Brandenburg — His energetic 
Character — Extends and improves his Ter- 

i ritories — Berlin — Konigsberg — Generals 
Montecuculli and Turenne — Peace of Nim- 
wegen, 1678 — The four French Chambers 
of Reunion — Treachery and Dishonesty of 
Louis XIV. towards Germany — Claims and 
takes possession of Strasburg and other 
German Towns on the Rhine — Enters 
Strasburg in Triumph, 1681 — Pusillanimity 
and disgraceful Inertness of the Germans 
— The Turks in Hungary — Advance and 
lay siege to Vienna, 1683 — Flight of Leo- 
pold and his Court — Brave Defence of the 
Viennese under Count Riidiger of Stahren- 
berg — Relieved by Duke Charles of Lor- 
raine and Sobieski, King of Poland — Hero- 
ism of Sobieski — Battle of Naussdorf — To- 
tal Overthrow and Flight of the Turks by 
Sobieski — His Letter to his Queen — De- 
scription of the Battle • . 349 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

PAG! 

Fresh War with France, 1688-1697— Alli- 
ance of England, Holland, and Spain, 
against Louis XIV. — The French in Ger- 
many — Dreadful Devastation and unheard- 
of Cruelties committed by Orders of Louis 
XIV. — 'Conflagration and complete De- 
struction of Heidelberg, Worms, and Spires 
— Deplorable Condition of the Inhabitants 
— The Tombs of the Emperors pillaged — 
Peace of Ryswick, 1697 — Compensation 
demanded for Germany — Insolence of the 
French Ambassadors — Elevation of the 
German Princes — The First Elector of 
Hanover — Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 
ascends the Throne of Poland, 1696 — 
Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, places 
the Crown on his own Head as King of 
Prussia, 1701 — War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession, between France and the House of 
Austria, 1701-1714— William III. of Eng- 
land — Louis XIV. proclaims his Grandson, 
Philip of Anjou, King of Spain — Prince 
Eugene — His military Genius and private 
Character — Appointed Commander-in-chief 
of the Imperial Army — His Reply to Louis 
XIV. — Marches into Italy— Defeats the 
French at Carpi and Chiari — England — ■ 
Louis XIV. and the Exiled Stuarts— The 
Duke of Marlborough, General of the Al- 
lied Army — The Elector of Bavaria — The 
Bavarians in the Tyrol — Their Overthrow 
by the Tyrolese — Battle of Hochstadt — 
Blenheim — Triumphant Victory gained by 
the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eu- 
gene, 1704— The Duke of Marlborough 
created a Prince of the Empire — Death of 
Leopold I, 1705 J6C 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Joseph I., 1705-1711— Continuation of the 
War — Riots in Bavaria — The Elector out- 
lawed — Marshal Villeroi — Battles of Ra- 
millies and Turin, 1706— Triumph of Marl- 
borough and Eugene — Complete Over- 
throw of the French — General Capitulation 
— Naples — Soain — Battles of Oudenarde 
and Malplaquet, 1708-1709— Defeat of the 
French under Bourgoyne, Vendome, and 
Villars — Humiliation of Louis XIV. — Eng- 
land — Queen Anne — Marlborough recalled 
and dismissed — Death of Joseph I., 1711 — 
Charles VI., 1711-1740— Peace of Utrecht, 
1713— Peace of Rastadt and Baden, 1714 
—Death of Louis XIV., 1715— The House 
of Austria in its Relations with the Ger- 
manic Empire — Peaceful Reign of Charles 
VI.— His Death, 1740— Maria Theresa of 
Austria — Her Title to the Imperial Throne 
disputed by Charles Albert of Bavaria — 
Frederick II. of Prussia — His extraordinary 
Genius and energetic Character — His Army 
— Invades Austria — The First Silesian 
War, 1 740-1 742 — Glogau — Sanguinary 
Battle of Molwitz — Defeat of the Austrians 
— Alliance of France, Spain, Bavaria, and 
Saxony, against Austria in support of 



CONTENTS. 



11 



Charles Albert — Hanover — George II. of 
England — Charles Albert, King of Poland 
— Election of Emperor in Frankfort . . 368 

CHAPTER XXX. 

CharlesVII., Emperor of Germany, 1742-1745 
— Maria Theresa in Hungary — Her Appeal 
to the Nobles — Their Devotion to her Cause 
— March into Bavaria — Seize that Country 
and banish its Elector — Charles VII. a Fu- 
gitive — Battle of Czaslau, between the Aus- 
trians and Prussians, 1742 — Treaty of Peace 
between Maria Theresa and Frederick II. 
— Continuation of the Austrian Succession 
War, 1742-1744— The French in Prague 
under Marshal Belle-Isle — Prague besieged 
by the Austrians — Abandoned by the 
French — Charles VII. in Bavaria — Again 
a Fugitive — George II. of England in Ger- 
many — Battle of Dettingen, 1743 — Defeat 
of the French — Alliance of Saxony and 
Austria— Second Silesian War, 1744-1745 
— Ill-success of Frederick — Death of 
Charles VII., 1745— Silesia— Battle of Ho- 
henfriedberg — Frederick victorious — Battle 
of Sorr — The Princes of Brunswick — Fred- 
erick triumphant — Battle of Kesseldorf — 
Frederick conquers and enters Dresden — 
Peace of Dresden and End of the Second 
Silesian War — Francis I. elected Emperor, 
1745-1765 — Austria and France — Peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748— Brief Interval of 
Repose, 1748-1756— State of Affairs— Alli- 
ance of England and Prussia, 1756 — Alli- 
ance between France and Austria, 1756 — 
Saxony — Russia — Sweden — Combination 
of Powers against Prussia — The Seven 
Years' War, 1756-1763 — Frederick in 
Saxony — Battle of Losowitz, 1756 — Fred- 
erick victorious — The Saxons lay down 
their Arms — Frederick Conqueror of Sax- 
ony — Immense J^rmies opposed to Fred- 
erick — His Presence of Mind — Desperate 
Battle of Prague — Charles of Lorraine — 
Death of the Prussian General Schwerin 
and the Austrian General Brown — Freder- 
ick victorious — Battle of Kollin — General 
Daun — Frederick's grand Manoeuvre — 
Generals Ziethen and Hulsen — Frederick 
and Prince Maurice of Dessau — Defeat of 
Frederick — Shameful Conduct of the Duke 
of Cumberland — Convention of Closter- 
Seven between him and the French — Bat- 
tle between the Russians and Prussians at 
Grossj'agersdorf — Defeat of the Prussians — 
Withdrawal of the Russians — The Empress 
Elizabeth of Russia — The Grand Chancel- 
lor Bestuschef — Retreat of the Swedes . 378 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Continuation of the Seven Years' War, 1757- 
1760— Battle of Rossbach, 1757— Total 
Defeat of the French — General Seidlitz 
and the Prussian Cavalry — Reverses of 
Frederick — Silesia — Battle of Leuthen, 
1757 — Frederick's Appeal to his Officers 



and Army — Their Enthusiasm — Complete 
Overthrow of the Austrians — Glorious Re- 
sults to Frederick — His Proposals of Peace 
rejected by Maria Theresa — France — Rus- 
sia — England's Enthusiasm for Frederick 
— William Pitt — England supports Freder- 
ick — Treaty of Closter-Seven disavowed — 
Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick General-in- 
Chief of the Allied Army — Defeats and 
drives away the French from Germany — 
Frederick in Silesia — Schweidnitz — Fred- 
erick's rapid March into Moravia — Olmiitz 
— Bohemia — Pomerania — Battle between 
the Russians and Prussians at Zorndorf, 
1758 — Dreadful Slaughter and Defeat of 
the Russians — The Prussians attacked and 
defeated by the Austrians at Hochkirch, 
1758— Frederick's Presence of Mind— The 
Prussian Army — The Imperial Diet — The 
Prince of Mecklenburg — The Imperial Ban 
against Frederick proposed — Negatived — 
The Allied and French Armies — Battle of 
Bergen, 1759 — Partial Success of the 
French — Battle of Minden — Shameful 
Conduct of the English General, Sackville 
—Defeat of the French— Battle of Kay 
and Kiinersdorf, 1759— Total Defeat of the 
Prussians — Frederick's Misfortunes — His 
Despair — Prince Henry of Prussia — Con- 
tinued Reverses of Frederick — Battle of 
Liegnitz, 1760 — The Prussians defeat the 
Austrians — Beneficial Results to Frederick 
—Battle of Torgau, 1760— Total Defeat of 
the Austrians — Frederick in Leipsic . . 390 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Conclusion of the Seven Years' War, 1761- 

1762 — The Austrian and Russian Armies 
— The Camp of Bunzelwitz — Frederick's 
difficult position — Jealousy between Gen- 
erals Butterlin and Laudon — Schweidnitz, 
Glatz, and Colberg — Saxony — Berlin 
threatened by the Russians — The Prussians 
rise en masse to expel them — Death of 
Elizabeth of Russia — Peter III. — Peace 
and Alliance between Russia and Prussia 
— Sweden — Battle of Reichenbach — Fred- 
erick victorious — Schweidnitz — Final Bat- 
tle and Defeat of the Austrians at Freiberg 
— Peace between France and England, 

1763 — Peace between Prussia and Austria 
at Hubertsburg, 1763 — Observations — The 
Age of Frederick the Great — His Army — 
Exerts himself to repair the Calamities of 
his Country — His indefatigable Industry — 
His Labors and Recreations — Genius for 
Poetry and Music — His Early Years— His 
Father's Tyranny — Its sad Effects event- 
ually proved — His Predilection for French 
Education and Literature — Voltaire — Hel- 
vetius, &c. — His Anti-German Feelings- 
and Neglect of National Genius — Lessing 
— Klopstock — Goethe — Kant — Fichte — 
Jacobi, &c— Joseph II., 1765-1790— Dis- 
memberment of Poland, 1773 — Prussia and 
Russia — Stanislaus Poniatowski — Bavarian 
War of Succession, 1778 — Death of Maria 



12 



CONTENTS. 



Theresa, 1780 — Innovations and intolerant 
Measures of Joseph II. — Frederick and the 
Allied Princes of Germany against Joseph 
II.— Death of Frederick the Great, 1786 — 
Death of Joseph II., 1790— Leopold II., 
1790-1792 404 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Leopold II. and the State of France — France 
declares War against Austria, the Imperial 
States, Holland, Spain, &c., 1792— Francis 
II. Emperor of Germany, 1792-1806 — 
Prussia — Successes of the Allies — General 
Dumouriez and the Republican Army — 
The Austrians defeated at Jemappes — The 
Netherlands republicanized — Defeat of Du- 
mouriez at Neerwinden, 1793 — Joins the 
Allies — Continued Successes of the Allies 
under the Dukes of York and Coburg — 
Carnot — Generals Pichegru and Jourdan— 
Battles of Tournay and Fleurus — Jourdan's 
Aerial Reconnoitring Messenger, or the 
Adjutant in the Balloon — Defeat of the 
Allies — Successes of the French — Con- 
quests in Flanders, Holland, and the Rhine 
— Kaiserslautern — Peace of Basle, 1795 — 
England and Austria — France — The Aus- 
trian Generals Beaulieu, Wurmser, and 
Archduke Charles — Napoleon Bonaparte, 
1796 — Appointed General in Italy — His 
Army — His Conquests and rich Booty 
jnade in Italy — The French in Germany — 
Archduke Charles — Moreau — His famous 
Retreat — Mantua — Bonaparte in Germany 
— His rapid Marches — Vienna — Peace of 
Campo-Formio, 1797 — Shameful Condi- 
tions — State of Europe — Alliance of Eng- 
land, Russia, Austria, and Turkey — Hos- 
tilities resumed, 1798 — Bonaparte in Egypt 
— Cairo— Aboukir — His Fleet destroyed by 
Nelson — Italy — General Suwaroff — His 
Successes in Italy — Genoa — Switzerland 
— SuwarofPs Passage across the Alps — His 
desperate Appeal to his Soldiers — His 
Recall — The Emperor Paul and England 
— Bonaparte First Consul, 1799 — Genoa — 
Battle of Marengo, 1800 — General Desaix 
— Moreau in Germany — Peace of Lune'- 
ville, 1801 — Sad Results to, and Sacrifices 
made by, Germany — Resignation of Wil- 
liam Pitt — Peace of Amiens, 1802 — Eng- 
land declares War against France, 1803— 
Bonaparte takes Possession of Hanover — 
The German Legion 418 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Napoleon's Consulship — Gains the Nation's 
Confidence — Restores internal Tranquillity 
and improves the Institutions — Napoleon 
Emperor of the French, 1804 — His Usur- 
pations — Alliance of Austria, Russia, and 
England — War declared — Napoleon in 
Germany, 1805 — Defeats the Austrians — 
Ulm — General Mack — Battle of Austerlitz 
— The Allies defeated — Peace of Presburg 



— Dismemberment of the States of Ger- 
many — Naples — Joseph Bonaparte — Hol- 
land — Louis Bonaparte — Rhenish Confed- 
eration, or League of the German Princes 
— Their Degeneration — The Emperor of 
Austria lays down his Title of Emperor of 
Germany, 1806 — Prussia — Declares War 
against France — The Prussian Army — 
Battle of Saalfeld — Death of Prince Lewis 
Ferdinand of Prussia— Battles of Jena and 
Auerstadt — Defeat of the Prussians — Na- 
poleon enters Berlin — The Russian and 
Prussian Alliance — Battles of Eylau and 
Friedland — Defeat of the Allies — Peace of 
Tilsit between Russia and France, 1807 — 
Prussia's Dismemberment — Westphalia — 
Hesse — Jerome Bonaparte — Prussia — 
— Lieutenant Schill — Napoleon's triumph- 
ant Return to Paris .... ... 430 



CHAPTER XXXV 

Austria declares War against France, 1809 — 
Battles of Gross-Aspern and Esslingen — 
Archduke Charles — The Austrians victo- 
rious — Lieutenant Schill killed — Execution 
of Palm, the Bookseller — The Tyrolese — 
Battle of Wagram — Defeat of the Austrians 
— Peace of Vienna — The French in the 
Tyrol — The Mountaineers overpowered — 
Execution of Hofer, the Tyrolese Patriot — 
The Duke of Brunswick — His Territory 
seized — His bold March — Embarks for 
England — His Heroic Death — Napoleon at 
the Height of his Power — Marriage with 
the Archduchess Maria Louisa of Austria, 
1810 — His continued Usurpations in Ger- 
many — His Campaign in Russia, 1812 — 
Conflagration of Moscow — The French 
Army destroyer 1 — "M^ooleon's Flight and 
Return to Paris — me King of Prussia's 
Declaration and general arming of his Na- 
tion against the Invaders, 1813 — Napo- 
leon's Preparations — The French in Ger- 
many 438 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Successes of the Prussians — The Duke of 
Mecklenburg-Strelitz — His Daughter, the 
Queen of Prussia — Erfurt — Russia unites 
with Prussia — Battle of Liitzen — Napoleon 
in Dresden — The King of Saxony — Battle 
of Bautzen — Hamburg taken by Marshal 
Davoust — Heavy Contributions — The Ar- 
mistice—Prussia — The Liitzow Free Corps 
— Theodore Korner — Austria endeavors to 
negotiate a Peace between France and the 
Allies — The Congress at Prague — Napo- 
leon refuses all Concession — The Emperor 
of Austria declares War, and joins Russia 
and Prussia — Dresden — Renewal of Hos- 
tilities — Strength and Position of the Allied 
Force? — Bernadotte — Bliicher — Prince 
Schwartzenberg — Marshal Oudinot — Battle 
of Gross-Beeren — Defeat of the French . 444 



CONTENTS. 



13 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

PAGE 

Glorious Victory of the Prussians under Blii- 
cher at Katzbach — Blucher created Prince 
of Wahlstadt— Battle of Dresden— Defeat 
of the Austrians — Death of General Mo- 
reau — Battle of Kulm — General Kleist 
— Generals Vandamme and Haxo made 
Prisoners — Battle of Dennewitz — Battle of 
Wartenburg — General York — Preparations 
for the Battle of Leipsic — The French 
Army — Honors and Promotions conferred 
by Napoleon — The Allied Forces — Prince 
Schwartzenberg 452 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The Three Days' Battle of Leipsic— Murat 
— The Austrian General Meerveldt taken 
Prisoner — Battle of Mockern — Marshals 
Marmont and Blucher — General Horn — 
Total Defeat of the French— Bonaparte's 
Offers to negotiate rejected — Breitenfeld — 
Bernadotte — Bennigsen — The Prince of 
Hesse-Homburg — Prince Poniatowsky — 
Probstheyda — The Saxon Army deserts 
Bonaparte and joins the Allies — The Allied 
Sovereigns — Night Scene on the Field of 
Battle — Bonaparte's Slumber — Retreat of 
the French — Destruction of the Elster 
Bridge — Prince Poniatowsky's Death — Tri- 
umphant Entry of the Allies into Leipsic 458 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

PAGE 

Napoleon's Retreat across the Rhine — Bava- 
ria — General Wrede — Hanau — The Allied 
Forces invade France — Their rapid March 
— Napoleon against Blucher — Battle of 
Brienne — Battle of Rothiere — Repulse of 
the French — Temporary Successes of Na- 
poleon — The Congress of Chatillon — Na- 
poleon's Confidence restored — His Decla- 
ration — Blucher's bold Movement — Sois- 
sons — Laon — Napoleon against Schwartz- 
enberg — Rheims — Arcis — Napoleon's des- 
perate Courage and final Charge with his 
Cavalry 464 



CHAPTER XL. 

The French and Allied Armies in Battle 
Array — Napoleon's Sudden and Mysterious 
Retreat before Action — His secret Designs 
for the Destruction of the Allies — His Plot 
Discovered — The Allies before Paris — Its 
Capitulation — Triumphant Entry of the 
Allies into that City— Napoleon deposed — 
Louis XVIII. King of Trance — Napoleon 
at Fontainebleau — His Abdication — Ban- 
ishment to Elba — Peace signed at Paris — 
Conclusion 169 



INTRODUCTION. 



ANCIENT GERMANY AND ITS INHABITANTS. 



The Sources of the most ancient German History— The Nature of the Country— The Natives— The Germanic 
Races— Manners and Customs— Civil Institutions— War— Regulations and Arms— Religion— Arts and Manu- 
factures — The Germanic Tribes. 

tors, possibly after they had dwelt for cen- 
L SOURCES OF OUR EARLIEST HISTORY. Qr / yen ft tho £ sand year g 5 in our 

The history of the origin, and of the native country, first came into contact with 
earliest state of the German nation, is in- 1 a nation that already knew and practised 
volved in impenetrable obscurity. No ■ the art of historical writing. This hap- 
records tell us when, and under what cir- 1 pened through the incursion of the Cim- 
cumstances, our ancestors migrated out of j brians and Teutonians into the country of 
Asia, the cradle of the human race, into j the Romans, in the year 113 before the 
our fatherland ; what causes urged them birth of Christ. But this intercourse was 



to seek the regions of the north, or what 
allied branches they left behind them in 
the countries they quitted. A few scat- 
tered and obscure historical traces, as well 
as a resemblance in various customs and 

regulations, but more distinctly the affini- 1 quire very particularly into their 
ties of language, indicate a relationship and history, 
with the Indians, Servians, and the Greeks.* And even the relation of this contest 
This obscurity of our earliest history must I against the German tribes, howsoever im- 
not surprise us ; for every nation, as long portant it was to the Romans, we are 



too transitory, and the strangers were too 
unknown, and too foreign to the Romans, 
for them, who were sufficiently occupied 
with themselves, and besides which, looked 
haughtily upon all that was alien, to in- 

origin 



as it lives in a half savage state, without a 
written language, neglects every record 
of its history beyond mere traditions and 
songs, which pass down from generation 
to generation. But as these, even in their 
very origin, blend fiction with truth, they 
naturally become, in the course of centu- 
ries, so much disfigured, that scarcely the 
least thread of historical fact is to be found 
in them. Not a syllable or sound of even 
those traditions and songs, wherein, accord- 
ing to the testimony of the Romans, our 
ancestors also delighted to celebrate the 
deeds and fate of their people, has, how- 
ever, descended to posterity. 

Our authentic history, consequently, 
commences at the period when our ances- 

* According to more recent researches, it is con- 
cluded that the ancient Sanscrit and Zend languages 
may have formed likewise the basis of the German 
tongue, or at least have approximated more closely 
with the common primitive dialect. 



obliged to seek laboriously from many au- 
thors ; for the source whence we should 
draw most copiously, is precisely here 
dried up, — the books of the Roman author, 
Livy, which treated of this war in detail, 
having been lost, together with many oth- 
ers ; and we only possess — which we may 
even consider as very fortunate — their 
mere table of contents, by means whereof, 
viz., those of the 63-68 books, we can at 
least trace the course of the chief events 
of the war. Beyond this, we derive some 
solitary facts from Roman historians of the 
second and third class, who give but a 
short and partially mutilated account, and 
collectively lived too long after this period 
to be considered as authentic sources. To 
those belong — 1, the " Epit. Rer. Rom." 
of Florus, (according to some, a book of 
the Augustan age, but according to others, 
the work of L. Annseus Florus, who lived 



16 



INTRODUCTION. 



at the commencement of the second cen- 
tury under Adrian ;) 2, the " History of 
the World" of Velleius Paterculus, in a 
brief outline, down to the period of Tibe- 
rius, who lived about the time of the birth 
of Christ ; 3, the " De Stratagematibus" 
of Frontinus (about 159 years after Christ) 
contains some good notices of the Cimbrian 
war ; 4, the " Dicta et Facta Memorabilia" 
of Valerius Maximus, (about 20 years after 
Christ ;) 5, the " History of the World" 
of Justin, (about the year 150 ;) and 6. 
the " Sketch of the Roman History" of 
Eutropius (about the year 375) present us 
with much ; and again, much is supplied 
us, incidentally, by the Roman writers 
who did not directly write history. 

Among those who wrote in Greek, must 
stand : 1, Plutarch, (about 100 years b. c.,) 
in his biography of " Marius," besides 
whom, good details may be gleaned from : 
2, Diodorus Siculus, (about the period of 
the birth of Christ,) in his " Historical 
Library ;" 3, Appian, (about the year 
160,) in his ethnographically-arranged 
" History of the Romans," (particularly 
in the cap. " De Reb. Celt." and " De 
Reb. Illyr. ;") 4. Dio Cassius, (about the 
year 222,) in the fragments which are 
preserved of his " Roman History ;" and 
among those who treat of geography, 
Strabo (about the period of the birth of 
Christ) especially. 

After the Cimbrian era, another half 
century passes before the Romans again 
mention the Germans. It was towards the 
middle of the last century before the birth 
of Christ, when Julius Csesar advanced to 
the frontiers of what may be truly consid- 
ered Germany. He himself mentions 
having fought with Ariovistus in Gaul, and 
afterwards with some German tribes on the 
left bank of the Rhine, and that he twice 
united the banks of this river by means of a 
bridge, and set foot upon the opposite side ; 
besides which, he gives us all the informa- 
tion he could obtain from the Gauls, 
travelling merchants, or German captives, 
relative to the nature and condition of 
Germany and its people. His information 
is invaluable to us, although it is but 
scanty, fragmentary, and, to a certain ex- 
tent, not to be depended upon. For this 
great commander, who strove for absolute 
rule — who used mankind (he cannot be 
freed from the charge) as the means to his 
end — who, from the depth of an alreadv 



corrupted state of civilization, could not 
possibly estimate the simple, natural dig- 
nity of such a nation — and who, lastly, in 
order to be considered worthy of belief in 
every thing he relates, too well understood 
the art of representing events to his own 
advantage — such a writer, we say, cannot 
truly be regarded by us without some de- 
gree of mistrust. 

After him there occurs another interval 
of about fifty years, during which the ob- 
scurity of our history is scarcely illumi- 
nated by a single ray of foreign observa- 
tion, until about the period of the birth of 
Christ, and when, immediately after, the 
Romans again set foot upon, and, for a 
longer period, traversed the German soil. 
They then became tolerably well ac- 
quainted with the southwest and north- 
west of Germany ; or, rather, they might 
have become well acquainted therewith, 
had their prejudiced and selfish minds, 
which were barred against all foreign 
peculiarities, been properly competent to 
it, and had not the difficult extremities 
to which they were reduced in Germany 
too much occupied them, and rendered 
them unjust in their judgment of the coun- 
try and its inhabitants. In order to expose 
themselves to less shame for being several 
times severely cut up by the very force 
of arms borne by those they called barba- 
rians, by whom they were frequently sur- 
passed in prudence and warlike subtlety, 
they necessarily, notwithstanding the de- 
cisive victories of which they boasted, 
when driven from the German soil, exten- 
uated their own misfortunes, and exagger- 
ated those of their opponents, whom they 
accused occasionally of deceit, when pro- 
bably, on the contrary, the most open con- 
duct prevailed, and generally, in fact, 
they heaped upon the Germans and their 
country the most opprobrious charges. 
No impartial man among them, who was 
an eye-witness of their incursions, de- 
scribes to us faithfully the events them- 
selves, and the German nation generally. 
The only historian of the period who might 
have done so, Velleius Paterculus, the ser- 
vant of the Emperor Tiberius, and the 
friend of his favorite, Sejanus, who, in the 
years immediately preceding and succeed- 
ing the birth of Christ, was himself in 
Germany — that is to say, on the banks of 
the Elbe, with the army of the emperor — 
shows himself, in the very scanty notices 



INTRODUCTION. 



17 



he gives, only as a flatterer of his despotic 
lord, whose deeds he elevates to the skies 
in inflated and extravagant language. 

A second Roman writer, who also had 
seen Germany, Pliny the elder, (and who 
died in the year 79 a. d.,) had been upon 
the northern coast of Germany, among the 
Chauci, but certainly did not travel far into 
the land. In his " Hist. Nat.," which is 
an Encyclopaedia of general knowledge, 
he gives us several valuable notices of the 
natural condition of our country, and of 
its tribes and nations. His information 
and judgment, however, must be used with 
precaution, as his critical sagacity is often 
questionable. But we have suffered an 
irreparable loss in his twenty books, which 
treated of all the wars of the Romans with 
the Germans, not the least fragment of 
which has come down to us. He lived so 
near the period, that he might have col- 
lected the information as correctly as it 
was to be obtained. We may, however, 
in some degree console ourselves that 
Tacitus, (about 100 years a. d.,) who cites 
his precursors as testimonies, availed him- 
self of the work of Pliny ; but Tacitus 
only relates the German wars in part, and 
does not treat them as the principal sub- 
ject, while, also, much from him that was 
important is lost to us. His " Annals," 
which relate the Roman history from the 
death of Augustus to the death of Nero, 
commence after the great German battle 
of liberty with Varus ; but of these annals 
all from the seventh to the tenth book is 
also wanting, and the fifth and sixteenth 
books have come down to us only in an 
imperfect state. We, nevertheless, ac- 
knowledge him to be by far the chief and 
most important author as regards our ear- 
lier German history, and revere his ele- 
vated feeling for moral dignity, for truth 
and justice, in what he also relates of the 
contests between the Romans and Germans, 
although, faultlessly on his part, he does 
not always draw his information from a 
pure source. But we value him for the 
treasure he has left us in his description 
of Germany and its people, (" De Situ ac 
Moribus Germ.") His deep feeling for 
simplicity of manners, and healthy energy 
of nature, had made him a warm friend 
towards the German natives ; and it ap- 
peared to him that a faithful description 
of the German nation would be a work 
worthy of his pen, so that, when placed 
3 



before his corrupted countrymen, it should 
present to their view a picture which might 
bring many of those whose minds were as 
yet not quite unsusceptible, to acknowledge 
their own unnatural condition. For this 
purpose he collected all that he could ob- 
tain from the earlier authors, from the oral 
information of the Romans who had been 
in Germany, and from the Germans who 
were in the Roman service. Thus arose 
this invaluable book, which may be called 
a temple of honor to the German nation, 
and which illuminates, like a bright star, 
the commencement of their otherwise ob- 
scure path. Some things, indeed, through 
too great a predilection, may be placed by 
him in too favorable a light ; but, even if 
much be deducted, still sufficient that is 
praiseworthy remains, and that the mate- 
rial portion is true, we may be assured of 
by the incorruptible love of truth of the 
noble Roman, which speaks so triumphant- 
ly in all his works. 

Among the remainder of the less im- 
portant historians who contributed to our 
earliest history, and are already mentioned 
in the notice of the Cimbrian war, Die 
Cassius may be included as important ; for 
the later wars may be named, Suetonius, 
(110 years a. d., esteemed by Trajan and 
Adrian,) in his biography of the twelve 
first Csesars ; the " Scriptores Hist. Au- 
gustas," towards the end of the third cen- 
tury ; iElius Spartianus, Julius Capito- 
linus, and Flavius Vopiscus ; Aurelius 
Victor, (330,) in his biography of the 
Csesars, from Augustus to Constantine ; 
and Paulus Orosius, (417,) in his history. 
Among the geographical writers, besides 
Strabo and Pomponius Mela, (48,) we may 
name in particular Claudius Ptolomseus, 
(140,) who constructed a system of geo- 
graphy upon a lost work of Tyrian Ma- 
rinos, and was particularly careful in the 
determination of longitude and latitude. 

But even when we have brought togeth- 
er all of the best that ancient authors sup- 
ply us with upon Germany, and console 
ourselves over the great chasms they leave, 
with the idea that still something has de- 
scended to us both great and important, we 
must nevertheless consider it but as the tes- 
timony of strangers, — of the people of the 
South, differing essentially from the Ger- 
mans in nature and character, ignorant of 
their language, and, with the exception of 
one instance, indifferent, or rather inimi- 



IS 



INTRODUCTION. 



cally minded, towards them. Not a single 
German word, correcting the judgment of 
the Romans, or elucidating the thread of 
events which the Romans could neither see 
nor understand, resounds to us from yon- 
der period. How much richer, and cer- 
tainly more honorable, would the picture 
develop itself before us, did we also possess 
German records ! 

But it was not untifrmany centuries later, 
after multifarious convulsions had taken 
place, and most of the constituent parts of 
ancient times had disappeared from their 
seat, that isolated and scanty sources of 
history commenced flowing from original 
German testimony, by writers who, driven 
with their countrymen to foreign lands, 
there endeavored to relate their career and 
fate. Their names will be mentioned at 
the commencement of the second period. 

After what is stated above, we must rest 
contented with giving as true a picture as 
possible of ancient German history, derived 
as it is from the Roman and Greek writers, 
and by conclusions drawn from later tes- 
timony upon earlier times, admitting that 
much must necessarily appear obscure, 
fragmentary, and contradictory, and that 
upon many points opinions will forever re- 
main divided. The period to which the 
following description belongs, is about the 
time of the birth of Christ, and the few im- 
mediately succeeding centuries. 

II. THE NATURE AND CONDITION OF THE 
COUNTRY. 

According to the description of the Ro- 
mans, Germany was, at the time they first 
became acquainted with it, a rude and in- 
hospitable land, full of immense forests, 
marshes, and desert tracts. The great Her- 
cynian forest, by Csesar's account, extended 
from the Alps over a space, that in its length 
occupied sixty, and in its width nine days' 
journey ; consequently, all the chief moun- 
tain chains and forests of the present Ger- 
many, must be the remnants of that one stu- 
pendous wooded range. But Csesar, from 
the indefinite information he received, owing 
to his ignorance of the German language, 
applied the general German word, Hart, or 
Harz, for mountain, to the collective moun- 
tain forests of the land, which, however, 
the natives certainly already distinguished 
by different appellations. Later authors, 
viz., Pliny and Tacitus, circumscribe the 
Hercynian forests to those chains of moun- 



tains which, to the south of the Thuringian 
forest, enclose Bohemia, and in the east ex- 
tend to Moravia and Hungary. They also, 
as well as Ptolemy, subsequently, mention 
many individual mountains by peculiar 
names ; for example, Mons Abnoba, the 
Black Forest, (Ptolemy seems to imply by 
this, the mountains between the Maine, the 
Rhine, and the Weser ;) the Melibokos 
mountains, the present Harz ; the Semana 
forest, to the south of the Harz, towards the 
Thuringian forest ; the Sudeta forest, a por- 
tion of the Thuringian forest ; the Gabreia 
forest, the Bohemian forest ; the Askibur- 
gish mountains, according to some the Erz, 
or rather the Riesen-Gebirg ; the Taunus, 
the heights between Wiesbaden and Hom- 
burg ; the Teutsburger forest, the mountain 
and forest tracts which extend from the 
Weser through Paderborn, as far as Osna- 
burg. Caesar mentions besides, the Bacenis 
forest, probably the western portion of the 
Thuringian forest, which extends into Ful 
da, and in the middle ages was called Bo- 
cauna, or Buchonia ; and Tacitus names 
the Silvia Ccesia, between the Ems and the 
Issel. the remains of which may be the Ha- 
ser forest, and the Baumberge, near Coes- 
feld ; and that town itself may probably 
have preserved the name. Many other 
less important or uncertain names we pass 
over. 

The large German forests consisted pro- 
bably, as now, principally of oaks, beeches, 
and pines. The Romans admired, above 
all, the immense oaks, which seemed to 
them coeval with the earth itself. Pliny, 
who had been personally in the north of 
Westphalia, in the country of the Chauci, 
expresses himself thus upon them : " Cre- 
ated with the earth itself, untouched by 
centuries, the monstrous trunks surpass, by 
their powerful vitality, all other wonders of 
nature." 

The Romans were also acquainted with 
the majority of German rivers : Danubius, 
the Danube ; Rhenus, the Rhine ; Moenus, 
the Maine ; A7bis, the Elbe ; Visurgis, the 
Weser ; Viadrus, the Oder ; the Vistula ; 
Nicer, the Necker ; Luppia, the Lippe ; 
Amisia, the Ems ; Adrana, the Eder ; Sa- 
las, (in Strabo alone,) the Saale ; and some 
others. It is remarkable that the Romans 
do not mention the Lahn and the Ruhr, al- 
though they must surely have become ac- 
quainted with them in their campaigns in 
the north of Germany. The German riv- 



INTRODUCTION. 



19 



ers were not at that period made passable 
by means of bridges, which the native did 
not require, as he easily swam across the 
former, and for wider transits he had his 
boats. 

The soil of the land was not cultivated 
as now, although the Romans call portions 
of it extremely fertile, and agriculture and 
pasturage wpre the chief occupations of the 
Germans. Rye, barley, oats, and, accord- 
ing to the opinions of some, wheat also, 
were cultivated ; flax was everywhere dis- 
tributed ; various sorts of carrots and tur- 
nips it certainly produced ; the Romans ad- 
mired radishes of the size of a child's head, 
and mention asparagus, which they, indeed, 
did not praise, and a species of parsley, 
which pleased them much. The superior 
fruits of southern climates which have been 
subsequently transplanted among them, 
might probably not then thrive, although 
Pliny mentions a species of cherry found 
near the Rhine, and Tacitus names among 
the food of the Germans wild-tree fruits, 
(agrestia poma,) which must certainly have 
been better than our crab-apples. 

The pastures were rich and beautiful, 
and the horned cattle as well as the horses, 
although small and inconsiderable, yet of 
a good and durable kind. 

The most important of all condiments, 
salt, the Germans found upon their native 
soil, nor did it refuse them that most use- 
ful of all metals, iron, and they understood 
the art of procuring and manufacturing it ; 
they do not, however, appear to have dug 
for silver. • 

Of the many strengthening mineral 
springs which the country numbers, the 
Romans already mention Spa and Wies- 
baden. 

The climate, in consequence of the im- 
mense forests, whose density was impervi- 
ous to the rays of the sun, and owing to 
the undrained fens and marshes, was cold- 
er, more foggy and inclement than at pres- 
ent, but was nevertheless not quite so bad 
perhaps as represented by the Romans, 
spoiled as they were by the luxurious cli- 
mate of Italy. According to them the 
trees were without leaves for eight months 
in the year, and the large rivers were 
regularly so deeply and firmly frozen that 
they could bear upon them the heavy field- 
equipages of the army. " The Germans," 
says Pliny, "know only three seasons, 
winter, spring, and summer ; of autumn 



they know neither the name nor its fruits." 
The Romans found the country in general 
so ungenial, that they considered it quite 
impossible that any one should quit Italy to 
dwell in Germany. 

But the ancient Germans loved this 
country beyond all, because, as free men, 
they were born in it, and the nature of the 
climate helped them to defend this free- 
dom. The forests and marshes appalled 
the enemy ; the severity of the air as well 
as the chase of wild animals strengthened 
the bodies of the men, and, nourished by a 
simple diet, they grew to so stately a size 
that other nations admired them with aston- 
ishment. 

III. THE NATIVES. 

The Romans justly considered the Ger- 
man nation as an aboriginal, pure, and 
unmixed race of people. They resembled 
themselves alone ; and like the specirically 
similar plants of the field, which springing 
from a pure seed, not raised in the hotbed 
of a garden, but germinating in the healthy, 
free, unsheltered soil, do not differ from 
each other by varieties, so also, among the 
thousands of the simple German race, there 
was but one determined and equal form of 
body. Their chest was wide and strong ; 
their hair yellow, and with young children 
it was of a dazzling white. Their skin 
was also wnite, their eyes blue, and their 
glance bold and piercing. Their powerful, 
gigantic bodies, which the Romans and 
Gauis could not behold without fear, dis- 
played the strength that nature had given 
Co this people, for according to the testi- 
mony of some of the ancient writers their 
usual height was seven feet. 

From their earliest youth upward they 
hardened their bodies by all devisable means. 
New-born infants were dipped in cold water, 
and the cold bath was continued during 
their whole lives as the strengthening ren- 
ovator by both boys and girls, men and 
women. Their dress was a broad short 
mantle fastened by a girdle, or the skins 
of wild animals, the trophies of the suc- 
cessful chase ; in both sexes a great por- 
tion of the body was left uncovered, and 
the winter did not induce them to clothe 
themselves warmer. The children ran 
about almost naked, and effeminate nations, 
who with difficulty reared their children 
during the earliest infancy, wondered how 
those of the Germans, without cradles or 



20 



INTRODUCTION. 



swaddling bands, should grow up to the 
very fullest bloom of health. 

The Romans called our nation, from its 
warlike and valiant mode of thinking, 
Germans ;* a name which the Tung.i,—a. 
body of German warriors, who, at an 
earlier period, crossed the Rhine, and col- 
onized, with arms in hand, among the 
Gauls, — first bore, and subsequently ap- 
plied to all their race, to express thereby 
their warlike manners, and thus to impress 
their enemies with terror. This name 
was willingly adopted, as a name of hon- 
or, by all Germans, and thus it remain- 
ed. 

The aboriginal name of the people is, 
however, without doubt the same which 
they bear to the present day. It springs 
from the word JDiot, (in the Gothic, Thiudu,) 
which signifies Nation. A Teutscher or 
Deutscher, according to the harder or 
softer pronunciation, was, therefore, one 
belonging to the nation, which styled itself 
so prerogatively. 

According to history, it was some cen- 
turies after the decline of the Roman do- 
minion, that the name of the nation of 
Germans was again heard of, and it is 
found in but few records prior to Otto I., 
the earliest of which bears the date of the 
year 813. 

It must not appear remarkable to us, 
that the original collective name of the 
people was little used in the earlier peri- 
ods, and was probably unknown to the 
Romans. In the intercourse with a nation 
composed of so many septs, the names of 
only those septs transpired with whom 
that communication took place, because 
each held itself to be a nation, (Diot ;) and 
so also later, when various tribes associat- 
ed together in bodies, merely the name of 
the union appeared : as, the Suevi, the 
Marcomanni, the Allemanni, the Goths, the 
Franks, and the Saxons. It is, however, 
remarkable enough, that we meet with the 
original national name in that of the Teu- 
tonians, which is already used by Pytheas, 

* Most probably from the word ger, spear or lance, 
and the word man— the. man. the lord or chief. There- 
f»re, in any case, a warlike title of honor, which dis- 
tinguished the manliness and valor of the nation. It is 
worthy of remark, that the name Germanen. which, 
before Caesar, no Roman author mentions, appears on 
a marble slab discovered in the year 1547, and which is 
connected with the celebrated Fastis Czpitolims, in 
the year, before the birth of Christ, 223. The consul 
Marcellus gained in that year a victory orer the Gallic 
chief Viridomar, who is inscribed upon that captured 
slab a leader of the Gauls and Germi gen. 



300 years before the birth of Christ, and 
which again recurs in the Cimbrian war. 

IV. THE GERMANIC RACES. 

Ancient authors mention several Ger- 
man tribes, as well as their dwelling-places, 
with greater or less precision. Several of 
them also speak of the chief tribes among 
which the single septs united themselves. 
But their statements are not sufficiently 
unanimous or precise, to give us that clear 
view which we would, however, so wil- 
lingly obtain. For how desirable would it 
not be for us to be able, even in the very 
cradle of our history, to point out the ori- 
ginal distinctions of the races as yet dis- 
covered, and which display themselves in 
the different dialects of the German lan- 
guage, as well as in many essential differ- 
ences in the manners of the people, parti- 
cularly in those of the less sophisticated 
peasantry ! But we are here upon too in- 
secure a foundation, although it still yields 
us some few features always important. 

The most obscure account presented to 
us is the five-fold division of tribes given 
by Pliny. Beginning at the extreme north 
coast, towards the estuary of the Vistula, 
he first mentions the Vinilians or Windi- 
ler; farther westward, towards the East 
Sea coast, and beyond the Cimbrian penin- 
sula, towards the North Sea, as far as the 
mouth of the Ems, the Ingavonians ; in the 
neighborhood of the Rhine, as far as the 
Maine, and higher up on the left bank of 
the Rhine, the Istuvonians ; and in the 
middle of Germany, particularly in the 
highlands along the Upper Weser, the 
Werra, Fulda, and towards the south, as 
fai as the Hercynian forest, the Hermio- 
nian tribes. He gives no general name to 
the fifth tribe, but includes therein the 
Peucinians and Bastarnians in the districts 
of the Lower Danube, as far as Dacia. 

Tacitus also mentions three of these 
names, but he derives them from the myth- 
ical origin of the people. Man, the son of 
Tuisko, had three sons, Ingavon, Istavon, 
and Hermion, whose descendants formed 
the three principal tribes of the Ingavo- 
nians, the Istavonians, and the Hermio- 
nians. 

We would willingly, as before mention- 
ed, bring the fourth or fifth-fold division 
of the tribes of Pliny, in conjunction with 
the subsequent times, and, on this head, 
we are not altogether without some historic 



INTRODUCTION. 



21 



cal indications, — as, viz., when the Van- 
dals, of their own accord, return later and 
join in the great Gothic union ; when the 
Suevi, the flower of the Allemannic alli- 
ance, as the inhabitants of the internal and 
southwestern parts of Germany, thus bring 
to mind the Hermionians, the Ingavonians 
and Istavonians therefore remaining for 
the north and northwestern portions ; so 
that as, even in the earlier times of the 
Romans, an essential difference, nay, a de- 
cided contrast, in comparison with the in- 
habitants of the North Sea, the Tresians 
and Chaucians, evidently occurs between 
the inhabitants of the Middle and Lower 
Rhine, extending itself onward towards 
the mountain districts of the Weser and 
the Harz, and which, in the subsequent 
league of the Franks and Saxons, becomes 
confirmed, we have thence furnished to us 
already the third and fourth principal tribes 
of Pliny. 

The fifth he refers to as before mention- 
ed. Proceeding further onward we may 
find again in Bavaria the remnant of the 
Gothic tribe, which, after the period of the 
migration of the people, remained stationa- 
ry in Germany, so that between the later 
four principal nations in Germany, the 
Franks, the Saxons, the Swabians, and 
Bavarians, a connection is formed and es- 
tablished even to the original tribes of 
Pliny. Such links of connection convey 
assuredly a great charm ; but we, never- 
theless, wander upon ground too uncertain 
to enable us to succeed in acquiring au- 
thentic historical data. 

Much more importance attaches, on the 
contrary, to what the ancients, but more 
distinctly Caesar and Tacitus, relate of the 
peculiarities of one German chief tribe, 
which included many individual septs, 
namely the Suevi. From the combination 
of the picture sketched by them, in con- 
junction with other descriptions of German 
manners and institutions, we can define, 
with tolerable safety, the peculiarities of a 
second tribe, although the Romans give it 
no general name. We will first portray the 
Suevi, as Csesar and Tacitus described them : 

1. The nations forming the Suevic race 
dwelt in the large semi-circle traced by the 
Upper and Middle Rhine and the Danube, 
through the middle of Germany, and farther 
towards the north to the East Sea, so that they 
occupied the country of the Necker, the 
Maine, the Saale, and then the right Elbe 



bank of the Havel, Spree, and Oder. Nay, 
Tacitus even places Suevic tribes beyond 
the Vistula, as well in the interior as on 
the coasts of the Baltic, and beyond it in 
Sweden. Grounds of probability admit, 
indeed, of our placing a third — the Gothic- 
Vandal tribe, between the Oder and the 
Vistula, and along the latter stream ; but 
as distinct information is wanting, we can 
but allude to it, of which more below. 
The Suevi, as Caesar informs us, had early 
formed themselves into one large union, 
whose principles were distinctly warlike. 
The love of arms was assiduously cherish- 
ed in all, that they might be always ready 
for any undertaking. Thence it was that 
individuals had no fixed landed possessions; 
but the princes and leaders yearly divided 
the land among the families just as it pleased 
them; and none were allowed even to select 
the same pastures for two consecutive years, 
but were forced to exchange with each 
other, that neither of them might accustom 
himself to the ground, and, acquiring a love 
for his dwelling-place, be thus induced to 
exchange the love of war for agriculture. 
They were afraid that, if an individual 
were permitted to acquire an extensive 
tract, the powerful might chase away the 
poor, build large and imposing dwellings, 
and that the lust of wealth might give rise 
to factions and divisions. Besides which, 
they were obliged, from each of their hun- 
dred districts, to supply the wars with a 
thousand men yearly, and those who re- 
mained at home cultivated the land for all. 
The following year, on the other hand, the 
latter marched under arms, and the former 
remained at home, so that agriculture as well 
as the art of war was in constant exercise. 

They considered it a proof of glory 
when the whole tract beyond their fron- 
tiers lay waste, as a sign that the neigh- 
boring nations were not able to resist their 
force. They might also have considered 
it perhaps as a greater security against 
sudden invasion. 

In these, although rude principles of the 
Suevic union, a great idea manifests itself, 
and proves that the ancient Germans, about 
the period of the birth of Christ, were bv 
no means to be reckoned among the savage 
tribes. What Lycurgus wished to effect 
by means of his legislation among the 
Spartans, and for the same reason that he 
allowed his citizens no fixed and exclusive 
possession, seems to have been a principle 



22 



INTRODUCTION 



and combining power of the Suevic na- 
tion, viz. a public spirit, so general and 
operative, that the individual should sub- 
mit himself to the common good, and for 
which and in which he should only live ; 
and not by selfishness, faction, or by idle- 
ness, desire to separate himself from the 
rest, or consider his own weal as more im- 
portant than that of the collective body. 

2. The Romans mention many indi- 
vidual tribes in the northwest of Germany, 
between the Lower Elbe and the Lower 
Rhine, consequently about the Aller, the 
Seine, the Harz, the Weser, the Lippe, the 
Ruhr, and the Ems, as high up as the coasts 
of the Baltic, (later also on the opposite 
side of the Rhine, in the vicinity of the 
Meuse and Scheldt,) without distinguish- 
ing them by a collective name. Subse- 
quently, in the second century after the 
birth of Christ, the name of Saxon occurs 
in these districts, and in still later times it 
becomes the dominant title in the above- 
mentioned tracts of land ; for in the third 
century, the tribe of Saxons spread forth 
from Holstein over Lower Germany, and 
gave its own name to all those tribes which 
it conquered or united by alliance. It has 
been customary to apply the name of Sax- 
ens, for even the earlier periods, as the 
collective appellation of all the tribes of 
Lower Germany, and thereby to express 
the very opposite character they presented 
in their whole mode of living to the Suevi. 
For as these unwillingly confined them- 
selves to a fixed spot, and by their greater 
exercise and activity, kept themselves con- 
stantly ready for every warlike undertak- 
ing, so, on the other hand, the nations of 
Lower Germany had early accustomed 
themselves to settled dwellings, and had 
made agriculture their principal occupa- 
tion. They dwelt upon scattered farms ; 
each farm had its boundaries around it, 
and was enclosed by a hedge and bank of 
earth. The owner was lord and priest 
within his farm, and by voluntary union 
with a number of other proprietors was at- 
tached to a community ; and several com- 
munities again were bound to a Gau or 
district. The name of Saxon, which is 
derived from sitzen, to sit, and has the same 
signification as to occupy, or hold, appear- 
ed effectively to characterize the peculiar- 
ity of this people ; while on the other hand, 
the name of Suevi would indicate the roam- 
ing life led by the others. But these deri- 



vations are more ingeniously than histori- 
cally founded. The name of Saxon is, 
according to all probability, to be derived 
from the short swords, called Saxens,(Sahs,) 
of this people ; but that of the Suevi in its 
derivation is not as yet thoroughly ex- 
plained. Meantime, however, the contrast 
between the Suevi and the non-Suevi is not 
to be mistaken. In the latter we find the 
greatest freedom and independence of the 
individual ; in the former we perceive the 
combined power and unity of the whole, 
wherein the individual self is merged ; in 
the latter again, domestic life in its entire 
privacy, and in the former, public life in 
the — although as yet rude — accomplish- 
ment of an acutely formed idea. 

Saxon institutions were not the most 
favorable for the exercise of the strength 
of a nation against the enemy. But it 
gives a strong and self-dependent mind to 
the individual man, to find himself sole lord 
and master upon his own property, and 
knowing that it is his own power that must 
protect wife and child. In villages or even 
in towns where man dwells amidst a mass, 
he depends upon the protection of others, 
and thereby easily becomes indolent or 
cowardly. But the isolated inhabitant, in 
his, frequently, defiance-bidding retreat, is 
nevertheless humane and hospitably mind- 
ed, and offers to his neighbor and his friend, 
and even to the stranger, an ever welcome 
seat by his hearth. For he feels more in- 
tensely the pleasure derived from the 
friendly glances of man, and the refresh- 
ment of social intercourse ; while, on the 
contrary, the townsman, who meets a mul- 
titude at every step, accustoms himself to 
view the human countenance with indiffer- 
ence. When the Saxon, with his hunting- 
spear in his hand, had traversed, through 
snow and storm, the wilderness and forest, 
the huts of his friends smiled hospitably 
towards him, like the happy islands of a 
desert sea. 

We shall enumerate subsequently the 
individual tribes of both branches, as well 
as the others mentioned by the authors of 
antiquity. It appeared necessary to notice 
thus early the chief distinction between 
the German nations, for many of the de- 
scriptions given by the ancients of their 
manners and customs, accord only with the 
one or the other branch, and their appa- 
rent contradictions are to be explained 
I only by the confused mixture of the in- 



INTRODUCTION. 



23 



formation. Caesar, for example, notices 
chiefly the Suevi ; and Tacitus, the Saxon 
tribes. Yet in the detail which we now 
enter upon, it will be perceived that the 
essential fundamental character of both 
was the same. 

V. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

The Germans loved the open country 
above every thing. They did not build 
towns, they likened them to prisons. The 
few places which occur in the Roman wri- 
ters called towns — the later Ptolemy names 
the most — were probably nothing more 
than the dwellings of the chiefs, somewhat 
larger, and more artificially built, than 
those of the common freemen, and in the 
vicinity of which the servitors fixed their 
huts ; the whole might possibly have been 
surrounded by a wall and ditch to secure 
them from the incursions of the enemy. 

The Saxon tribes did not even willingly 
build connecting villages, so great was 
their love for unlimited freedom. The 
huts lay, as is already mentioned, in the 
midst of the enclosure that belonged to 
them, and which was surrounded by a 
hedge. The construction of these huts 
was most inartificial. Logs shaped by the 
axe were raised and joined together, the 
sides filled with platted withy, and made 
into a firm wall by the addition of straw 
and lime. A thatched roof covered the 
whole, which (as is still found in West- 
phalia) contained the cattle also ; and by 
way of ornament they decorated the walls 
with brilliant colors. 

Tacitus says, they selected their dwell- 
ing wherever a grove or spring attracted 
them. Advantage and comfort were con- 
sequently frequently sacrificed to their love 
of open and beautiful scenery, and it is 
probable that they so ardently loved their 
country from its presenting them with so 
great a variety of hill and dale, wood and 
plains, and rivers in every part. 

This strong love of nature, which may 
be traced from the very first in our fore- 
fathers, is a grand feature of the German 
character. As long as we retain it, it will 
preserve us from sensual enervation and 
the corruption of manners, wherein the 
most cultivated nations of antiquity, by ex- 
cess of civilization and luxury, and com- 
pression into large cities, gradually sunk. 

Next to war, the most favorite occupa- 
tion of the Germans was the chase ; and ! 



that itself was a kind of warlike exercise. 
For the forests concealed, besides the usual 
deer, also wolves, bears, urocks, bisons, 
elks, wild boars, and many species of the 
larger birds of prey. The youth was, 
therefore, practised in the use of arms from 
childhood, and to him the greatest festival 
of his life was when his father first took 
him forth to hunt wild animals. 

" Agriculture, the herdsman's business, 
and domestic occupations," says Tacitus, 
" they leave to the women and slaves ; for 
it is easier to prevail upon the Germans to 
attack their enemies than to cultivate the 
earth and await the harvest; nay, it even 
appears cowardly to them to earn by the 
sweat of the brow, what the sanguinary 
conflict would procure." But this descrip- 
tion of our forefathers, as is so often the 
case with the narratives of the Roman au- 
thors, represents the individual feature as 
the general characteristic. The small 
proprietor, no doubt, like our peasant, 
necessarily applied his own hand to the 
cultivation of his land, while the great 
land-owner reserved time for hunting, for 
festivities, and for all the pleasures of so- 
cial intercourse. 

And with respect to the description of 
their dominant warlike propensities, which 
preferred earning the necessaries of life by 
blood rather than by the sweat of the brow, 
this must be understood to refer more par- 
ticularly to the conquering warlike trains 
of bold leaders, such as an Ariovistus, or 
to the frontier safeguards of the Germans 
against the Romans, as, for instance, the 
Marcomanni. For when once among a 
nation agriculture and pasturage have be- 
come prominent occupations, and without 
which life could not be supported, they 
can no longer belong to those employments 
despised by the free man, and which as 
such he leaves solely to the care and at- 
tention of women and slaves. 

It is, however, no doubt true, that among 
the Germans of the more ancient period, 
warlike desires, and powerful natural incli- 
nations for bold undertakings, and in partic- 
ular for the display of an untamed strength 
with its violent concomitants, were a ruling 
passion. But the ennobling features of 
higher virtues are seen through these de- 
fects. History records no people who, in 
conjunction with the faults of an unrestrict- 
ed natural power, possessed nobler capa- 
bilities and qualifications, rule and order, 



24 



INTRODUCTION. 



a sublime patriotism, fidelity, and chastity, 
in a greater proportion than the Germans. 
" There" says the noble Roman, who had 
preserved a mind capable of appreciating 
the dignity of uncorrupted nature ; " there 
no one smiles at vice, and to seduce or be 
seduced, is not called fashionable; for 
among the Germans, good morals effect more 
than elsewhere good laws." 

This moral worth of the Germans, which 
beams through all their rudeness, has its 
true source and basis in the sanctity of mar- 
riage, and the consequent concentration of 
domestic happiness ; for it is these two 
features chiefly which most decidedly de- 
termine the morality of a nation. The 
young man, at a period when his form had 
taken its perfect growth, in the full energy 
of youth, like the sturdy oaks of his native 
forests, and preserved by chastity and tem- 
perance from enervating desires, at the 
time that his physical and moral nature 
had attained their equilibrium, selected 
then the maiden for his wife, little differing 
in age from himself. The exceptions were 
few, says Tacitus, and that only perchance 
— as in the case of a prince, who might 
wish to increase his own importance by an 
alliance with another powerful house — that 
a second wife was taken. 

It was not the woman who brought the 
portion to the man, but the latter to the 
former, and who indicated the value he 
attached to his alliance with her by the 
quality of the present he made, according 
to the extent of his means ; and even this 
custom displays the consideration the Ger- 
man nation had for the gentler sex. The 
bridal gift comprised, besides a team of 
oxen, a war-horse, a shield, and arms ; a 
gift not useless among people with whom, 
particularly in long excursions, the wife, 
generally, accompanied her husband to the 
field. She was thus reminded not to con- 
sider valor, war, and arms, as wholly 
strange to her, but these sacred symbols 
of the opening marriage told her to consid- 
er herself as the companion of the labors 
and dangers of her husband, in war as 
well as in peace, and as such to live and 
die. She received what she was bound to 
transfer uncontaminated to her children, 
and what her daughter-in-law was to in- 
herit in turn, in order to transmit to her 
grand-children. And this gift, as Tacitus 
says, was, as it were, the mystic holy con- 
secration and guardian deity of marriage. 



Such an alliance founded upon love and 
virtue, and calculated to continue for bet- 
ter for worse, in firm union unto death, 
must indeed be holy and inviolable ; and, 
in fact, the infringement of the marriage 
vow was, according to the testimony of 
Tacitus, almost unheard of. The deepest 
and most universal contempt followed a 
crime so very rare. 

The children of such a marriage were 
to their parents the dearest pledges of love. 
From their very birth they were treated 
as free human beings. No trace was to 
be found in Germany of the tyrannical 
power of the Roman father over his chil- 
dren. The mother reared her infants at 
her own breast ; they were not left to the 
care of nurses and servants. The Ger- 
mans, therefore, highly venerated virtuous 
women ; they even superstitiously be- 
lieved there was something holy and pro- 
phetic in them, and they occasionally fol- 
lowed their advice in important and deci- 
sive moments. 

This veneration for the female sex in 
its human dignity, combined with their 
strongly impressed love of arms, of war, 
and manhood, this noble feature in the 
German nature, which elevates iiim so 
high above the — in other senses, so gifted 
— Greeks and Romans, shows most clearly 
that nature had resolved her German son 
to be the entire man, who, by the univer- 
sal cultivation of the human powers, should 
at some future period produce an age, 
which, as now, in its liberal and many- 
sided or multifarious views, should far sur- 
pass that of the Greeks and Romans. 

The ancient German dress and food 
were simple, and agreeable to nature. 
Female decoration consisted in their long 
yellow hair, in the fresh color of their pure 
skin, and in their linen robes, spun and 
woven by their own hands, ornamented 
with a purple band as a girdle : the man 
knew no other ornament than his warlike 
weapons ; the shield and his helmet, when 
he wore one, he adorned as well as he 
could. Among the Suevi the hair was 
worn tied in a bundle on the top of the 
head, for the sake of its warlike effect. 
Among the Saxons it was parted, and hung 
down the shoulders, cut at a moderate 
length. 

Their simple fare consisted chiefly of 
meat and milk. They prepared their fa- 
vorite drink, beer from barley and oats. 



INTRODUCTION. 



25 



They made mead also from honey and 
water. Their honey was collected by the 
wild bees in great quantity, and good qual- 
ity. Upon the Rhine they did not despise 
or neglect the cultivation of the vine in- 
troduced there by the Romans. 

No nation respected the laws of hospi- 
tality more than the Germans. To refuse 
a stranger, whoever he might be, admis- 
sion to the house, would have been dis- 
graceful. His table was free and open to 
all, according to his means. If his own 
provisions were exhausted, he who was but 
recently the host, would become the guide 
and conductor of his guest, and together 
they would enter, uninvited, the first best 
house. There also they were hospitably 
received. When the stranger took his 
leave, he received as a parting present 
whatever he desired, and the giver asked 
as candidly on his side for what he wished. 
This good-natured people rejoiced in pre- 
sents. But they neither estimated the gift 
they made too highly, nor held themselves 
much bound by that which they had re- 
ceived in return. 

At these banquets the Germans not un- 
frequently took counsel upon their most 
important affairs, upon the conciliation of 
enemies, upon alliances and friendships, 
upon the election of princes, even upon 
war and peace ; for the joyousness of the 
feast and society opened the secrets of the 
breast. But on the following day they re- 
considered what had been discussed, so 
that they might view it coolly and dispas- 
sionately ; they took counsel when they 
could not deceive, and fixed their resolu- 
tion when fitted for quiet consideration. 

During these banquets they had also a 
peculiar kind of festival. Naked youths 
danced between drawn swords and raised 
spears ; not for reward and gain ; but the 
compensation for this almost rash feat con- 
sisted in the pleasure produced in the spec- 
tator, and the honor reaped by the display 
of such a dangerous art. 

They gambled with dice, as Tacitus 
with astonishment informs us, in a sober 
state, and as a serious occupation, and 
with so much eagerness for gain, that when 
they had lost their all, they hazarded their 
freedom, and even their very persons upon 
the last cast. The loser freely delivered him- 
self up to slavery, although even younger 
and stronger than his adversary, and pa- 
tiently allowed himself to be bound and 
4 



sold as a slave ; thus steadfastly did they 
keep their word, even in a bad case : 
" They call this good faith" says the Ro- 
man writer. 

VI. CIVIL INSTITUTIONS. 
The entire people consisted of freemen 
and slaves. Among the latter there seems 
even to have been an essential difference. 
The one class, which may be compared to 
the vassals pertaining to the land of the 
lord of the manor, and among whom the 
freedmen of Tacitus may be also reck- 
oned, received from the land-proprietor 
house and home, and yielded him in return 
a certain acknowledgment in corn or cat- 
tle, or in the woven cloth which was made 
under every roof. The second class, on 
the contrary, the true slaves, who were 
bought and sold, and were mostly prisoners 
of war, were employed in the more menial 
services of the house, and the labors of 
agriculture. But their lot even was en- 
durable, for their children grew up with 
those of their master, with scarcely any 
distinction, and thus in the simplicity of 
their living, there was formed a relation of 
mutual adherence. But the slave was held 
incapable of bearing arms ; these were 
alone the privilege and prerogative of the 
Free-men. 

They were divided into the nobles, 
nobiles, as Tacitus calls them, and the 
common Free-men, ingenui. In later pe- 
riods the German language distinguishes 
Adelinge and Frilinge. The former word 
is probably derived from Od, Estate, and 
therefore denoted the large proprietor, who 
reckoned in his estate bondsmen and vas- 
sals, and who possessed already in his 
domains the means of exercising a more 
extensive influence. The Friling was, on 
the contrary, the common free man, who 
cultivated his small possessions with his 
own hands, or by the assistance of but a 
few slaves. If Tacitus, as is probable, 
indicates this distinction by his term nobiles 
and ingenui, we may therein trace the ori- 
gin of the German nobility, founded as it 
is in the nature of all social relations. 
From the importance given by possessions 
and merit, individual as well as ancestral, 
those privileges may be adduced, which 
are held over the poorer, unnoticed fami- 
lies, and which in the course of time, and 
as it were by the antiquity of possession, 
pass into rights. But the information given 



26 



INTRODUCTION 



by Tacitus does not, however, speak abso- 
lutely of rights, — implying, for instance, 
the offices of director and president in com- 
munities and districts, — but merely of the 
custom of filling them from the superior 
families. 

A number of farms of great and small 
landowners, specially united by close ties, 
constituted a community, (Gemeinde ;) sev- 
eral communities a league of the hundred, 
(Markgenossenschaf £,)which exercised with- 
in a larger circuit the common right of 
herd and pasture ; and, lastly, a number 
of these formed the larger confederacy of 
a district, (Gau,) formally united for pro- 
tection against every enemy, and for in- 
ternal security both of life and property. 

As chief of the district, a judge was 
elected from among the oldest and most 
experienced, who probably may have borne 
in ancient times the name Graf.* Cents 
or hundreds were subdivisions of the dis- 
trict, probably consisting originally of a 
hundred farms, whose chiefs were the 
centners or Centgrafen. These gave judg- 
ment in trifling affairs ; and in matters of 
more importance they were the assistants 
of the Gaugrafen. The occupation of 
these functionaries was not limited to their 
judicial employments, but they had the 
guidance also of other affairs in the com- 
munity ; and together, they formed the 
Principes of the district, the foremost and 
first among their equals, whence is derived 
the German word Furst, (prince.) The 
recompense for their trouble did not con- 
sist in a regular stipend, but in presents 
received from the chiefs of families. 

But the National assembly was at the 
head of all, and counselled and decided 
upon the most important affairs. Every 
freeman, high as well as low, was a mem- 
ber of the national assembly, and took his 
cart in the welfare of the whole. 

In earlier times, perhaps, there never 
existed in many circuits, and during peace- 
ful relations, a more extensive and firm 
confederacy than that of the Gau. But 
danger from without, and the relationship 
of the septs, chiefly produced, without 
doubt, the establishment of Unions of whole 
tribes, which may possibly have given to 
their collective body a form variously 
fashioned. A multifariousness of social 

* The derivation of the word Graf or Grav is uncer- 
tain. That from grau, gray, as well as from alt, old, 
is not tenable. 



regulations was welcome to the hereditary 
love of freedom of the Germans. The 
majority of these tribes appear to have 
had a very simple constitution of confed- 
eracy in the time of peace, inasmuch as 
all transactions in common were deter- 
mined and regulated by the national com- 
munity. In the individual districts all 
continued according to the customary mode 
of administration, and it consequently did 
not require the permanent appointment of 
a superior executive government. In war, 
on the contrary, an election was made, of 
the common Herzog, or duke, according to 
valor and manly virtue, wh^se office closed 
with the war. (Duces ex virtute su- 
mmit. — Tac.) 

Among other tribes peace had also its 
chiefs or directors, selected originally by 
the community from the most meritorious 
of the people, which election, in the course 
of time, when a natural feeling placed the 
son in the situation of the father, became 
invested with an almost hereditary right. 
(Reges ex nobilitate summit. — Tac.) We 
cannot ascertain whether these chiefs bore 
everywhere, or merely among some tribes, 
the title of King ; the Romans called them 
Reges, because they found this name most 
applicable, and in contradistinction to the 
transitory ducal dignity, which terminated 
with the war. The king could also natu- 
rally be the leader in war, in which case 
the duke was superfluous. But in smaller 
expeditions, which were not to be consid- 
ered in the light of a national war, or 
when the king, by reason of age or natural 
infirmity, was unable to act, a duke may 
have been appointed as his substitute. 

Among some tribes we see a change of 
constitution. Among the Cherusci, when 
they fought against the Romans, there ap- 
pears to have been no king ; Arminius 
was the leader appointed by the people. 
Later, however, in the year 47 after the 
birth of Christ, the Cherusci appointed 
Italicus, the son of the brother of Flavins, 
who was brought up among the Romans, 
to be their king, in order to adjust the in- 
ternal factions. 

The peculiarity of the Saxon people 
consisted altogether in their free form of 
government, a constitution most conforma- 
ble to their origin, springing as they did 
from the union of the heads of free fami 
lies, each of whom ruled his domain ac 
cording to the ancient patriarchal form. 



INTRODUCTION. 



21 



A common general was required only 
during war, which, in general, was de- 
fensive, and consequently national. Among 
the Suevi, on the contrary, whose consti- 
tution was one warlike throughout, where- 
in the individual was early accustomed to 
consider himself but a portion of tne whole, 
a monarchical government became the 
natural form of the constitution, and we 
consequently find among them an Ariovis- 
tus, a Marbodius, and a Vannius, as kings 
of a warlike state. 

These differences may assist in explain- 
ing the various characteristics and forms 
of the public institutions which the Ro- 
mans mention, and which it is not always 
easy to distinguish, from their having con- 
founded and mixed the individual details. 

In the larger confederations there also 
occurred general assemblies, although 
more seldom than in the individual dis- 
tricts, and much that the Romans relate 
refers to these said larger assemblies, while 
on the contrary the leading subjects were 
common to both large and small assemblies. 

These were generally held at a return 
of the full moon and new moon ; as they 
considered those the most happy moments 
for any transaction. They came armed — 
arms being the symbol of freedom, and 
they preferred exposing themselves to the 
possibility of their misuse, rather than come 
without them. The right enjoyed by the 
youth of bearing them as an ornament 
when he had attained a fitting age, and was 
adjudged worthy, even in times of peace, 
was imparted by the national assembly it- 
self; he was there solemnly invested by 
one of the princes, his father or a relative, 
with shield and spear. This was deemed 
among them the clothing of manhood, the 
ornament of youth ; previous to this the 
youth was considered only as a member of 
the domestic hearth, but henceforth he 
was received as the representative of the 
common fatherland. 

Priests ruled the communities ; God only 
was the universally feared lord, whom it 
was no breach of freedom to obey ; and in 
his name the priests kept the multitude in 
order. They commanded silence ; the 
kings, dukes, counts, who derived experi- 
ence from years — the nobles, who learned 
from their ancestors how the district was 
to be governed — the most valiant, who, by 
their deeds in war, stood in general respect, 
spoke in turn simply, briefly, and impres- 



sively, and not in a commanding tone, but 
by the force of reason. If the proposition 
displeased them, it was rejected by the 
multitude with hisses and murmurs ; but 
if approved, they signified their satisfaction 
by the clashing of their arms, their most 
honorable mode of testifying applause. 

In important affairs, the king and princes 
first counselled together, prior to the mat- 
ter being brought before the people ; a 
custom consistent with good government, 
for the multitude can form conclusions only 
upon a transaction being simply and clear- 
ly explained. 

These few traits of aboriginal German 
institutions display the sterling sense of our 
forefathers, who therein sought to establish 
the principle, that the foundations of every 
community should be based on individual 
good feeling, obedience to the laws, and 
respect for religion. Thus an internal 
durability was given to the whole structure, 
which no external means could replace, 
howsoever artificially applied. 

We have yet a word to say upon the 
larger unions of several tribes. In a com- 
mon danger, they formed themselves into a 
Confederation, at the head of which stood 
one of the more powerful tribes. Thus it 
was with the Cherusci alliance against the 
Romans ; thus the Suevi, at whose head, 
in earlier times, stood the Semnoni ; and 
later, the confederations of the Goths, 
Franks, and Allemanni. In all that con- 
cerned the universal league, the laws were 
very severe. The slightest breach of faith, 
and treachery as well as cowardice, were 
punished by death. 

Their principle was, " One for all and 
all for one, for life or death !" May this 
through every century be the motto of all 
Germans ! 

VII. WAR-REGULATIONS, AND ARMS. 

When the nation was threatened by im- 
pending danger, or the country of the ene- 
my was to be invaded by a large force, all 
the freemen were summoned to arms by 
what was called the Heerbann.* The army 
thus proceeded under the banner of the 
national god, borne by the priests in ad- 

* In the language of the earlier times Heerbann, 
(Heribannus,) the penalty, which was inflicted upon 
those who, at the general summons to the war, neglect- 
ed their duty. This word, however, for its object, is 
at once so usual and significant, while it is so dlrficult 
to replace with another, that it may be here retained 
in its original form. 



28 



INTRODUCTION. 



vance. The princes and judges of each 
Gau or district were also its leaders in 
war ; the confederates of one mark or hun- 
dred, and of one race or sept, fought uni- 
ted ; and when the invasion became a re- 
gular migration, or when the invading foe 
chased all from their hearths, the women 
and children followed them. Thus was 
all combined that could excite their valor; 
each warrior stood side by side to his near- 
est relations, companions, and friends, and 
in the rear of the order of battle were 
placed their wives and children., whose ap- 
peals could not fail to reach their ear. 
When wounded, they retired to the matrons 
and females, who fearlessly investigated 
and numbered their wounds. We read, 
indeed, of the women having occasionally 
restored a faltering battle by their inces- 
sant supplications, from the dread of slave- 
ry, and even by forcing, with arms in hand, 
the fugitives back to the contest. 

Besides the general summons of the 
Heerbann. there was a Companionship in 
arms, founded upon a voluntary union, 
which was called the Gefolge, the reserve 
phalanx or sacred battalion. Warlike 
youths collected themselves around their 
most tried and esteemed leader, and swore 
in union with hirn to live and die. There 
was much contention among this Gefolge 
who should take the first place next to the 
leader, for this corps had its grades. It 
was high fame for a leader, not merely 
among his own tribes, but among all the 
adjacent ones, when he was distinguished 
by the number and valor of his Gefolge. 
He was appealed to for assistance : embas- 
sies were sent to him. he was honored by 
presents, and the mere celebrity of his 
name would frequently check a war. In 
battle it was considered a disgrace to the 
chief to be outvied in valor, and to the Ge- 
folge not to equal that of their leader ; but 
to return alive from battle, after the death 
of his chieftain, was a stigma that attached 
for life to the individual, and their fidelity 
was so great, that scarcely an instance of 
this occurs. It was considered the most 
sacred duty to protect and defend their 
brave brother in arms, and to attribute 
their own valorous deeds to his fame. The 
leaders contended for victory, and the Ge- 
folge for the leaders. When the tribe to 
which they belonged continued in a state 
of long and monotonous peace, the majori- 
ty of these bold youths, led by their cap- 



tain, voluntarily joined those tribes which 
were at war. Repose was hateful to them ; 
and, amidst danger, the valiant acquired 
fame and booty. The Gefolge received 
from the leader their war-horse, and their 
conquering and deadly spear ; a large Ge- 
folge. consequently, supported itself most 
easily by war and booty. It is thus that 
Tacitus describes the military institutions 
of the Germans. He wrote, however, at a 
period when long wars and their attendant 
chances may possibly have altered much. 
Originally, perhaps, the alliance between 
the Gefolge and their chieftain was bind- 
ing only during single excursions, and 
ceased at their termination. For it is not 
probable that a people so jealous of its liber- 
ty would have allowed individual princes 
to have surrounded themselves with such 
a troop, as with a body-guard. But when 
the dangers of war continued for a longer 
period, it became desirable, and even ne- 
cessary, to be prepared for every casualty. 
The Gefolge remained long united, and 
they formed the experienced and elite por- 
tion of the army for attack, defence, or 
pursuit. In the migratory period, king- 
doms were founded by these Gefolges. and 
from the essence of their internal organi- 
zation, the laws sprung which regulated 
these new states, (feudal system.) 

The chief arms of the ancient Germans 
were the shield and the spear, called by 
them Framen. (Framea.*) with a narrow 
and short blade, but so sharp and well 
adapted for use, that they could employ 
the same weapon, according to necessity, 
both far and near. Long heavy lances are 
also spoken of in the description of many 
battles. For close combat, the stone bat- 
tle-axe, which is still frequently dug up, 
and the common club, were certainly used. 
From the scarcity of iron, few wore body- 
arrnor. and but here and there a helmet ; 
even swords were scarce, and the shield 
was formed of wood, or of the platted twigs 
of the withy. Nevertheless, it was with 
these simple weapons that they achieved so 
much that was grand, inasmuch as natural 
courage and strength of limb effect more 
than artificial weapons. 

Their horses were neither distinguished 
by beauty nor speed, but they were very 
durable, and the Germans knew so well to 
manage them that they frequently over- 

* From framen, to throw 



INTRODUCTION. 



29 



threw the fully-armed and mounted Roman 
and Gallic cavalry. They held the latter 
in contempt because they used saddles, 
which appeared to them unmanly and ef- 
feminate ; they themselves sat upon the 
naked back of the horse. But the chief 
strength of their army lay in their infan- 
try, and they placed the boldest and strong- 
est of their youth, mixed with their cavalry, 
in the van, in order to give an additional 
solidity to the ranks. The cavalry them- 
selves selected their companions from 
among the infantry, and thus, even in the 
rude pursuit of war, esteem and affection 
exerted their influence. They thus held 
together in the tumult of the fight, and 
came to each other's assistance when the 
contest was desperate. If a horseman fell 
heavily wounded from his steed, the foot- 
soldiers immediately surrounded and shield- 
ed him. When sudden and rapid move- 
ments either in advancing or retreating 
were necessary, the quickness of those on 
foot, by means of incessant practice, was 
so great, that holding by the mane of the 
horse, they equalled the swiftest in their 
course. 

Their order of battle was generally 
wedge-shaped, that they might the more 
speedily break the ranks of the enemy. 
Before battle they sang the war-song re- 
lating the deeds of their ancestors and the 
celebrity of their fatherland. Warlike 
instruments also, horns of brass or of the 
wild bull, and large drums, formed of hides 
expanded over hampers, beat the measure 
to their joined shields ; and as they pro- 
ceeded they became more and more ex- 
cited. In the march against the enemy 
the song became ruder and wilder, a 
courageous and stimulating cry, which 
was called Barrit ; at first deep-sounding, 
then stronger and fuller, and growing to a 
roar at the moment of meeting the foe. 
The chieftain felt excited with hope or fear, 
according to the louder or weaker tone of 
the Barrit. Frequently, to maKe the sound 
more strikingly fearful, they held their hol- 
low shields before their mouths. This ter- 
rific war-song, combined with the sight of 
their gigantic figures, and the fearful threat- 
ening eyes of the Germans themselves, was 
so terrible in its effects upon the Romans 
and the Gauls, that it was long before they 
could accustom themselves to it. 

To leave their shield behind them was 
to the Germans an inexpiable disgrace ; he 



who had so debased himself durst not at- 
tend religious worship nor appear in the 
national assembly, and many who had thus 
effected their escape from the field of bat- 
tle could not endure so miserable a life, 
but ended it by a voluntary death. 

VIII. RELIGION. 
The religious worship of the Germans 
attached itself to, and was associated with 
nature. It was a veneration of her great 
powers and phenomena ; but withal it was 
more simple and sublime than the worship 
of other ancient nations, and bore the im- 
press of its immediate and profound feel- 
ing for nature. Although but rudely so, 
they yet had the presentiment of an infi- 
nite and eternal divine power in their 
breasts ; for they considered it at variance 
with the dignity of the divinity to enclose 
him within walls, or to conceive and repre- 
sent him in a human shape. They built 
no temples, but they consecrated to holy 
purposes groves and woods, of which na- 
ture had formed the pillars, and whose 
canopy was the infinite heaven itself ; and 
they named after their divinity the mystery 
which their faith alone allowed them to 
contemplate. Even their aboriginal poeti- 
cal descriptions of their divinities display 
the nobler sentiments of the Germans, who 
did not, like the Greeks and Romans, at- 
tribute to their deities all the infirmities 
of human nature, but represented in them 
the portraiture of strength, valor, magna- 
nimity, and sublimity. And they still 
more strongly distinguish themselves from 
all other ancient nations by their firm and 
cheerful belief in the immortality of the 
soul, which entirely dissipated every fear 
of death ; and in the confidence of a fu- 
ture state they committed suicide, when 
life itself could be purchased only by sla- 
very. 

This sublime natural feeling, and this 
purity of their religious ideas, made them, 
in after times, better adapted for the re- 
ception of Christianity. They were the 
vessel which God had selected for the 
pure preservation of his doctrines. For 
Jews, Greeks, and Romans were already 
enervated by sensuality and vice ; they 
could neither comprehend nor retain the 
new doctrines, just as, according to the 
scriptural image, the old drunkard could 
not retain the new wine. The ancient Ger- 
mans revered, like the Persians, the sun 



30 



INTRODUCTION. 



and fire ; but worshipped as their superior 
God, Wodan, (Guodan, the Goden, Guten, 
Gott.) They called him also by a beauti- 
ful name, the Universal Father. They 
kept, in their sacred groves, white horses 
for the sun, which were harnessed to the 
consecrated chariot and driven by the priest 
or prince, who paid particular attention to 
their neighing, which they considered, as 
did the Persians, prophetic of the future, 
and indicative of the will of their divinity. 

They venerated the mother earth as their 
most beneficent deity ; they called her Ner- 
thus, (the nourishing,*) and we have the fol- 
lowing relation of her worship : " In the 
midst of an island in the seaf there was a 
sacred grove, in which was a consecrated 
chariot, covered with tapestry. Sometimes 
(as noticed by the priests) the goddess de- 
scended from the sacred dwellings above, 
and drove the chariot, drawn by conse- 
crated cows, accompanied by the priests 
in the deepest reverence. The days were 
then cheerful, and the places which she 
honored with her presence, solemn and 
holy ; they then entered into no war, seized 
no arms, and the iron spear reposed in 
concealment ; peace and tranquillity then 
reigned in every bosom, until the priests re- 
conducted the goddess, satiated with her 
intercourse with mortals, back into the 
temple. The chariot and carpet were im- 
mersed, and the goddess too, if we may be- 
lieve it, bathed in a secret lake ; slaves per- 
formed the offices of service, whom the same 
lake immediately swallowed up. Thence 
arose a mysterious fear and holy ignorance 
4>f what that might be which only those be- 
held who were to die." 

The Germans placed great faith in pro- 
phecies and indications of the future, as 
shown already in the neighing of the sacred 
horses of the sun. When they were at war 
they often selected a prisoner taken from 
their enemy, and caused him to fight with 
one of their countrymen, each armed with 
his national weapons ; the victory of the 
one or the other was received as prophetic, 
or as a divine judgment. They considered 
the raven and the owl as harbingers of evil ; 
the cuckoo announced length of life. They 
prophesied of the future also with small 
staves cut from a fruit-tree, having peculiar 
or runic signs carved upon each staffj and 

* Tacitus, Germ, xl 

t Much here indicates the island to be Riigen ; but 
there are important grounds for contradiction. 



these were then strewed upon a white rai- 
ment. And then, on public occasions, the 
priest, but in private the father of the family, 
prayed to the divinity, and, with upraised 
eyes, took up each individual rod thrice, 
the characters upon which indicated the 
event. 

The holy prophetesses were highly es- 
teemed, and history names some to whom 
the credulity of the tribes attached great in- 
fluence in the determination of public af- 
fairs. Tacitus names Aurinia, (perhaps 
Alruna, conversant with the mystic runic 
characters;) again, the celebrated Veleda, 
who, from a tower on the banks of the Lippe, 
directed the movements of the tribes of the 
Lower Rhine ; and, lastly, a certain Gauna, 
in the time of Domitian. In the incursions 
of the Cimbri, and in the army of Ariovis- 
tus, notice is taken of prophesying females. 

There was no ceremony at their fune- 
rals ; only the bodies of the most distinguish- 
ed were burned with costly wood, and with 
each, at the same time, was offered up his 
arms or war-horse. The tomb which cov- 
ered the ashes and the bones of the deceased 
was a mound of turf. Splendid monuments 
they despised as oppressive to their dead. 
Laments and tears they speedily gave over, 
but grief they indulged in much longer. 
Lamentations they considered as appropri- 
ate to females, but to men remembrance 
alone was deemed suitable. 

IX. ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
Should we, after all that has preceded, 
inquire concerning the progress made by 
the ancient Germans in the arts of life, we 
shall find upon that subject the information 
of the Roman writers unfortunately very 
scanty. Looking down from the point of 
their very superior culture, they did not 
consider it worth their trouble to attend to 
the origin of the arts, trades, and knowledge, 
found among those nations which they con- 
sidered as barbarians. This silence has 
misled to the supposition, that the Germans, 
about the period of the birth of Christ, were 
to be considered as half savages, resem- 
bling the North American Hurons. But his- 
tory may, where she finds no express testi- 
mony, draw conclusions from uncontested 
facts. Therefore we can, with certainty, 
infer that about the time, and shortly after 
the birth of Christ, the Germans — who in 
arms and warlike skill could contest with 
an enemy who had acquired in a war of five 



INTRODUCTION. 



31 



hundred years, with all the nations of the 
earth, the highest grade in the art of war, and 
consequent subjugation ; these Germans, 
who had already far advanced in their civil 
institutions ; to whom marriage and the do- 
mestic hearth, and the honor of their nation, 
and their ancestors, were sacred ; who in 
their religious symbols displayed a deep 
feeling for the most profound ideas of the 
human mind ; and who, lastly, by a digni- 
fied natural capacity, and exquisite moral 
traits, in spite of the undeniable ferocity of 
unbridled passions, were enabled to inspire 
that noble Roman, in whom dwelt a deep 
sense of all that was great and elevated in 
human nature — these Germans, we say, 
could not have been the rude barbarians 
described as resembling North American 
savages. Their cultivation, as far as their 
wild life and dispersed mode of dwelling 
admitted, advanced to a degree worthy of 
mention. 

Agriculture and pasturage united, con- 
sequently a regulated and settled rural 
economy, presupposes the use of the ne- 
cessary implements, howsoever simple they 
might be. The German made them him- 

o 

self. The iron necessary for that purpose, 
as well as for his weapons, he must have 
known how to work, and the manipulation 
of hard-melting iron is not easy ; presum- 
ing they were only able to use that which 
lay upon the surface without understand- 
ing or practising the art of mining. Yet 
Tacitus names iron mines among the Goths, 
in the present Silesia. That the prepara- 
tion of iron utensils must indicate already 
a higher degree of skill in art, in the earli- 
est ages of nations, is shown by the very 
frequent use of copper in such instruments 
for which iron is much better adapted. 
Copper is much easier to manufacture. 

In the irruptions and battles of the Ger- 
mans, namely, among the Cimbri and Teu- 
toni, chariots and cars are named, which 
conveyed the women and children, and 
which were placed around to defend the 
camp. The Germans appear also upon 
their rivers, and upon the coasts of their 
seas in ships, and contest also with the 
Romans in naval battles. Tribes which 
could build structures of this description, 
need no longer be considered savage. 

The art of spinning and weaving is also 
not possible without complicated machine- 
ry, and this formed the daily occupation of 
the females. 



Although the art of building houses was 
not carried to any extent, yet the towers 
or burgs of the superior classes, some of 
which are mentioned in the records of his- 
tory, must have been essentially different 
from the huts of the community ; and that 
walls of stone were used in their construc- 
tion, we may infer from the subterranean 
excavations in which provisions were pre- 
served, and wherein the women generally 
wove their linen, and which must there- 
fore have been walled in. 

Trade and commerce were not foreign 
to the ancient Germans ; they were even 
acquainted with that pivot of all commerce, 
a general medium of barter — money. Ta- 
citus remarks that they knew well how to 
distinguish the old good coins of the Romans, 
and took silver in preference to gold in 
their retail transactions. The great mul- 
titude of Roman coins, which by degrees 
have been dug out of the German earth, 
proves that their commercial intercourse 
was not trifling, although much may have 
fallen into the hands of the Germans as 
booty upon the defeat of the Romans. Ar- 
minius, before the battle of Idistavisus, 
offered to every Roman deserter daily 200 
sesterces. 

Their music was no doubt limited to 
their war-song, and the rude warlike in- 
struments previously named, and to the 
heroic song at festivals. German antiqui- 
ty had without doubt its inspired singers, 
equally as the Greeks had their Hbmer- 
ides ; the testimony of Tacitus tells us so, 
and the inclination of the people for all 
that was great, and worthy of fame, as it 
evinces itself in their deeds, would even, 
without that testimony, have convinced us. 

It has been disputed whether the Ger- 
mans, about the time of the birth of Christ, 
had a written character. Tacitus express- 
ly says, that neither men nor women un- 
derstood writing, (literarum secreta viri 
pariter ac feminse ignorant. — Germ. 19.) 
And although this passage might be inter- 
preted in a more restricted sense, were 
there express witnesses to the contrary 
extant ; still, for the want of them, it is 
sufficiently conclusive of the ignorance of 
writing among the ancient Germans. There 
are, indeed, letters mentioned of Marbodius 
and Adgandaster, a prince of the Chatti, 
to Rome ; but these were certainly written 
in Latin, and only prove, if they were writ- 
ten by the princes themselves, that the 



32 



INTRODUCTION. 



upper classes, who had intercourse with 
the Romans, and perhaps lived a long time 
in Rome itself, learned there the Roman art 
of writing. The people generally, how- 
ever, were, without doubt, ignorant of the 
art. 

X. THE GERMANIC TRIBES. 
The seats of the Saxon tribes are al- 
ready generally stated in the fourth divi- 
sion ; the following are the names and 
situations of the individual septs : 

1. The Sigambri, a considerable tribe 
in the neighborhood of the Sieg, whence 
they probably derived their name; and 
farther inward towards the mountainous 
districts of Westphalia, which was called, 
later, the Siiderland, or Sauerland. Csesar 
found them here about the year 56, and 
Drusus in the year 12, before the birth of 
Christ, at which time their domain extend- 
ed as far as the Lippe. Weakened by the 
attacks of the Romans, to whom they were 
most exposed, a portion of them were driv- 
en by Tiberius to the left bank of the 
Rhine, as far as its mouths, as well as that 
of the Issel ; another portion remained in 
their ancient dwelling-places, and fought 
with the Cherusci against Germanicus. In 
the subsequent centuries, the name was 
retained only by that portion which dwelt 
at the mouths of the Rhine, and which 
constituted the Salic Franks, and formed a 
leading tribe in the confederation of the 
Franks.* 

2. The Usipetri and Tenchteri, almost 
always neighbors, and sharing the same 
casualties. Driven by the Suevi, about 
the year 56 before the birth of Christ, from 
their original seat, probably in the Wette- 
rau, (the district between the Maine, the 
Rhine, and the Lahn,) farther towards the 
north, they were, upon their crossing the 
Rhine, beat back again by Caesar, and 
partly destroyed. The remainder were 
received by the Sigambrians ; and in the 
time of Drusus, the Usipetrians dwelt north 
of the Lippe, on the Rhine. But the 
Tenchterians had already, about the year 
36 before the birth of Christ, when the 
Ubierians were driven to the left bank of 
the Rhine, occupied their domain upon its 
right bank, so that both the tribes became 

* Claud. Claudianus (about 400 years after the birth 
of Christ) de iv. Cons. Honor. 449 ; Gregory of Tours, 
ii. 31; and others. Clovis, on being baptized, was ad- 
dressed by the Bishop Remigius : mitis Sicamber. 



again neighbors, and dwelt in the duchy 
of Berg and in a portion of Cleves. Final- 
ly, the Tenchterians appear to have formed 
a portion of the Franks.* 

3. The Brukteri, a powerful tribe in the 
country north of the Lippe, as far as the 
more central Ems, and from the vicinity 
of the Rhine near the Weser, consequently 
more properly in the present Minister land, 
and some of the approximate districts. 
According to the most recent investiga- 
tions, the country in the south of the Lippe, 
as far as the mountains of Sauerland, 
therefore, the so-called Hellweg, is con- 
sidered a portion of the country of the 
Brukterians. They were divided into lar- 
ger and lesser bodies, took an active part 
as the confederates of the Cherusci, in the 
war of freedom against the Romans, and 
they received as their booty, after the bat- 
tle with Varus, one of the three conquered 
eagles. About the year 98 after the birth 
of Christ, in an internal war with their 
neighbors, they were almost annihilated, 
so that Tacitus divides their domain be- 
tween the Chamavrians and the Angriva- 
rians. But this account is certainly exag- 
gerated, as their name occurs in Ptolemy 
much later in the same district ; and even 
afterwards they appear as a portion of the 
Frankish confederation. After the alli- 
ance of the Saxons had more and more 
widely extended itself towards Westphalia, 
the country and tribe of the Brukterians 
became equally included therein ; but 
whether by force of arms, or by alliance, 
is not to be decided. The Brukterians 
may possibly have derived their name from 
the marshes (bruchen) in their country. 

4. The Marsi, neighbors of the Brukte- 
rians, also present themselves as active 
enemies of the Romans, about the time of 
the birth of Christ. In the battle with Va- 
rus they seized an eagle, which Germani- 
cus afterwards reconquered ; and this same 
leader commenced his campaign against 
Lower Germany, in the year 14 after the 
birth of Christ, by an incursion from Ve- 
tera Castra (near Xanten) through the Cse- 
sian forest, into the land of the Marsi, in 
which he destroyed the celebrated sanc- 
tuary of Tanfani. These events show us 
the Marsi as a Westphalian tribe, dwelling 
not far from the Rhine. Beyond this, we 
cannot determine with certainty their 

* Gregory of Tours, ii. 9. 



INTRODUCTION. 



33 



dwelling-place, and antiquarians conse- 
quently entertain different opinions with 
respect to it. Some place them on the 
Lippe, others eastward of the Ems, towards 
Tecklenburg and Osnaburg, which latter 
is the most probable. The sanctuary of 
Tanfana, which has been sought for in dif- 
ferent places, and among the rest near 
Munster, • would, therefore, henceforth be 
considered to lie in the land of Tecklen- 
burg. 

5. The Tubanti, likewise neighbors of 
the Brukterians, are placed by some in the 
country between Paderborn, Hamur, and 
the Arnsberg forest, (the Soester Borde ;) 
by others, and with greater probability, on 
the opposite side of the country of the 
Brukterians, northwest of the Rhine, and 
the Vechte, the Twente of the present 
day. 

6. Southward of the Tubanti, on the 
Rhine, dwelt the Chamavi, and bordered 
farther southward on the Usipetrians, to 
whom they had yielded a portion of the 
pasturage on the Rhine and the Issel, even 
before the time of Drusus. About the 
year 98 after the birth of Christ, they de- 
prived the Brukterians of a portion of their 
country, and they appear later as forming 
a part of the confederation of the Franks. 
In the middle ages, their domain was call- 
ed the Hamaland. Ptolemy mentions the 
Chamavi, as well as the Cherusci, at the 
foot of the Harz mountains, but which for- 
mer were probably a very different tribe. 

7. The Ansibari or Amsivarians, north- 
ward from the Brukterians on the Ems, 
(thence called Emsgauer or Emsbauer.) In 
the year 59 after the birth of Christ, a por- 
tion of them were driven away by the 
powerful Chauci; they long sought, in 
vain, another dwelling among the neigh- 
boring tribes, and they at last vanish 
among the Cherusci. A portion, however, 
must have remained in their ancient dwell- 
ing-place, as they appear later, forming 
part of the Frankish confederation. 

8. The Chasuari and Chattuari were, 
according to some, two tribes, the first of 
which dwelt upon the Haase, northward of 
the Marsi, and were thence called Hase- 
gauer, but the latter at the mouth of the 
Ruhr, where the Gau or district Hatterun 
gave testimony of them in the middle ages ; 
but, according to others, they were but one 
tribe, which had their dwelling northward 
of the Chatti, on the Diemel. 

5 



I 9. The Dulgibini are placed, with prob- 
ability, in the neighborhood of the Weser, 
perhaps precisely in the district of the 
Lippe, where the legions of Varus were 
destroyed, and where the name still exists 
on the heath of Dolger. In a stricter sense 
they belonged to the confederation of the 
Cherusci. Ptolemy places them on the 
right bank of the Weser ; therefore, they 
very probably occupied both its banks. In 
this neighborhood Ptolemy also names Tu~ 
lisurgium, perhaps wrongly copied for Teu- 
tiburgium, in the vicinity of Detmold, and 
Tropcea Drusi, the monument of the vic- 
tory of Drusus on the Weser, perhaps in 
the neighborhood of Hoxter. 

The following are some other places, 
mentioned by Ptolemy, in Westphalia, un- 
fortunately without indicating the domain 
wherein they were, and which are, conse- 
quently, very variously referred to by an- 
tiquaries : 

a. Bogadium — Munster, according to- 
some, but according to others, Bochold, or 
also Beckum ; according to Ledebur, Beck- 
um on the Lippe, upon the great Roman 
road between Vetera and Aliso. 

b. Mediolanium — Also supposed to be 
Munster, but now, probably, Metelu on the 
Vechte. 

c. Munitium — is either Osnaburg, the 
Castle Ravensberg, or Stromberg in the 
neighborhood of Munster. 

d. Stereontium — Warendorf, Stromberg, 
Steinfort or Steveren, all in the land of 
Munster. 

e. Amasia — probably the same place as 
the Amisia of Tacitus, the hold on the left 
bank of the Ems, not far from its estuary, 
which was built by Drusus. 

f. Ascalingium, near Minden on the We- 
ser. 

g. With respect to Aliso, the castle built 
by Drusus, in the second year before the 
birth of Christ, at the confluence of the Ali- 
so and the Lippe, according to the infor- 
mation of Dio Cassius, opinions are so far 
unanimous that it was situated upon the 
Upper Lippe, not very far from the entrance 
of the Teutoburgian forest. The majority 
again have decided for Elsen, near Pader- 
born, not far from the confluence of the 
Alme and the Lippe ; the most recent, very 
careful investigation of Ledebur, however,, 
has raised it to the highest probability that 
Aliso lay in the present parish or district 
of Liesborn, in the space which is formed 



34 



INTRODUCTION. 



between the junction of the Liese and the 
Glenne, and that of the Glenne and the Lip- 
pe, near the religious foundation of Cap- 
peln. 

h. Aroalo— where Drusus was pressed 
hard by the Germans, upon the frontiers of 
the country of the Cherusci, Sigambri, and 
Chatti, was, very probably, between Niih- 
den and Gesecke, where the Haar moun- 
tains gradually dwindle into the plains of 
the Hellweg, and where in the middle ages 
a Gau or district, Arpesfeld, was situated. 
The syllable ending with Jo in the name, 
implies a forest; Feld, in contradistinction 
to Wald, indicates old forest land made 
arable. 

Close to the left bank of the Weser, be- 
yond the Dulgibini, dwelt also the remain- 
ing smaller tribes of the confederation of 
the Cherusci ; and on the opposite side of 
this river : 

10. The Cherusci themselves, the most 
celebrated Germanic tribe of ancient times, 
when in their most flourishing state. About 
the period of the birth of Christ they pos- 
sessed an extensive domain, but of which 
it cannot be exactly stated how much was 
properly their own hereditary land, and 
how much of the land belonged to their 
more closely attached confederates, who 
are often called by the Romans, ofF-hand- 
edly, Cherusci. This domain extended 
from the Harz, its centre, eastward as far 
as the Saale and the Elbe, northward near- 
ly as far as the Aller, westward as far as 
the Weser, and southward as far as the 
Werra and the Thuringian forest. From 
the time of Drusus to the generalship of 
Varus, in the twenty years during which 
the Romans were almost settled in Lower 
Germany, and already spoke of a Roman 
province, the Cherusci were on friendly 
terms with them ; the sons of their princes 
entered the Roman armies, Augustus had 
a German body-guard, and all seemed 
peaceable. But under Varus the Cherusci 
placed themselves at the head of almost all 
the tribes between the Rhine and the We- 
ser ; the smaller tribes, particularly on the 
left bank of the Weser, united themselves 
with them, whom the Romans often called 
clients of the Cherusci, naming them often 
absolutely Cherusci, whence has arisen the 
error that the Cherusci dwelt on both sides 
of the Weser. Later, when Arminius went 
forlh against Marbodius, the Longobardi 
and Semnoni, their powerful neighbors in 



the East, united themselves with them. 
But after the death of Arminius the superi- 
ority of the Cherusci diminished. They 
became enervated in a protracted state of 
inactivity, and were by degrees so weak- 
ened by the Longobardi, Chauci, and Chat- 
ti tribes, that the shadow alone of their for- 
mer greatness remained. Once again only 
does their name appear as a constituent por- 
tion of the confederation of the Franks. 
Ptolemy mentions in their domain Lupia or 
Lupta, now Eimbeck, Callagri, Halle on the 
Saale, Brieurdium, Erfurt. 

With the Cherusci sank also their con- 
federates, viz : 

1 1 . The Fosi on the Fuse, or Brunswick 
of the present day. 

12. The Angrivari, on both sides of the 
Weser, below Minden, the neighbors and 
faithful confederates of the Chauci, with 
whom they appear again later as a con- 
stituent portion of the Saxon confederation 
under the name of Engern. The Saxon 
district on the Weser was called Angaria. 

13. The Chauci dwelt on the Baltic, from 
the estuary of the Ems to the Elbe, sur- 
rounding the Weser, by which they were 
divided into the greater and the lesser class- 
es.* Pliny, who had personally visited 
their country, sketches a melancholy pic- 
ture of the inhabitants on the coast: " The 
ocean, twice a day," he says, " overflows 
an extensive district, and produces a con- 
stant contest in nature, so that we must 
continue doubtful whether to call this part 
land or sea. The miserable natives dwell 
upon the hills of the coast, or rather heaps 
of earth, thrown up by the hand upon the 
margin of the highest side. They dwell 
there at flood-tide like mariners, and at its 
ebb like shipwrecked beings. The fish 
driven hither by the sea they catch with 
nets of reeds and sea-grass. They have 
no cattle, and do not, like their neighbors, 
feed upon milk. They are not allowed 
even to hunt for game, for not a shrub 
grows near them. The turf, secured by 
hand, they dry more in the air than in the 
sun, wherewith to cook their food, and 
thereby to warm their bowels frozen by the 
north wind. They have no other drink 
than rain-water, preserved in holes ; and 
yet, had these tribes been conquered by the 

* Their name appears to have been derived from the 
nature of their country ; kauken, quaken, means, in 
the vulgar language, to quake ; and the marshy ground 
of the country quakes under the feet. Quakenbriick 
still retains the original denomination. 



INTRODUCTION. 



35 



Romans, they would have called them- 
selves slaves !" Tacitus, on the contrary, 
who had more in view the extensive tribe 
of the Chauci in the interior of the coun- 
try, celebrates them as the most conside- 
rable tribe of the Germans, peaceably 
minded and yet warlike and valiant. They 
were long the faithful allies of the Romans, 
who frequently traversed their country, 
against the tribes on the more central We- 
ser, probably emanating in an original 
feud with the Cherusci. Indeed, in the 
reign of Nero they pressed hard upon the 
Wehrmanm of the Cheruscian alliance — 
the Ansibarians, and spread themselves so 
far towards the south, that Tacitus makes 
them even extend as far as the Chatti. In 
the third century they devastated Gaul in 
the reign of the Emperor Didius Julianus, 
and at last they disappear under the con- 
federate name of Saxons. 

Ptolemy mentions some of the towns of 
the Chauci : Tuderium, probably Meppene ; 
Thuliphardum, Verden ; Phabiranum, Bre- 
men or Bremenvorder ; Leuphana, Lime- 
burg, and others. 

14. The Frisi, on the Baltic, from the 
mouths of the Rhine, to the Ems, allies of 
the Romans in the German wars. In the 
fourth and fifth centuries they again ap- 
pear in the Saxon alliance, and even em- 
bark with these for Britain.* The Romans 
call the island Borkum, Burchana, and 
Ameland, Austeravia, on their coast, and 
in their country : Flcum or Flevum, on the 
Dollart. 

15. The Saxons, afterwards so impor- 
tant, are first mentioned by Ptolemy in the 
middle of the second century, as inhabit- 
ants of the present Holstein. They were 
skilful sailors, and in the fourth and fifth 
centuries became dreaded from their pira- 
cies. Tacitus and Pliny do not name 
them, probably because they comprise 
them under the name of Cimbri. We 
shall speak further on of the confedera- 
tion they founded and called by their name. 

16. The Cimbri remained for many cen- 
turies after their great irruption, with 
which our history begins, still in their old 
dwelling-place, called the Cimbrian penin- 
sula, styled, the present Jutland ; Strabo 
expressly says, " they still dwelt in their 
old seat."f 

Between the Saxon and Suevic septs is 

* Procop. Goth. iv. 20 t Geogr. vii. 2, i. 



found one of the most remarkable of the 
German tribes, which appears to belong to 
neither side ; viz., 

The Chalti or Katti, in high probability 
the Hessians of the present day, (Chatten, 
Chassen, Hessen ) They frequently came 
in contact with .he Romans, upon whom 
they bordered, and are often named by 
them. Caesar himself even knew them, 
for the Suevi, against whom he defended 
the Uberians, and whom he threatened by 
his passage across the Rhine, must, accord- 
ing to the locality of the dwelling-place, 
have been the Chatti. They even then, 
probably, belonged to the great Suevic 
confederation. Tacitus, on the contrary, 
expressly separates them from the Suevi, 
and we may, therefore, most rightly con- 
sider them as a self-dependent tribe, form- 
ing a separation between the two great 
tribes, the Suevi and Saxons. At the time 
of these great wars under Augustus, their 
country was often visited by the Romans ; 
but in the age of Tacitus, after the entire 
reduction of the Cherusci, their domain 
seems to have acquired its greatest extent, 
for they spread themselves from the neigh- 
borhood of Hanau, and where they bor- 
dered upon the Roman tithe-land beyond 
the Spessart and the mountains of the 
Rhine as far as the Thuringian forest, and 
towards' the southwest as far as the Fran- 
conian Saale, then towards the north, 
somewhat beyond the country where the 
Werra and Fulda join, and northwest as 
far as the heights of the Wester forest. 

Tacitus celebrates the Chatti especially 
for their valor and prudent management 
of war. Their infantry was the best of 
all the Germans. They were more ac- 
customed than all the rest to discipline and 
order, and knew how to form defensive 
camps ; besides, they were large-formed, 
powerful, and fearless, and their warlike 
glance was intimidating. " They can all 
fight," says Tacitus, " but the Chatti alone 
know how to conduct a war ; and what is 
very rare in savage nations, they depend 
more upon their leader than upon the 
army. Good fortune they reckon among the 
casual, valor among the certain things." 
Their youths allowed their hair and beard 
to grow long, and they wore an iron ring 
upon their arm, the sign of minority, until 
a slain enemy proved their manliness ; 
over whose body, and captured arms, they 
freed their face from the abundance of 



36 



INTRODUCTION. 



hair, and only then first boasted of having 
paid the reward for their tenure of life, 
and of being worthy of their fatherland 
and ancestors. 

At a later period the Chatti joined the 
extensive confederation of the Franks. 

The ancient metropolis of the Chatti 
was Mattiujji, which many consider to be 
Marburg ; but it is probably the present 
village Maden, near Gudensberg, on the 
river Eder. 

The Mattiaci, a branch of the Chatti, 
which, in the expeditions of Drusus and 
Germanicus, appear only under this latter 
name, but by Tacitus are called by their 
individual name, dwelt between the Lahn 
and the Maine, as far as the Rhine, there- 
fore in the present Nassau. The Romans 
located themselves very early in their 
country, constructed defences upon the 
Taurus mountains, and treated the Mat- 
tiaci as a conquered tribe. In the revolt 
of Civilis they took a part, and invested 
Mentz. Subsequently, their name disap- 
pears, and the Allemanni occupy their 
land. Pliny mentions warm springs here, 
which he calls Fontes Matiaci, doubtless 
Wiesbaden, where many remains of Ro- 
man buildings, baths, &c, have been 
found ; and Arctaunum, the Roman fort 
upon the heights near Homburg, of which 
traces are yet extant. Ptolemy names 
also Mattiacum, probably the present Mar- 
burg. 

SUEVIC TRIBES. 

1. The Semnoni are called by Tacitus 
the most ancient and considerable among 
the Suevi ; and Ptolemy fixes their seat 
between the Elbe and the Oder, in the 
southern part of Brandenburg, and in the 
Lausitz as far as the Bohemian frontiers. 
It is said that in their country the sanctu- 
ary of the confederation was a holy grove, 
wherein the confederate sacrifices were 
solemnized. They, consequently, appear 
to have stood, in more ancient times, in 
peculiar regard among all the Suevic 
tribes. After the second century of the 
Christian era, however, their name does 
not again occur in the annals of history ; 
of the causes for this disappearance, we 
are ignorant. 

2. The Longobardi, few in number, but 
the most warlike of all the Suevi. They 
dwelt, when history first becomes acquaint- 
ed with them, about the period of the birth 
of Christ, westward from the Middle Elbe, 



opposite the Semnoni in the Alt-Mark and 
Liineburg districts, where the name of the 
city, Bardewik, the villages of Barleben 
and Bartensleben, and the Bardengau, still 
preserve their recollection. They thence 
spread to the eastern banks of the Elbe, as 
far as the Havel. Under Arminius, they 
fought against Marbodius, but subsequently 
they assisted towards the reduction of the 
Cherusci, who appear to have been, for a pe- 
riod, in a certain degree of dependency on 
them. Ptolemy gives them, in the second 
century, a very extensive domain, from the 
Elbe over the country of the Cherusci, the 
Tubanti, and Marsi, as far as the Rhine. 
They may possibly, if Ptolemy's relation 
be true, have made successful, but short 
invasive expeditions. History then becomes 
silent concerning them, until towards the 
end of the fifth century, when they appear 
upon the Danube, in Hungary ; and in 
the sixth, they establish their kingdom in 
Italy. They derived their name, accord- 
ing to their ancient legend, (as handed down 
of king Rothari,) from their long beards, 
but according to others, from their Helle- 
barden or Halberts ; more probably, how- 
ever, from their dwelling-place, on the bor- 
ders of the Elbe, where a tract of land is 
still called the Jong Borde, or fruitful plain. 
Ptolemy names Mesuium among them, per- 
haps the present Magdeburg. 

3. Northward from the Longobardi and 
Semnoni, in the present Lauenburg, Meck- 
lenburg, and Pommerania, dwelt, accord- 
ing to Tacitus, the Suevic tribes of the Va- 
rini, Angeli, Reudingi, Avioni, Eudosi, Su- 
ardoni, and Nuithoni ; but little known or 
remarkable. We have already referred 
to their common worship of the goddess 
Nerthus. 

The name of the Varini reminds us of 
the river Varne, in Mecklenburg : and, in- 
deed, Ptolemy mentions, in their domain, a 
series of towns, which, according to his 
geographical determination, are comprised 
in the district on the north of the Elbe, from 
Hamburg as far as the estuary of the 
Varne. Hamburg itself appears under the 
name of Marionis ; Liibeck under that of 
Marionis Altera. Laciburgium may be 
Wismar, and Alistus, Schwerin. 

The Angeli, neighbors of the Varini, ap- 
pear later in union with the Saxons, with 
whom they seemed to have joined them- 
selves, in the vicinity of Silesia and upon 
the neighboring islands ; then in England, 



INTRODUCTION 



37 



which has preserved their name nobly down 
to the present day. 

On the coasts of the Baltic, extending 
farther towards the east, Tacitus names a 
series of tribes, which he refers to the Sue- 
vic race. Perhaps we may recognise in i 
them a third, namely, the Gothic, and we 
therefore quit, for the present, that direc- 
tion, to turn ourselves towards the undis- 
puted Suevic tribes in the interior of Ger- 
many. Here first we meet : 

4. The Hermunduri. The information 
of the dwelling-places of this tribe, which, 
besides, is named by almost all the writers 
who mention the Germans, from Veil. Pa- 
terculus to Dio Cassius, (with the exception 
of Ptolemy,) is very contradictory, but 
which may, perhaps, be owing to their fre- 
quent change of locality. Tacitus is ac- 
quainted with them as the friends and 
neighbors of the Romans on the northern 
shore of the Danube, whence they stood 
with the Romans in a peaceful commercial 
intercourse, namely, in the capital of Rhoe- 
tia, Augusta Vindelicorum, Augsburg, and 
he makes them contend with the Chatti, on 
the Franconian Saale, for the possession of 
the salt springs, so that their domain, con- 
sequently, stretched between the Danube 
and the Maine, across the present Franco- 
nia. They had arrived here about the time 
of the Christian era, when the Marcomanni, 
under Marbodius, were moving towards 
Bohemia. They were received by the 
Roman general, Domitius iEnobarbus. 
Thence arose their friendship with the 
Romans. They probably dwelt, previous- 
ly, farther northeastward, in the Franco- 
nian and Bohemian mountains, as far as 
the Elbe. The Hermunduri, from the mid- 
dle of the second century, appear only un- 
der the collective name of Suevi ; and it is 
they, probably, who, carrying it farther to 
the southwest, have preserved and brought 
it down to the present day under the name 
of Swabians. 

Ptolemy mentions, in the present land of 
Franconia, Segodunum. perhaps Wurzburg; 
Bergium, Bamberg ; Menosgada, Baireuth, 
&c. 

5. The Nariski, in the Upper Palati- 
nate, between the Hermunduri and the 
Marcomanni. 

6. The Marcomanni, the most important 
of the southern Suevic tribes, or perhaps, 
more properly, the advanced Wehrmannei 
of the Suevic confederation against the 



Gauls, and later, against the Romans — 
thence called mark or frontier-men — guard- 
ed the boundaries of Germany between the 
Rhine, the Maine, and the Danube. Upon 
the increasing weakness of the Gauls, they 
endeavored to make conquests in the coun- 
try of their enemies. Ariovistus was, ac- 
cording to all probability, a Marcoman. 
History will inform us how about the com- 
mencement of the Christian era, they, un- 
der Marbodius, advanced, in front of the 
Romans, towards Bohemia ; and how, sub- 
sequently, they became the terrific enemies 
of the latter. Their name disappears in 
the migration, probably merging in that of 
the Suevi, under which collective name 
they may have wandered, with other Suevic 
tribes, to Spain. 

7. The Quadi, the most southeastern 
Suevic tribe, seated upon the Danube, in 
Austria and Moravia, as far as the river 
Grau, in Hungary, where they joined the 
Sarmatian tribe of the Jazygi. They lived 
in peace with the Romans until the great 
Marcomannic war, under Mark Aurelius, 
in which they took a share. From this 
time they always remained the enemies of 
the Romans. In the fifth century, their 
name likewise disappears, and merges in 
that of the Suevi, among whom they are 
again mentioned in Spain. Ptolemy names 
many towns in their country, as a great 
commercial road led from Carnuntum, 
Pressburg, through the land of the Quadi, 
and by this means conveyed life and spirit 
into it. We name only Phurgi satis. Co- 
ridorgis, and Philecia, probably Znaim, 
Brtinn, and Olmtitz. 

8. Behind these, towards the east, an- 
cient writers mention the names of many 
other tribes, without, however, giving more 
particular information about them, or even 
being able to state precisely that they were 
of German origin. Thus it is with the 
Gothini and Osi, in the mountains which 
border upon Moravia and Bohemia, run- 
ning towards Upper Silesia, of whom Taci- 
tus himself says, that the former spoke the 
Gallic, and the latter the Pannonian, ac- 
cordingly, the Sarmatian tongue. 

The Marsingi, are mentioned by Taci- 
tus alone ; according to whom, their dwell- 
ing-place seems to have occupied a por- 
tion of Lower Silesia, eastward from the 
Riesengebirge. It is, however, doubtful 
whether the Marsingi of Tacitus were not 
a branch of the Vandals. In the district 



ss 



INTRODUCTION. 



of the above-mentioned tribes, belong many 
of the names of towns which occur in 
Ptolemy ; viz., Strevinta, in the vicinity of 
Neisse ; Casurgis, in that of Glatz. 

9. The Lygi, a powerful union of tribes 
in the eastern portion of Silesia, and in 
that part of Poland which is enclosed by 
the elbow of the Vistula, from its source 
as far as Bromberg. Tacitus considers 
them, perhaps rightly, as Suevi, although 
their manners and mode of life partake 
much of that of their savage Sarmatian 
neighbors, on which account several mod- 
ern historians class them with the Sclavo- 
nic tribes. They belonged, when we first 
hear of them, to Marbodius' confederation 
of tribes, and their alliance with the Mar- 
comanni and Hermunduri seems to have 
continued even much later. In the third 
century, they appear with the Burgundians 
on the Rhine, and are defeated by the Em- 
peror Probus.* The chief stem, however, 
which remained behind, probably attached 
itself, at the time of the great migration, to 
the Goths, the name being no longer men- 
tioned. 

Among the Lygian tribes, Tacitus names 
the Ari, the Helveconi, Manimi, Elysi, and 
Naharvali ; his Buri also, which he does 
not join to the Lygian union, belonged 
probably to it ; they dwelt at the sources 
of the Oder and the Vistula. Tacitus de- 
scribes the Ari as the most powerful, but 
also the most savage of the Lygians. They 
painted their shields black, colored their 
bodies, selected dark nights for their bat- 
tles, and excited terror in their enemies by 
the fearful and almost infernal appearance 
of their ghastly, death-like ranks. 

In the country of the Naharvali, there 
was a sacred grove, wherein a youthful 
pair of twins, similar to Castor and Pollux, 
were worshipped under the name of Alcis, 
and were attended by a priest in female 
raiment, f 

The whole domain of the Elysi, who 
dwelt probably in Silesia, and perhaps gave 
its name to the principality of Oels, was 
certainly traversed by a Roman commer- 
cial road, which is proved by the many 
Roman coins that have been, and still 
continue to be found buried there in the 
earth. 

In the great Lygian domain, Ptolemy 

* Fosimus i., 67. 

t Tacitus calls it the Sanctuary or deity Alcis, pro- 
bably the Gothic Alhs. 



mentions many names of towns ; among 
others, Budorgis, probably Ratibor; Ly- 
gidunum, Liegnitz ; Calisia, Kalisch, &c. 

10. The Goths. Tacitus, who only 
knew the Suevi and non-Suevi among the 
German tribes, considers this tribe also, 
which he calls Goths, as Suevi. Pliny, on 
the contrary, who makes a five-fold divi- 
sion of the tribes, regards them as belong- 
ing to the stem of the Windili, namely, to 
that of the Vandals. That the tribes of 
this stem dwelt, collectively, in the ex- 
treme east of ancient Germany, these two, 
as well as the rest of the ancient authors 
who mention their names, are in opinion 
unanimous. Later history finds many of 
these tribes likewise in combination, or, at 
least, acting under the same impulses and 
towards the same purpose ; and it was by 
them that the first grand blow was struck 
against the Roman colossus. If, therefore, 
nothing decided can be said upon these ob- 
scure relations, to the elucidation of which 
the light cf history is wholly wanting, it 
will not be objectionable, but rather contri- 
bute to the easier survey of this manifold 
mixture, if we here collect these tribes to- 
gether, as belonging, probably, to a third 
chief stem, allied to the Suevi, which, with 
Pliny, we may call the Vandalian, or, ac- 
cording to the title of the later principal 
tribe, the Gothic branch. 

a. The true Goths, or Gothones, were 
known to Pytheas, about the year 300 be- 
fore the birth of Christ, on the Amber- 
coast, near the estuary of the Vistula. 
Tacitus places them beyond the Lygi, 
therefore still on the Vistula, but no longer 
extending to the sea ; for on the coast he 
names the Rugi and the Lemovi. Ptolemy, 
nearly fifty years later, places them like- 
wise on the Vistula, in the interior of the 
country, and mentions, by name, the Ve- 
nedi, or Wendi upon the coast. We may 
thence conclude that, even at this period, 
the great movement of the Wendian and 
Sclavonian nations, from the northeast to- 
wards the southwest, had already com- 
menced, whereby the Germans were im- 
pelled forward in the same direction. Al 
the beginning of the third century, we al- 
ready find the Goths again further south- 
ward, namely, in Dacia, where they fixed 
themselves. At this time, also, they ap- 
pear divided into two great branches, the 
Ostro-Goths and Westro-Goths, or East 
and West Goths. Their progress and fate, 



INTRODUCTION. 



39 



at the time of the great migration, will be 
further related in the history itself. 

As single tribes, the Gepidi, Mosogothi, 
Therwingi, and Greuthungi, are named as 
branches of the Gothic stem, upon whose 
affinity and position towards each other a 
variety of opinions are still maintained. 

b. The Burgundians are placed by Pliny 
at the head of the Vandal stem, but they 
are not named by Tacitus. Ptolemy points 
out as their dwelling-place the country be- 
tween the Oder and Vistula, where the 
Netze and the Warthe flow. Driven by 
the Gepidi from this district, a portion of 
them turned towards the north and located 
themselves upon the island Bornholm, (Bur- 
ganda-holm,) between Sweden and Den- 
mark ; but the greater portion drew off to 
the southwest, attacked Gaul, were beaten 
back by the emperor Probus, dwelt for a 
space of time in the vicinity of the Maine, 
then upon the Upper Rhine, and received 
from the Roman governor, Aetius, at the 
beginning of the fifth century, a dwelling- 
place in the southeast of Gaul, where their 
name still continues. In their ancient do- 
main Ptolemy names the city Ascaucalis, 
where Bromberg now exists. 

c. The Rugi are placed by Tacitus on 
the Baltic ; he attaches close to them the 
Lemovi, who are mentioned by no one 
else, and who do not even again appear in 
the great migration. The name of the 
Rugi survives in the island of Rugen and 
some neighboring places. Tacitus does not 
enumerate them among the tribes who 
took part in the Nerthus worship on the 
isle of Rugen ; but it was, perhaps, after 
the age of Tacitus that they spread them- 
selves so wide towards the west, and gave 
ts name to the island Riigen, with which 
ne was unaco^ainted. At the time of the 
great migration they appear in the army of 
Attila, when he advanced against the Gauls ; 
after his death they settled themselves 
upon the northern banks of the Danube in 
Austria and Hungary, which country was 
called Rugiland ; and, shortly afterwards, 
Odoacer, king of the Heruli, Rugi, Sciri, 
and Turcilingi, (he being sometimes called 
by one and sometimes by the other of these 
titles, although by birth a Scirian,) came 
forth and destroyed, in the year 476, the 
west Roman empire. The said four named 
tribes were, according to all probability, 
closely allied, originating from the vicinity 
of the Baltic, between the Vistula and the 



Oder ; and who, after several separations 
and a variety of adventures, of which iso- 
lated notices occur in history, are again 
found united under Odoacer. The Heru- 
lians are, next to the Rugi, the most 
remarkable. They appear as a portion of 
the great kingdom of the Ostro-Gothic king, 
Hemanrich, and form, after Attila's death, 
a powerful empire on the banks of the 
Danube, at last vanishing on different 
sides, after encountering the most adven- 
turous fortunes.* A portion seems to have 
united itself into a nation with the Bojoari- 
ans or Bavarians. 

d. The Vandals appear as an individual 
tribe in Dio Cassius only, who calls the 
Riesengebirge the Vandalian mountains, 
whence the Elbe has its source, and we 
indeed find upon its northeast side the 
original dwelling-place of the Vandalian 
tribes. We have already noticed that the 
Wendili race of Pliny is the V andalian, and 
that Tacitus speaks really of the Vandalian 
as received by some others ; later writers 
expressly say, that the Vandals were of 
the same stem as the Goths, had a similar 
appearance, the same laws and institutions. 
We shall further relate their history at the 
period of the migration. 

Tacitus does not allow his country of 
the Suevi to end with the coasts of the 
Baltic only, as far as the estuary of the 
Vistula, but conveys his readers to the 
iEstyi, on the Amber coasts. They, ac- 
cording to their manners and dress, were 
Suevi, but approached nearer to the Britons 
by their language. They zealously culti- 
vated grain, and collected amber, which 
they called hesum, (glass,) and received 
with astonishment the high price Roman 
luxury offered for it. Tacitus describes 
amber very distinctly and rightly. 

11. Also, on the other side of the Baltic, 
in the present Sweden, according to him, 
are found Suevi, viz. the Suioni. " Equal- 
ly strong," says Tacitus, " by their fleets 
as by their men and arms, kings rule over 
them with unlimited power. Beyond the 
Suioni there is another sea, calm and al- 
most motionless. It is believed that this 
sea limits the earth, from the circumstance 
that the last dying splendor of the setting 
sun continues until its rise, and so bright- 
ly, that it obscures the stars." Thus it is 
evident that they had intelligence of the 

* Procop. de Bell. Goth, ii., 11 and 12. 



40 



INTRODUCTION. 



Polar circle. Tacitus also seems to hint 
at the great northern lights, by citing the 
tradition that particular rays are seen in 
the skies, and tones heard at the same 
time. To the Suioni are attached the 
races of the Siioni, over whom a woman 
reigns. " Thus far," says Tacitus, " they 
are not only degenerated from freedom, 
but fallen into slavery. Here is the end 
of the Suevi." 

That the Swedes are of German origin, 
may be considered as decided, and that 
they were closely related to the Goths is 
extremely probable. The name of the 
island Gotland, and many other names in 
Sweden, corroborate this. The Gothic 
historian, Jordanis, describes the Goths as 
having migrated and shipped themselves 
direct from Scandia, (Scandinavia, the 
general name given by the ancients to the 
northern countries,) and settled on the 
banks of the Vistula. But what he states 
assumes more the form of heroic tradition 
than a history of his people ; and it may be 
received as equally correct, that the Goths 
passed over to Sweden from our coasts. 

TRANS-RHENISH TRIBES 
In the west, the Rhine was not properly 
the boundary of the German tribes, but 
many of them had passed over it already, 
before the period of the birth of Christ, 
and had located themselves on its left 
bank. To these belonged : 

1. The Vangioni, the Nemeti, and the 
Triboci, in the district on the left bank of 
the Rhine from Bingen, below Mentz, as 
far as Breisach. In their domain are 
many towns, which owe either their origin 
or enlargement to the Romans ; viz., Mon- 
guntiacum, Mentz, an ancient Gallic city 
in the country of the Vangioni ; under 
the Romans an important citadel. Al- 
ready, in the year 70 after the birth of 
Christ, the 22d legion, which, on returning 
from the conquest of Jerusalem, was quar- 
tered in this place, brought with them 
probably, and introduced Christianity there. 
Bonconica, Oppenheim ; Borbetomagus, 
Worms ; Noviomagus, chief seat of the 
Nemeti, Spires ; Taberna, Rheinzabern ; 
Argentoratum, Strasburg, in the country of 
the Triboci, containing the chief arsenal 
throughout Gaul. 

2. The Ubi dwelt earlier on the right 
bank of the Rhine, but were so hard pressed 
by the Suevi, that they applied to Julius 



Caesar for help, and after he had procured 
them peace for a short time, they allowed 
themselves, in the year 36 before the birth 
of Christ, to be transplanted to the left 
bank by the Roman general Vispanius 
Agrippa. They were always the faithful 
allies of the Romans. Their country com- 
menced at the confluence of the Nahe with 
the Rhine, and here was founded Bingiune, 
Bingen, the first seat of their domain ; fur- 
ther, Bontobrice, Boppart ; Confluentes, Cob- 
lentz ; Antunnacum, Andernach ; Bonna, 
Bonn ; on the opposite side, as a bridge 
head or sconce, built by Drusus, was es- 
tablished Gesonia, the present village Geu- 
sen ; Colonia Agrippina, Cologne, a chief 
city of the Romans on the Rhine, named 
after the daughter of Germanicus, and 
consort of the emperor Claudius, Agrippina, 
who was born in this city of the Ubi, and 
in the year 50, after the birth of Christ, 
sent hither a colony of veterans in order to 
distinguish her birth-place. Constantine 
also caused a bridge to be built here over 
the river, the remains of which are still to 
be seen at low water ; on the right side 
was Divitia, the present Deutz, the bridge 
head. Novesium, Neuss ; Gelduba, (often 
named by the Romans,) the present village 
Gelb, near the little town of Uerdingen. 

3. The Gugerni, northward from the 
Ubi, commencing not far from Gelduba, 
down the Rhine to where the Waal divides 
itself from it. Places : Asciburgium, As- 
burg, near Meurs ; Vetera (castra,) Xanten 
or Biiderich, opposite Wesel. 

4. The Batavi and Canninefati, both of 
the Chattic race, were, according to Tacitus, 
driven from their country by a revolt, and 
settled themselves near the mouth of the 
Rhine, in that part of the land surrounded 
by water, which was called the island of 
the Batavians. They were allies of the 
Romans until they revolted under Civilis 
in the year TO, after the birth of Christ. In 
their domain lay Lugdunum, Leyden ; Ul- 
trajectum, Utrecht ; Noviomagus, Nimwe- 
gen. 

Besides these tribes, there were several 
others in the Trans-Rhenish countries who 
had formerly wandered thither, and were 
still proud of their German origin, as if the 
celebrity of their race separated them from 
a connection with, and a resemblance to 
the weak and cowardly Gauls. The chief 
among them were the Treviri, with the 
capital Augusta Trevirorum, the present 



INTRODUCTION. 



41 



Treves, the most important city of the Ro- 
man empire in our northern countries; 
and the Nervi, between the Meuse and the 
Scheldt, 

The south of the Danube was no longer 
inhabited by the pure German tribes, but 
such as had become mixed with Gallic 
and other emigrants. The Danube may 
be considered as the boundary of Germany 
at that period, and the Roman provinces on 
its southern side from Switzerland to be- 
yond Carinthia, and Carniola, were called : 
Helvetia, Rhetia, Vindelicia, Noricum, and 
Pannonia. 

ROMAN TITHELAND. 

But more important for the ancient geo- 
graphy of our country is the consideration 
of the southern part of Germany, from the 
Rhine downward beyond the Maine, ac- 
cording to others still further morthward, 
and which was called the Roman titheland, 
(agri decumates.) From these districts the 
Germans, pressed hard by the superiority 
of the Romans, who threatened them from 
the Rhine and the Danube, had retired 
more and more into the interior — among 
the rest the Marcomanni especially — and 
the Romans considering the land now as a 
portion of their own provinces, allowed 
Gallic and other colonists to cultivate it, 
upon the payment of a tithe. Thence the 
country which was now considered as a 
frontier or foreland against the barbarians, 
received its Roman name ; and as such it 
was already known to Tacitus. To secure 
it from the predatory irruptions of the Ger- 
mans, a long line of fortresses, walls, 
ditches, walls with towers, and other de- 
fences, were by degrees constructed, the 
traces whereof by unwearied research have 
been discovered in the whole of the south 
and middle of Germany, so that we are 
enabled to follow these Roman frontier- 
defences almost uninterruptedly. 

Their commencement is found in con- 
siderable remains of defensive works, three 
miles beyond Ratisbon, near the influx of 
the Altmiihl into the Danube. The in- 
trenchment, well known to the natives un- 
der the name of the Devil's Wall and the 
moat of piles, runs from here, for twelve 
miles uninterruptedly, towards the north- 
west, sometimes raised three or four feet 
above the ground, then again southwest 
and west into Wurtemberg, in the vicinity 
of the Necker, and at the distance of some 
6 



miles from this river constantly northward, 
as far as the Oden forest. This wall was 
built of a stone found in the earth near the 
spot, and at every half league was almost 
regularly provided with towers. If here 
and there perhaps the traces of the line 
have become indistinct, we soon again meet 
with them more perfect. In the Oden forest 
we only discover the ruins of solitary towers 
more distinctly marked ; and it is highly 
probable that here, where there was such 
an abundance of wood, they were con- 
nected by a fence of piles, or a row of pal- 
isades, all traces of which have naturally 
disappeared. But if we follow the remains 
of these isolated fortifications, we find at 
last that near Obernburg and eastward from 
Aschaffenburg, the line joins on the Maine, 
after it has completed from the Danube 
onward a distance of nearly two hundred 
miles. 

Northward from the Maine, the traces 
of the line are very slight, yet it traverses 
Hanau and Darmstadt, to the north of the 
Nidda, where the moat of piles begins to 
be again visible, and runs past Butzbach 
towards Homburg. Here lies the Salburg, 
probably the fort or citadel of Arctaunum, 
erected by Drusus on the Taunus moun- 
tains. In this part the frontier wall is 
twenty feet high, and closed in by trees as 
old as the forest itself. It runs over the 
whole of the Taunus mountains, then 
through the latter on the right bank of the 
Rhine, as far as the Ems, and thence again 
over mountain and through forest to the 
neighborhood of Neuwied. Its traces are 
lost behind the Seven mountains. This 
Roman boundary line extended no doubt 
as far as the Sieg, near Siegburg, perhaps 
also still further northward. Tiberius, at 
least, according to Tacitus, built a border 
wall, limes, also in the Caesarean forest ; 
but no trace of any connection between 
this and the southern defences has been 
discovered. It is clear that even under 
the later emperors, the defensive works 
were constantly being extended, until the 
repeated irruptions of the Allemannic 
hordes destroyed them. At the com- 
mencement of the fourth century the Al- 
lemanni were in possession of the former 
Titheland. 

As Roman colonies within the boundary 
line of defences, besides those in the north 
already mentioned, the following are fur- 
ther cited : 



42 



INTRODUCTION. 



1. CasteUum Valentiniani, in the neigh- 
borhood of Manheim. 

2. Civitas Aurelia Aquensis, called also 
merely Aquce, the present Baden ; it is not 
cited, it is true, in Roman authors, but from 
inscriptions that have been found, it is at 
least clear that a Roman garrison and baths 
were here already at the end of the second 
century. 



3. Tarodunum, near Friburg, in Breis- 
gau, where the Mark or boundary, Zarten, 
is still found. 

4. Ara Flavia, Rotweil, together with 
several others. The whole titheland is full 
of the remains of Roman buildings, forts, 
citadels, and temples, bridges, streets, tow- 
ers, pillars, and baths. 



THE MORE ANCIENT GERMAN HISTORY, 



FIRST PERIOD. 

from the most ancient times to the conquests of the franks under clovis, 

486, a. d. 



CHAPTER I. 

B. C. 113-6, A. D. 

The Cimbri and Teutoni, 113-101 b. c— Ceesar and 
Ariovistus, 58 b. c— Julius C sesar on the Rhine — 
Commencement of the great German Wars — Drusus 
in Germany — 3Iarbodius, King of the 3Iarcomanni. 

The Roman and Greek writers who 
give information upon this period of our his- 
tory, have already been mentioned at the 
commencement of the Introduction. In 
addition to those, we may include here the 
subsequent chronicles of Prosper and his 
continuators. Marius especially, Idacius 
and Marcellinus, which are collected to- 
gether by Roncallius, in his " Vetustiora 
Latinorum Chronica," 2 vols. Further, is 
to be named Beda Venerabilis, a very 
learned English monk, who died in the 
year 735, and who has left behind him a 
chronicle, " De Sex iEtatibus Mundi," to 
726, and a " Hist. Eccles. Gentis Angli- 
canse." Finally, we have likewise col- 
lected largely, for this earlier epoch, from 
Jordanis, who will be referred to in the 
second period. 

Efforts have been made to trace back 
the signs of migrations and contests of Ger- 
man tribes on Roman and Greek ground 
to very early times, and especially to the 
invasion of the Gauls under Brennus into 
Italy in the year 389 b. c, and the incur- 
sion of the Gauls again, under a second 
Brennus, through Thracia and Macedonia, 
as far as Delphi, in the year 278, as refer- 
ring to German tribes from the vicinity of 
the Alps. But these indications are much 
too obscure and fragmentary, and to pursue 



the inquiry would produce no essential con- 
tribution towards a knowledge of our na- 
tional records. We shall therefore com- 
mence the running thread of our history, 
after, as before, with the incursion of the 
Cimbri and Teutoni. 

It was in the year 113 b. c. that a wild 
! and unknown tribe crossed the Danube, 
and appeared upon the Alps, where the 
Romans guarded the passes into Italy. In 
this same year they defeated the Roman 
j consul Papirius Carbo, who commanded 
the army here, near Noreja, in the moun- 
I tains of the present Styria. Carbo had 
proved treacherous to them, for upon their 
| request to remain on friendly terms with 
I him, he had provided them with false 
| guides, who led them astray among the 
mountains, while he advanced by a shorter 
road and fell unexpectedly upon them. 
For this breach of faith they punished him 
severely, and he and all his troops would 
have been utterly destroyed had not a 
heavy storm intervened and assisted his 
flight. 

No one knew whence these fearful 
hordes originally came ; they called them- 
selves, according to the account of the 
| Romans, Cimbri and Teutoni. Upon col- 
lecting together the isolated narratives of 
writers, it appears that the Cimbri had al- 
! ready, for a length of time, been wander- 
i ing about, and had fought with many na- 
! tions, especially with the Boi, and now, 
■ quitting the Danube, appeared upon the 
Roman frontiers. Whether they are to 
j be considered as collective tribes intent 
I upon migrating, or only as troops of war- 



44 



THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI. 



riors seeking adventures, (as was subse- 
quently the practice of the Suevic warriors 
under Ariovistus,) or, forming themselves 
by degrees into one entire mass by the 
junction of women and children, they re- 
quired a country wherein to settle, we 
cannot, owing to the deficiency of precise 
information, positively decide. If the 
Cimbri, as is the general opinion, proceed- 
ed from the Cimbrian peninsula, so called 
by the Romans, but which now is the pre- 
sent Jutland, it is very certain that only a 
portion of the tribe could have left it, as it 
was still occupied by that tribe at a much 
later period. But if the name Kiniber, as 
others have . surmised, implied merely 
Kampfer, fighters, (Kamper, Strenuus,) 
they may then have belonged to other 
German tribes, probably to the Suevi. 
Opinions likewise differ upon the name of 
the Teutoni. Some believe it was not the 
name of an individual tribe, but that the 
Romans, hearing that these Cimbri were 
Teuten or Teutones, imagined that they 
had a second tribe to contend with, which 
they called Teutoni. According to the 
opinion of others, the Teutoni were wan- 
derers of several tribes between the Vis- 
tula and the Elbe, who, urged forward by 
the eruption of the Cimbri from their 
northern peninsula, formed themselves into 
an individual horde, and called themselves 
Teuten, or Teutones, the collective name 
of all the German races. Others fix the 
home of the Teutoni in the northern Scan- 
dinavia, in favor of which their iron armor 
appears to say much already. But we 
shall follow the accounts of the ancient 
writers, who always name the Teutoni as 
an individual tribe, and remind us that 
Pytheas had already, more than three 
hundred years b. c, heard the name of the 
Teutoni on our northern coasts. 

After the Cimbri had fought near Nore- 
ja, they advanced through the fruitful 
district that lies between the Danube and 
the Alps, towards southern Gaul, which 
appears originally to have been the aim of 
their exertions, and many tribes from Ger- 
many, Gaul, and Switzerland, strength- 
ened their numbers, particularly the Am- 
broni from the Emmegau, and the Tigu- 
rini, (Zurichers,) a valiant tribe at the 
foot of the Alps. They demanded a 
country from the Romans, for which they 
promised military assistance for every war. 
The Romans, however, refused their re- 



quest, when they determined to obtain by 
valor and the sword what they could not 
acquire by treaty. Four Roman armies, 
one after the other, were defeated and al- 
most annihilated by them and their confed- 
erates — the first under the consul Junius 
Silanus, the second under the consul Cas- 
sius Longinus, who fell in the battle, the 
third under the legate Aurelius Scaurus, 
who was taken prisoner. When he was 
brought before the council of the Germans, 
in order to give them intelligence respect- 
ing the passage over the Alps, he advised 
them to forego their intention, calling the 
Romans unconquerable. Angered at this, 
a young German prince, Bojorix, stood 
forth and struck Scaurus to the ground 
with his sword. 

The Romans, who already thought of 
conquering the whole earth, but saw them- 
selves now defeated by a horde whose 
name they scarcely knew, collected to- 
gether another large army, under the con- 
sul Marcus Manlius, and sent it to the 
assistance of the consul Scipio, w T hose 
legate, Scaurus, had just been vanquished. 
But envy and dissension existed between 
the generals, and the Germans taking ad- 
vantage of this, gave such battle to this 
large army, that 80,000 of the Romans 
and their allies were left dead upon the 
field, with 40,000 of their slaves. Man- 
lius fell with his two sons, but Scipio es- 
caped, with, it is said, but ten men. This 
day was, henceforth, considered by the 
Romans as one of the most unlucky in* 
their calendar, and the city of Rome, as 
well as the whole country, were seized 
with such a panic, that in Rome for a very 
long time after, any uncommon alarm was 
called a " Cimbrian panic." The enemy, 
however, did not take advantage of this 
opportunity, the reason for which neglect 
is not known ; but, instead of advancing 
upon Italy, they turned aside towards the 
south of France and Spain, and gave the 
Romans time to recover themselves. 

The Romans possessed but one man 
who still sustained their hopes ; this was 
Caius Marius, a rude, proud man, but a 
valiant warrior. He was of low origin, 
and had raised himself by his ' talents 
alone ; he was, therefore, hated by the 
patricians, but tney were obliged, in oppo- 
sition to all hitherto followed rules and 
against the laws, to make him consul sev- 
eral years in succession, in order that he 



THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI. 



45 



might free them from their terrific German 
foes. 

Marius collected his army and conduct- 
ed it over the Alps towards Gaul, as far 
as the river Rhodanus, (the Rhone,) and 
formed there a defensive camp. He re- 
established the ancient discipline and order 
in his army, which had been long neg- 
lected, and to which was to be attributed 
the mischances that had befallen them. 
He, therefore, kept himself for a long time 
quiet in his camp, that he might accustom 
his warriors to the view of the large gi- 
gantic forms of these strangers, and to the 
tone of their fearful voices. And when- 
ever he observed that a small troop of his 
enemies were alone, he quickly took ad- 
vantage of the favorable opportunity, and 
made a sortie upon them with great 
strength and superiority, that his troops 
might learn to conquer them by degrees. 
This delay was irksome to the war-hunt- 
ing Germans, and they often came to the 
very walls of the camp, mocked at the 
Roman army, and called them out to bat- 
tle, but Marius was not to be diverted from 
his plan. 

The Germans had now divided them- 
selves into two bodies. The Cimbri had 
passed up the Rhodanus through Switzer- 
land and the Tyrol towards Italy, but the 
Teutoni remained opposed to Marius. When 
these latter perceived that their challenge 
was not accepted by their opponents, they 
also broke up, marched past his camp on 
the road to Italy, and called out jeeringly 
to the Roman soldiers, asking them " if 
they had any commissions to send to their 
wives ?" The multitude was so great that 
they were six days passing the camp in 
uninterrupted ranks. 

Marius followed at their side, continuing 
always upon the heights, that they might 
not unexpectedly attack him ; he then re- 
encamped himself opposite to them near 
Aquse Sextiae, or which is the present town 
of Aix, in the South of France. In the 
spot he had selected there was but little 
water, and when his warriors complained 
of thirst, he pointed with his hand to a river 
that ran close by the enemy's camp, and 
said, "Behold, yonder is drink offered 
you — but only to be purchased with blood." 
They replied, " Why do you not then lead 
us at once against them while our blood 
still flows V* He however returned, in a 
steady voice, " The camp must first be 



secured." And the warriors, although un- 
willingly, obeyed his orders ; to such an 
extent had this strict leader been able to 
re-establish military discipline. Of the 
baggage men, however, many hastened in 
a multitude to the river to procure water 
for themselves and the beasts of burden, 
when, meeting with a few of the enemy 
who were indulging in bathing, they 
speedily came to blows with them, and as 
the cries of the combatants drew to their 
aid more from both sides, there arose a 
sharp skirmish with the Ambroni, whose 
camp lay on the Roman side of the river. 
The Ambroni were driven back into their 
camp of wagons, and then a severe battle 
took place with the women, who burst forth 
with swords and axes, attacking as well 
their own countrymen who retreated, as 
the pursuing Romans. Night separated 
the combatants. But this night was in 
many ways terrific and dreadful. There 
arose from the camp of the Germans a 
strange mixture of voices, not like lamen- 
tation and sorrow — although it might have 
meant a mourning-cry for the dead — but 
resembling a deadened roar, as of wild 
beasts, which was re-echoed by the moun- 
tains around, and by the shores of the 
stream. Terror seized the Romans ; they 
feared the enemy might make a night at- 
tack, which would easily have thrown all 
into confusion ; for their camp, owing to 
the battle, was still without walls and 
ditches. But the enemy stirred not ; they 
remained quiet, and continued so up to 
daybreak. Marius now laid down his 
plans for battle. He placed the infantry 
before the camp, but the cavalry he sent 
down into the plain, and he dispatched his 
lieutenant-general, Claudius Marcellus. 
with 3000 heavy armed soldiers forward 
to occupy the wooded heights behind the 
enemy, with the command to advance from 
his ambush at the commencement of the 
fray. 

When the Teutoni observed the Romans 
place themselves in order of battle, they 
were seized with such a desire for the fight 
that they did not await them in the plain, 
but clambered the heights against them. 
But as they arrived, breathless and pant- 
ing, the Romans received them courage- 
| ously and with closed ranks, and drove 
them back again into the plain. Marcel- 
lus did not waste this decisive moment, but 
broke forth in full gallop, and shouting 



46 



THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI. 



from the woods with his three thousand 
horsemen, fell upon the rear of the enemy, 
who, pressed on both sides, soon got into 
disorder, and took to flight. The Romans 
pursued them, and either killed or took 
prisoners more than one hundred thousand. 
Shortly afterwards, the prince of the Teu- 
toni, Teutobod, was also taken prisoner in 
his flight across the mountains, and was 
subsequently forced to form in Rome the 
chief ornament in the triumphant train of 
Marius ; and according to the account of 
the Romans, he was so tall and lofty that 
his figure rose above all the trophies, and 
so active, that he could leap over from four 
to six horses. But Marius burnt the arms 
and entire booty as a great and splendid 
sacrifice to the gods, excepting only what 
he selected and preserved of the most 
costly and rare. This battle, near Aquas 
Sextiee, took place in the year 102 b. c, 
and eleven years after the battle of No- 
reja. 

The exultation of Marius and his troops 
was speedily damped by the intelligence 
that the consul Catulus had been repulsed 
by the Cimbri in Upper Italy. These 
latter had, although late in the year, 
crossed the Alps, and drove before them 
the enemy, who guarded the mountain 
passes. The latter looked with astonish- 
ment upon these powerful strangers, who, 
in their delight at their native snow and 
ice, as well as in the consciousness of their 
hardy powers of endurance, revelled naked 
in the snow, ascended over ice and deep 
snow to the summits of the mountains, and 
then, sitting upon their broad shields, slid 
down from the peaks of the most precipi- 
tous declivities. The consul was obliged 
to retreat behind the river Athesis, (the 
Etsch,) but erected defences on each side 
of the bridge he had built. When the 
Cimbri, advancing closer, had surveyed 
the river, they commenced, giant-like, to 
break rocks from the surrounding sum- 
mits, and cast them, with stones and earth, 
into the stream, in order to check its 
course ; they loosened the piles of the 
Roman bridge with great weights, which 
were driven crashing against them by the 
floods, so that the Romans, in their terror, 
deserted their defences and their camp, 
and took to flight ; and not until they had 
crossed the river Po did they again take up 
a position. 

The Cimbri now spread themselves over 



the rich and beautiful plains of Upper Italy, 
and delayed going at once and direct, as 
they should have done, upon Rome ; the 
charms of the country completely enchant- 
ing them. Instead of their rude camp be- 
neath the open sky. they now accustomed 
themselves to the shelter of a roof and its 
comforts ; instead of their cold baths, they 
now took warm ; instead of plain meat, 
they indulged in choice dishes ; but, above 
all, they sank into intemperance by wine 
drinking. Catulus, in the mean time, wait- 
ed beyond the Po until Marius returned 
from Gaul with his victorious army and 
joined him-: when they both advanced for- 
ward over the river.. As soon as the Cim- 
bri were apprized of this, they collected 
their troops, and, in expectation of the Teu- 
toni, whose misfortune they were either ig- 
norant of or did not believe, they sent to 
Marius once more to demand of the Ro- 
mans a country for themselves and their 
brethren. When they named their breth- 
ren, the Teutoni, Marius ridiculed them, 
and said, " Think no more of your breth- 
ren ; they have their land already, and 
you likewise shall receive quite sufficient 
from us." The ambassadors censured him 
for his ridicule, and said he would speedi- 
ly receive his punishment from the Cimbri 
on that very spot, as also from the Teuto- 
ni the moment they arrived. " They are*- 
here already," said Marius ; " and it would 
not be right to allow you to retire without 
having greeted your brethren." And with 
that he ordered the captive princes of the 
Teutoni to be brought forward in their 
fetters. 

Struck with amazement, the ambassa- 
dors returned to their camp, and the Cim- 
bri immediately broke up ; Bojorix, their 
prince, rode to the Roman camp, and chal- 
lenged Marius, with the Romans, to battle, 
at any place which he might appoint. Ma- 
rius replied, " It was not usual for the Ro- 
mans to make their enemies acquainted 
beforehand with the day of battle, yet even 
in that he would show himself agreeable 
to the Cimbri and he accordingly ap- 
pointed the Raudian plain, between Ver- 
cellse and Verona, as the place of battle, 
and fixed the time for the third day fol- 
lowing. 

After the lapse of this interval, the Cim- 
bri quitted their camp in good order ; they 
placed their infantry in a square, but the 
cavalry, 15,000 men strong, turned to the 



THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI. 



47 



right, and endeavored, by this manoeuvre, 
to bring the Romans between themselves 
and the infantry. Their cavalry, for the 
greater portion, was equipped in the most 
sumptuous manner possible ; they wore 
helmets which were made to resemble 
the throats of terrific animals, or other 
frightful objects, with a full waving crest, 
which increased the size of their gigantic 
figures, and their iron armor and shining 
shields glittered afar. Every rider had a 
double javelin, and for close combat a large 
heavy sword. They had obtained these 
choice arms very probably in victorious 
battles during their long incursions. The 
infantry, however, poured itself forth upon 
the plain like an immeasurable and moving 
sea. Marius, at this moment, washed his 
hands, raised them to the gods, and vowed 
to them a great sacrifice, should he con- 
quer ; Catulus also, with raised hands, 
made a vow for the success of this day. 
And when the entrails of the slaughtered j 
animal were shown to Marius by the priests, 
he exclaimed with a loud voice, so that the j 
multitude might hear him, " Mine is the 
victory f" 

A severe and bloody battle now began. 
The heat, and the sun which shone in the j 
eyes of the Germans, aided the Romans. I 
For the former, brought up in cold and 
' shady parts, could endure the cold, but not 
the heat ; profuse perspiration enervated 
their bodies, and they held up their shields 
to shelter their eyes from the sun. It was 
precisely in the month of July, when the 
summer's heat is most intense, that the 
battle was fought. The dust also was op- 
posed to them, for it completely enveloped 
them, and concealed from the Romans both 
their numbers and their terrific aspect, so 
that the latter, not being previously alarmed 
by their appearance, fell at once upon the 
ranks of their enemies. The most dread- 
ful close conflict ensued, wherein the Ro- 
mans derived a vast advantage over their 
enemies from their short broad-swords. 
They had also so accustomed their bodies 
to the labors and discipline of war, that 
not a single Roman was observed to per- 
spire or to lose his breath, even in the most 
suffocating heat. Besides, Marius had in- 
vented a new weapon, a kind of long barbed 
spear, which the Romans hurled against 
the shields of their enemies, and with which 
they forced these down, so that the indivi- 
dual remained exposed. 



Thus it happened that the largest and 
most warlike portion of the Cimbri were 
killed. The foremost rank had bound them- 
selves together with long chains or cords, 
fixed to their girdles, that they might not 
be forcibly separated ; and they now lay 
on the field as it were strung together. 
When the Romans, pursuing those who 
fled, arrived at their wagon-camp, their 
eyes beheld a sad and mournful scene. 
The wives of the Germans stood, dressed 
in black, upon their wagons, and them- 
selves destroyed the fugitives as they ar- 
rived, nay, even their own little children 
they cast beneath the wheels of the wa- 
gons, and under the feet of the beasts of 
burden, that they might not fall into the 
hands of the Romans ; and they then killed 
themselves. Many of the men also slew 
themselves, for they feared slavery more 
than death. Sixty thousand were, however, 
taken prisoners, and as many more upon 
this fatal day were exterminated. 

Thus was concluded this severe and bit- 
ter war, which the Romans considered 
equally as critical as the earlier one, near- 
ly three hundred years before, when the 
Gauls under Brennus burnt Rome ; and 
thence they called Marius the third found- 
er of the city. But the boys and youths 
of the Cimbri and Teutoni, who were made 
prisoners in these battles, and conveyed 
away as slaves, amply revenged hereafter 
the blood of their fathers and their broth- 
ers in that of thousands of Romans, whom 
they slew in the servile war under their 
leader, Spartacus. 

Not quite fifty years had passed after 
this first essay at arms of the Germans 
with the Romans, when the former again 
advanced towards the Roman frontiers, in 
smaller numbers, certainly, than at the 
first time, and perhaps not with the clearly 
defined purpose of invading Italy ; but con- 
quest and the prospect of booty probably 
would speedily have increased their forces, 
and the fruitful pastures, as well as the 
full granaries, of the natives, would have 
allured them from province to province, 
until the fame of the smiling country be- 
yond the Alps might have suggested to 
them the path over these towering frontier 
walls, had they not found an opponent who 
knew at least the art of war as well as Ma- 
rius. 

Ariovistus, a king of the Marcomannic 
Suevi, between the Danube and the Neck- 



48 



JULIUS CiESAR 



AND ARIOVISTUS. 



er, was appealed to for assistance by a 
Gallic tribe, the Sequani, against another 
tribe, the Mdui; in the year 72 b. c, he 
passed over the Rhine at the head of an 
army, and obtained a victory for the Se- 
quani ; but the beautiful plains of the pre- 
sent Burgundy pleased him so much, that 
he would not again quit them. At enmity 
equally with the conquerors and conquered, 
he seized a space of land, and when the 
Gauls had united against him he put them 
to flight near Magetobria, (now Mumpel- 
gard.) He, perhaps, originally went forth 
upon this adventure as a duke with his war- 
like train, but more and more Germans 
flocked to him, attracted by the celebrity 
of this beautiful country, so that he speedily 
had under him an army of 120,000 men. 
The whole of Gaul trembled before him ; 
the tribes believed themselves already van- 
quished or driven from their ancient seats. 
The Romans, however, who possessed al- 
ready in Southern Gaul a subjected prov- 
ince, acknowledged Ariovistus as king in 
his conquered territory, and called him 
friend . 

But speedily afterwards Julius Caesar, 
one of the greatest and boldest of Roman 
leaders, appeared in Gaul. Burning am- 
bition excited him to great warlike under- 
takings, and he had arrived in these districts 
with no other view than to subject the whole 
of Gaul to the Romans. The iEdui and 
other Gallic tribes, now turned to him and 
demanded aid of him against the Germans. 
Caesar gladly profited by this opportunity 
of advancing further into Gaul, promised 
them help, and demanded an interview with 
Ariovistus. 

Ariovistus answered proudly and boldly, 
that, " If he himself desired aught of Caesar 
he should come to him, and if Caesar desired 
aught of him he must do the same. Besides, 
he could not understand what Caesar or the 
Roman people in general had to do in his 
Gaul, which he had conquered by the force 
of arms." 

Caesar replied to him : " As he had refused 
his invitation to an interview, he at once 
would briefly state what he desired of him, 
viz., in the first place, that he should not 
bring any more Germans across the Rhine ; 
and, secondly, that he should return to the 
Gallic tribes their hostages, and treat them 
no longer as enemies. If he fulfilled these 
conditions, the Roman people would hold 
constant peace and friendship with him ; if 



not, Caesar would not behold the injuries of 
the iEdui with indifference." 

Ariovistus, in his reply to this, referred 
boldly and candidly to the right of arms, 
according to which the conqueror might 
treat the conquered as he pleased. It was 
thus the Romans themselves were likewise 
accustomed to act, who well knew too how 
to make use of their rights ; he only required 
therefore to be left to do the same. And, 
with regard to Caesar's announcement, that 
he would not let the injuries of the iEdui 
remain unrevenged, Ariovistus replied: 
" No one had hitherto contended with him 
but to their ruin. If Caesar wished, he 
might begin the contest ; he would then 
learn to know what unconquered Germans, 
perfectly practised in the use of arms, and 
whom no roof had sheltered for fourteen 
years, could perform." Truly, the lan- 
guage of a hero of the great tribes-migra- 
tion ; to whom his sword stood in lieu of 
hereditary right and title-deeds, and who, 
with his brethren in arms, was determined 
to repose under no roof until he had con- 
quered the sought-for country of his new 
home ! 

With any other opponent this bold de- 
claration might have produced its influ- 
ence, and been effective ; but Caesar, who 
even in Rome itself could not endure to be 
the second, felt thereby the more excited 
to measure himself with such an enemy. 
He advanced against him and occupied 
Vesontio, (Besan§on,) the chief city of the 
Sequani, which was very strong and richly 
provided with all the munitions of war. 
While he remained here a few days, a very 
dangerous despondency suddenly over- 
powered his army. The statements of the 
Gauls who had been so often beaten by the 
Germans, the descriptions given by the tra- 
ders who had travelled through their coun- 
try, the close proximity of the terrific ene- 
my himself, tended, combined altogether, 
to present before the soul of the Romans so 
fearful a picture of the strength, the valor, 
and ferocity of the Germans, within whose 
annihilating glance it was impossible to 
stand, that many who had thus far volun- 
tarily followed Csesar, did not hesitate in- 
venting any excuse to enable them to re- 
turn home. Others whom shame retained, 
could however so little govern themselves, 
that they frequently broke forth in tears, 
and in their tents sorrowfully mourned their 
ill-fortune. Throughout the whole camp 



JULIUS C^SAR ON THE RHINE. 49 



all were engaged making their wills pub- 
licly ; and, at last, even those became taint- 
ed by the panic, to whom the dangers of war 
were by no means strange. And, in fact, 
there was a general murmur against their 
rash leader, for thus unnecessarily seeking 
so perilous a battle. 

Csesar, in order to subdue this impression 
in his army, summoned forth the whole 
force of his eloquence. He collected to- 
gether the leaders of his host, and represent- 
ed to them that a war with Ariovistus was 
as yet by no means certain ; he much more 
expected that the latter would listen to the 
voice of justice and of peace. But should 
he, from a mad love of battle, absolutely de- 
sire it, they had only to remember the defeat 
of the Cimbri and Teutoni, and the servile 
war just ended, wherein the Germans also 
were conquered as well as the Helvetians, 
not being able to resist the Roman arms. 
But if, notwithstanding, all these reasons 
could not serve to tranquillize them, and 
none would follow him, he would at once 
advance against the foe with the tenth le- 
gion alone, for on their fidelity he could 
depend. 

This address made a deep impression 
upon their minds. The tenth legion thank- 
ed him immediately for his confidence, and 
all the rest emulated each other in display- 
ing their readiness. Csesar broke up forth- 
with, and advanced nearer to the German 
army. An interview which he held with 
Ariovistus at his desire, was as fruitless as 
the previous negotiations, and Csesar now 
wished for nothing but a battle. But Krio- 
vistus took up a position in which he cut 
off from the Romans all the supplies, and 
caused his cavalry, which, by its mixture 
with the light infantry, was superior to that 
( f the Romans, to make skirmishes. But 
the battle, although daily offered by Csesar, 
he did not accept. 

Csesar then learned from some prisoners 
ihe cause of this delay, which otherwise was 
not in accordance with German custom. 
The prophetic women, according to whose or- 
acles the army acted, had announced mis- 
fortune should they fight before the new 
moon. Csesar now sought a battle more 
zealously than ever, and advanced close 
up to the German camp. They then at 
last drew forth their troops, and each tribe 
took up its position — the Harudi, Marco- 
manni, Tribocki, Vangioni, Nemeti, Sedu- 
si a and Suevi ; they surrounded their battle 
7 



array with wagons and chariots, whereon 
sat the women with wild and loosely flow- 
ing hair, supplicating all the ranks as they 
passed by, not to allow them to fall into 
the bondage of the Romans. The battle 
commenced, and they were soon furiously 
engaged on all sides. The Germans rushed 
forward with so much speed, that the Ro- 
mans had not time to cast their javelins, 
and their left wing was driven to flight; 
but their right wing conquered on its side, 
and now were displayed the advantage and 
superiority of perfect warlike order and dis- 
cipline. The broken wing of the. Romans 
was re-formed, when the third division ad- 
vanced to its aid ; the ranks of the Ger- 
mans, however, remained in confusion, for 
their army, although extremely valiant, 
was deficient in strict discipline and order. 
They were therefore at last driven to flight 
on all sides, and hastened towards the 
Rhine. But the Roman cavalry overtook 
the greater part, and but few, among whom 
was Ariovistus, saved themselves by swim- 
ming or by traversing the river in small 
boats. His two wives were killed in the 
flight, and of his two daughters one was 
likewise slain, and the other taken prisoner. 
Of Ariovistus himself history says nothing 
further. 

When Csesar had driven Ariovistus 
across the Rhine he began the subjection 
of the Gallic tribes, who were not equal to 
the Germans in valor. He conquered one 
after the other, and kept constantly ad- 
vancing to the Lower Rhine. Intelligence 
then came to him that two German tribes 
of the Lower Rhine, the Usipeti and Tench- 
teri, pressed by the Suevi, had passed over 
the Rhine to seek a new settlement in GauL 
They had with them their wives and chil- 
dren, their slaves and herds, as well as the 
rest of their property, and were upwards of 
430,000 strong. As Caesar now, however, 
considered Gaul to belong to him, he de- 
sired them to retrace their steps. They,. 
however, replied, " That they had been 
forced by the Suevi to wander from their 
homes ; they desired nothing but a land to 
dwell in ; he ought therefore to leave them 
the fields they had conquered with their 
arms, or give them others instead. Be- 
sides, it was not German fashion to avert a 
battle by entreaties, but to make a stand 
against those who desired the contest ; he 
was therefore free to choose their friend- 
ship or war. They yielded to none but the 



f>0 



DEATH OF JULIUS CESAR. 



Suevi, to whom in battle even the immor- 
tal gods themselves were not equal ; but 
excepting those there dwelt none on earth 
whom they could not conquer." 

They nevertheless were conquered by 
Caesar, but only by Italian cunning, for as 
their princes and chieftains came to an ar- 
ranged interview with him, he suddenly 
seized them as prisoners, fell immediately 
upon their camps, and beat and scattered 
the whole tribe, which was now without a 
leader. Some of them fled back across the 
Rhine to the Sigambri. Csesar required 
them to be delivered up. The Sigambri 
answered : " The Rhine at least was the 
limits of the Roman empire ; if he did not 
wish the Germans to cross the Rhine 
against his will, why did he presume to 
give orders on their side of the river ?" 

Such language vexed the proud Roman. 
He likewise still bore fresh in mind, that 
the Suevi under Ariovistus had already 
fallen upon Gaul ; therefore, he determined 
to build a bridge over the Rhine, and make 
the German tribes feel in their own coun- 
try the power of the Romans. In ten days 
he constructed with much ingenuity, in the 
country of the Ubi, below the place where 
the Moselle falls into the Rhine, (according 
to some near Bonn, according to others 
near Andernach,) a large wooden bridge, 
and passed with his army over Germany's 
noble stream. This was in the year 55 
b. c. He wished to attack the powerful 
confederation of the Suevi ; these, how- 
ever, removed their whole property and 
their wives and children far back into the 
interior of the forests, and collected all their 
warlike forces in the middle of their do- 
main, there to await their enemy. It ap- 
pears they had selected their ground with 
great prudence, for Caesar did not consider 
it even advisable to follow them thus far. 
He halted only eighteen days on the right 
bank of the Rhine, devastated with fire and 
sword the vicinity of the Sieg, where the 
Sigambri then dwelt, and then returned 
across the river. To the Ubi, who upon 
this occasion had been his faithful adhe- 
rents, he gave the name of Roman allies. 

But the Suevi had so little fear of the 
Romans, that they shortly afterwards sent 
assistance to the Treviri against them. 
Caesar then determined to cross the Rhine 
a second time. He built a second bridge 
a little above the former place, (according 
to the opinion of some near Neuwied,) but 



scarcely placed a foot in Germany, for the 
Suevi had made their arrangements this 
time as prudently as before. 

According to the connection of events, 
and of the locality where Caesar crossed 
the Rhine, those whom he called Suevi 
must have been the Chatti, and these either 
then have belonged to the Suevic confede- 
ration, or Caesar, in his ignorance of the 
German relations, has included them as 
such. 

After this period Caesar did not again 
pass into Germany, but he had become so 
well acquainted with the Germans, as be- 
ing such strong and valiant men, that he 
endeavored to raise troops from among them 
to serve in his legions. This was easy to 
him among such a brave people, where 
there were always bold men ready to go 
forth for pay, booty, and the love of war. 
Caesar was likewise a hero who well un- 
derstood how to win the hearts of his war- 
riors ; he led them always to victory. 
German subsidies helped him henceforth to 
win his battles, and at Pharsalus, where 
he fought the last battle against Pompey, 
and where it was decided which of the two 
should rule the world, they afforded him 
important aid. After the battle had been 
hard fought, Pompey dispatched his cav- 
alry against the enemy, that they might 
give decision to the battle ; but these horse- 
men were chiefly proud Roman youths, of 
the superior classes, who idly thought they 
could not be defeated. Caesar then gave 
command to his German infantry to drive 
back the cavalry, and called out to them : 
"Comrades, strike only at the face!"' He 
well knew that the vain youths of the me- 
tropolis preferred their smooth faces to 
scars. And the Germans, who were suf- 
ficiently tall and strong, rushed against the 
cavaliers as if they were themselves mount- 
ed, and not on foot, and frightened them so 
much that they speedily took to flight. 
Thus the day was by them won for Caesar. 
Henceforward, there were constantly Ger- 
man soldiers in the Roman service, and the 
succeeding emperors even formed of them 
their body-guard. 

Julius Caesar was murdered as he was 
about to make himself sole master of Rome ; 
but the Romans were no longer worthy of 
being a free people ; they therefore speed- 
ily fell into the hands of masters who were 
worse than Caesar. The first among them 
was the emperor Augustus, whose reign 



DRUSUS 



51 



lasted from the year 30 b. c. to the year 

14 A. D. 

During this time the Romans had sub- 
jected a greater portion of the then known 
earth. Of Europe, besides Italy, Greece 
and Macedonia, Hispania, and Gaul were 
also subject to them ; with that they were 
not however satisfied, but coveted other 
countries which lay beyond the Alps and 
the Rhine ; for the ambition and avarice 
of the Romans knew no limits, and no 
doubt it appeared very desirable to them to 
gain dominion over the powerful men of 
the German race, according to their own 
will, and to form the flower of their armies 
from their ranks, and by their aid to hold 
the rest of the world in obedience. They 
at first attacked those tribes which dwelt 
upon the sides of the Alps towards Ger- 
many, in the mountains of Graubiinden, 
the Tyrol, Saltzburg, and Austria : wild 
tribes, partly of Gallic and partly of un- 
known origin, who could not resist the su- 
periority of the Romans, and who were 
not only conquered, but exterminated or 
sold as slaves. This contest was concluded 
in the year 15 b. c. Henceforward the 
river Danube was on this side the boundary 
between the Romans and the Germans. 
From the other side, however, the river 
Rhine was no longer to remain so, and 
Augustus, therefore, sent his step-son, 
Claudius Drusus, to Gaul, to attack the 
Germans in their own country, and he was 
certainly a hero competent to accomplish 
what was great. 

Diusus undertook four campaigns in 
Germany, in the years 12-9 b. c. He 
warred with the Suevi, Chatti, Sigambri, 
Usipeti, Tenchteri, Brukteri, and Cherus- 
ci. He passed on from the Lower Rhine 
to the rivers Lippe and Ems, as far as the 
Weser, and in his fourth incursion ad- 
vanced even to the Elbe. But his irrup- 
tions were no conquests. The Germans 
well understood how to conduct war 
against such an enemy. They retreated 
from their isolated dwellings into the for- 
ests on both sides of the road he took, de- 
stroyed the supplies they could not take 
with them, placed their families in safety, 
and stayed there until the autumn. The 
Romans were then obliged once again to 
return, as they could not winter in the 
desert country, from the deficiency of pro- 
visions ; and that was the moment the 
Germans had awaited with impatience. 



They now annoyed the enemy at every 
step he took ; attacked solitary troops, 
rushing upon them suddenly from the for- 
ests, in the most dangerous places, destroy- 
ed the wearied stragglers, seized upon 
their baggage, and allowed them no rest 
either by night or day ; and thus the Ro- 
mans never returned to the Rhine without 
considerable loss. 

The rapid and extensive incursions of 
Drusus into Germany gave him, therefore, 
great fame among the Romans, but did 
little harm to the Germans. In the autumn, 
winter, and spring, they dwelt quietly in 
the places which the enemy had again 
quitted. But Drusus would certainly have 
found at last the means of establishing his 
dominion in Lower Germany had he lived 
longer. He had made one commencement 
towards it already. He built strong forts 
at the mouths of the rivers which flowed 
into the Rhine and the North Sea, that he 
might retain in his power all their naviga- 
tion ; thus being enabled to convey into 
the country a portion of his army with 
greater security upon a fleet of small ves- 
sels, and to transport their provisions con- 
veniently after. For this purpose he also 
commenced a canal, which was called after 
him the Drusus ditch, (and is still called 
the Drusus Vaart,) and united the Rhine 
between Doesberg and Isselort with the 
Issel. By means of this canal the Rhine 
was brought into connection with the Zuider 
Zee, the Flevum ostium of the ancients, and 
the Romans henceforth, by means of this 
outlet, were enabled to have communica- 
tion with the North Sea from all their holds 
upon the Rhine. Drusus himself took this 
mode of uniting himself with the Friesi, 
and of reaching the mouth of the Ems by 
sea, and where he likewise built a fort, 
probably opposite to the present Emden. 
On the Rhine he built as many as fifty of 
these forts, strongly fortified, especially 
Bonn and Mentz, the last upon the border- 
limits against the Suevi, and provided them 
with bridges and flotillas for their defence ; 
and upon the Taunus mountains, on the 
heights near the present Homburg, he built 
the fort Arctaunum, intended against the 
Chatti. Had he, therefore, from year to 
year advanced more and more with such 
fortresses into Germany, and so at last 
prevented his being obliged to quit the 
land again in autumn, the dominion of 
the Romans, together with the adoption of 



52 



TIBERIUS. 



their language and manners might, perhaps, 
have maintained a firm ground in Germany. 
But his course was already stopped in the 
fourth year of his impellent irruptions. 

We will here give a brief sketch of 
these incursions. The first he made was 
after his legate had revenged himself upon 
the Sigambri for the defeat of Lollius, with 
his fleet down the Rhine, through his canal 
and the Zuider Zee into the Northern Sea, 
entering the mouth of the Ems. The 
Friesi were allies ; however, the Brukteri 
had collected a fleet in the Ems and op- 
posed him, but they were beaten. Here 
Drusus built his fort at the mouth of the 
river, and then continued his course along 
the Oldenburg coast, as far as the afflux 
of the Yade, where his ships got stranded, 
but by the aid of the Friesi and the flood 
were set afloat again. The winter, how- 
ever, obliged him to return. 
• In the second campaign Drusus gained 
the shore across the Lippe, as far as the 
Weser, in the vicinity of Hoxter ; but a 
revolt of the tribes in his rear forced him 
to make a retreat, when he found himself 
suddenly surrounded near Arbalo by the 
Germans. Their too great confidence in 
gaining a victory, which misled them to 
make an irregular attack, as well as their 
thirst for booty, were the means of his res- 
cue. He built here, at the junction of the 
Aliso and Lippe, the fort or castle Aliso* 
in order to have a point d'appui for his in- 
cursions against the tribes on the Weser. 

The third campaign he made was against 
the Chatti, who, previously peaceable, had 
now united with the Sigambri against him, 
because he had built opposite to them the 
fort upon the Taunus mountains ; they 
were beaten but not subdued. 

In the fourth campaign Drusus advanced 
from the fort on the Taunus mountains into 
the land of the Chatti, beat them, as well 
as the Marcomanni under Marbodius, and 
forced the latter to retreat further east- 
ward. These attacked the Bojians and 
forced them to yield. Thus did Drusus 
himself assist in causing the Germans to 
completely drive before them the Gallic 
tribes, and to extend their own settlements. 
Upon this Drusus turned again to the left 
against the Cherusci, marched on across 
the mountains to the Saale, and along this 
river downward as far as the Elbe, (per- 

* Respecting the locality of Arbalo and Aliso, see 
the Introduction 



haps in the vicinity of Barby.) It was 
while one day he was here standing alone 
on the banks of the Elbe, which in his 
mind was not yet to be the limits of his 
progress, that, as it is related, a supernatu- 
ral figure in the form of a female appeared 
before him, and with a lofty, threatening 
air, addressed him thus : " How much fur- 
ther wilt thou advance, insatiable Drusus ? 
It is not appointed for thee to behold all 
these countries. Depart hence ! the term 
of thy deeds and of thy life is at hand !" 

Whether this was the creation of his 
imagination, or was devised by the craft 
of one of the prophetic women among the 
Germans, inwardly bemoaning the fate of 
her country, is uncertain ; — suffice it, that 
Drusus, on his return, fell from his horse, 
and died a few weeks afterwards in con- 
sequence. 

After him his brother Tiberius com- 
manded the legions which were opposed to 
the Germans. He was of an artful and 
deceptive disposition • and besides arms, he 
employed other and worse means against 
them. By craft he caused disputes among 
the tribes, and by want of faith he led them 
into ruin. The Sigambri, who were one 
of the strongest and most valiant tribes 
upon the Rhine, he could not conquer with 
arms. He, therefore, demanded an em- 
bassy from them to him for the sake of 
peace, as he said ; and as the princes and 
leaders came in great numbers, he caused 
them to be taken prisoners and dispersed 
among the Gallic cities, transplanting also 
of the tribe, which was thus robbed of its 
chieftains, 40,000 towards the estuaries of 
the Rhine and the IsseL* The princes, 
however, to whom life among a strange 
people was an insupportable burden, and 
who would not that on their account their 
people should be withheld from a retribu- 
tive war against the Romans, killed them- 
selves. 

By such means, indeed, it was not diffi- 
cult to hold in trammels those districts 
which bordered on the Rhine, or on the 
rivers which flowed into it ; and by the aid 
of the strong forts placed there, and of the 
frontier walls or land defences, (limites,) 
which enclosed the occupied country, the 
northwestern portion of Germany, as far 

* This transplantation of the Sigambri, by which 
Tiberius thought to exterminate the tribe, only pro- 
duced their salvation ; for from these new settlements 
arose afterwards the Issel-Franks, who laid the founda- 
tion for the greatness of the kingdom of the Franks. 



MARBODIUS, KING OF THE MARCOMANNI. 



53 



nearly as the Weser, appeared even al- 
ready subdued, and, as it were, a Roman 
province. Domitius Mnobarbus, the grand- 
father of the subsequent emperor Nero, 
who held the command in the years imme- 
diately preceding the birth of Christ, pressed 
forward, even across the Elbe. No one 
hitherto had been so far. He also built a 
road between the Rhine and the Ems, call- 
ed pontes longi, namely dikes and morass 
bridges, which led from vetera castra, near 
Wesel, onward to the vicinity of the Ems, 
over moors and marshes. 

When Tiberius came a second time to 
Germany, about the year 3 a. d., he com- 
pletely subdued a recent rebellion among 
the Lower German tribes, embarked upon 
the ocean, and sailing as far as the mouth 
of the Elbe, fought with the Longobardi, 
and took up his winter-quarters among the 
quieted tribes near the sources of the Lippe, 
probably near the fort Aliso. Henceforth 
this place was the point whence the Ro- 
mans directed all their undertakings against 
the middle of Germany, upon the frontiers 
of which they had now arrived ; and with 
the nearest tribe therein, the Cherusci, they 
had just formed an alliance under the name 
of friendship and confederation ; which kind 
of union had, more safely than the force of 
arms, led to the subjection of the tribes. 
The internal organization of this province 
appeared to be a task possible now to be 
put into operation. But under this great 
oppression of their country, the courage 
of the Germans did not sleep ; for, the 
same as in all times, although it was pos- 
sible to bend their proud spirit, still it had 
never yet been broken. The sources of 
their aid sprung from among themselves. 

A multitude of noble German youths 
had by a variety of events arrived at 
Rome ; some in the Roman service, others 
as deputies, or as hostages ; some again 
perhaps from ambition. But in the me- 
tropolis of the world they beheld neither 
greatness nor freedom, on the contrary, 
only slavery, which carries with it these 
sins : — meanness by the side of arrogance, 
flattery, dissipation, enervation, and idle- 
ness. To be ruled by such masters as the 
Romans then were, seemed to them the 
most disgraceful of all things. At the 
same time, however, they became ac- 
quainted with Roman military affairs, their 
art of government, and their craft ; and 
what the former had applied to the oppres- 



sion of their country, they determined to 
employ for its redemption. 

Marbodius, a noble Suevian of the fron- 
tier tribe of the Marcornanni, was a youtfi 
of this stamp. The Romans describe him 
as tall and stately, self-willed in disposi- 
tion, and more by birth than intellect a 
barbarian, which name they in their pri 
gave to all who were not Romans or 
Greeks. He had been sent young to 
Rome, and at the court of the Emperor 
Augustus he was particularly honored. 
When, however, he had seen sufficient of 
Rome, he returned to his own country, and 
as he saw that they could not, in their 
present settlements upon the Necker and 
the Rhine, well maintain themselves against 
the great power of .the Romans, which 
threatened them after the conquest of the 
Alps from the side of the Danube, and, 
since the almost completed subjection of 
the north of Germany, menaced them also 
from the Maine, he persuaded his people 
to quit their districts, and to withdraw to 
other settlements towards the east. The 
Marcornanni, who, by their warlike con- 
stitution, were speedily ready and resolved 
for any movement, broke up, and Marbo- 
dius led them to Bohemia, a country well 
defended on all sides by mountains ; they 
drove hence the Gallic tribe of the Boji, 
which had for generations past wandered 
thither, subjected many tribes around, and 
founded a great, well-regulated Marco- 
mannic kingdom. His capital was Bu- 
bienum, called also Marobudum, according 
to some the present Prague, according to 
others Budweis. The Hermunduri, Longo- 
bardi, and Senoni, the flower of the Suevi. 
became dependent, and thus his power ex- 
tended from the Danube across the centre 
of Germany to the Elbe. Henceforward 
he addressed the Roman emperors not 
humbly, as one subordinate and weak, but 
as their equal. 

He had thus far conducted his affairs 
laudably, and he might now have become, 
as it were, a frontier defence for the free- 
dom of the whole of Germany ; but it al- 
most appears as if he had learned too much 
in Rome. He had acquired the love of 
dominion also from the Roman emperors, 
and had at the same time perceived the 
art whereby the exercise of power over 
men otherwise free born, maybe confirmed. 
He maintained a body-guard, introduced 
all other Roman regulations, and hitherto 



54 THE ROMANS 



no single individual had ever practised so 
much authority among the German tribes. 
His army consisted of 70,000 infantry and 
4000 cavalry, and he kept it in constant 
practice by his continual wars with his 
neighbors, so that it could be well seen 
that he was preparing it for still greater 
purposes. This, however,, constituted the 
condemnable and distinctive feature in his 
character, whence, in truth, he cannot be 
called a great man ; inasmuch as all this 
was accomplished, not for the freedom and 
happiness of his people, but solely for 
himself, and in order that he might alone 
be called great and powerful, and become 
honored and feared. 

He had already appeared so dangerous 
to the Romans, that Tiberius, the son of 
the emperor, in the year 7 a. d., advanced 
against him with a large army. He in- 
tended to attack him from two sides with 
twenty-two legions, and he was already in 
full march, when intelligence reached him 
that a great rebellion had broken out in 
Hungary, Dalmatia, and Illyria, and that 
all the tribes from the Adriatic to the 
Black Sea, who dwelt upon the Danube 
and among the mountains, had conspired 
against the Romans, and had collected an 
army of 200,000 infantry and 9000 caval- 
ry, with which they were determined to 
invade Italy. Fright and terror seized 
upon all in Rome, and the Emperor Au- 
gustus exclaimed in the senate, " Ten 
days hence the enemy may be within sight 
of Rome !" 

Tiberius immediately concluded a peace 
with Marbodius, which was favorable to 
the latter, and hastened with his whole 
army against the Pannonian tribes ; and, 
after three years of the most obdurate war, 
he succeeded in diverting the great danger, 
and brought these tribes again under the 
dominion of his father. The latter re- 
joiced, however, but little in this good 
fortune ; for, on another side of his em- 
pire, the Germans had caused him the 
greatest loss, and had involved him in 
calamities the most serious he had ever 
experienced during his whole life. 

CHAPTER II. 
7—374. 

Aiminius, or Hermann— Arminius and Varus— Armi- 
niu° and <^ermanicus— The death of Arminius, 21 



IN GERMANY. 



a. d. — Further Wars between the Germans and Ro- 
mans—War with the Marcomanni, 167-180 — The 
Germanic Confederations — The Alemanni — The 
Franks— The Saxon Confederation— The Goths— 
The Decline of the Roman Empire. 

The campaigns and forts of Drusus, 
and the crafty, cunningly-devised arts of 
Tiberius, had effected so much in Lower 
Germany, as we have above seen, that as 
far as the Weser, no armed tribe any 
longer openly opposed the Romans. All 
was bowed down, the unions of the tribes 
were sundered, and the minds of many of 
the leading men had been poisoned by the 
seductions of the Romans. They already 
began to appear a different race of men ; 
habit and intercourse with the strangers 
commenced already to obliterate their na- 
tional manners. Markets sprang up and 
were established around the Roman camps, 
and enticed the Germans to purchase and 
barter. Even the earth and heavens, 
says a Roman writer, appeared to be more 
gentle and mild, for the forests had become 
penetrated and passable, and bridges and 
dikes were built across the morasses. 
Three complete legions, the best of the Ro- 
man army, kept guard in the numerous 
forts and camps, and in the midst of our 
lofty forests of oak, a Roman Prsetorship 
was established, together with Roman laws, 
legal institutions, and appointed functiona- 
ries. The Roman governor, Sentius Satur- 
ninus, who was in Germany in the year 5 
or 6 a. d., contributed much to these 
changes ; he was a man who united old 
Roman honesty with affability. He took 
pleasure in feats and enjoyments, and im- 
parted to the Germans a greater love for 
the refined mode of life among the Ro- 
mans. Quintilius Varus succeeded him 
in the autumn of the year 6 ; a man of a 
weak mind, who was more adapted for the 
occupations of peace than of war, and be- 
sides which, was addicted to avarice. For 
it was said of him, that he entered the rich 
province of Syria, where he had just been 
governor, a poor man ; but when he quitted 
it, he himself had become rich and left the 
province itself poor. The Germans, to 
this weak-minded man, appeared thorough- 
ly subjected, because they were tranquil, 
and he endeavored to fix slavery among 
them by those gentle but effective means, 
which are more pernicious and destructive 
than the power of the sword, because they 
assume an innocent garb. He sat in 
judgment upon the Germans, as among 



VARUS AND 



Romans ; decided upon the freedom and 
property of Germans, and the Roman 
lawyers, instead of the straightforward 
and simple German custom, sought to in, 
troduce the subtle and perplexing arts of 
Roman jurisprudence. If it be desired to 
fix within the heart of a nation, a secretly 
devouring and destructive worm, which 
shall gradually reduce it to that state of 
degradation that it becomes careless to all 
magnanimous ideas, the love of country 
and compatriots — substituting instead, the 
more debasing, petty, selfish considerations 
— it is only necessary to imbue it with a 
love of law and disputation, that all may 
become embittered against each other, and 
that every one shall know nothing greater 
than his own advantage. And as all ju- 
dicial proceedings were conducted in the 
Roman language, it was likewise intended 
thus to introduce and establish that tongue 
among the Germans. For, in order to 
thoroughly annihilate the idiocracy, free- 
dom, and independent feelings of a people, 
and to mould it into an entirely new form, 
it is only necessary to deprive it likewise 
of its peculiar hereditary possession — its 
mother tongue. 

Varus, however, had much miscalculated 
when he supposed the rude Germans were 
insensible to these cunning arts. The un- 
derstanding of uncultivated nations is keen- 
ly alive to those who wish to enclose them 
within nets, and the Germans were supplied 
by nature with a healthy mind and good 
discernment. They quickly perceived the 
source and central point of ruin, and they 
were beyond all things filled with inward 
rage at the view of the lictors' rods or fasces 
of the Roman governor, which were the 
attributes of his power of awarding corpo- 
real punishment, or even death itself. No- 
thing was more degrading to the free Ger- 
man than corporeal punishment, the dis- 
grace of the most abject slavery ; and the 
power of punishing with death, they did not 
even allow to their own princes, but con- 
ceded it to the divinity alone, who pro- 
claimed the sentence through the voice of 
his priests. 

Their wrath, however, durst not give it- 
self utterance, but it remained long con- 
cealed in the breasts of individuals, for 
there was no one near, who with a bold 
mind could collect and fan the glimmering 
sparks into a broad flame. But it was 
Rome itself that was chosen to nurture and 



ARMINIUS. 55 



bring up to maturity the saviour of German 
freedom. This was Arminius, (whom we 
are accustomed to call Hermann,) the son 
of Segimer, prince of the Cherusci ; a youth 
of valiant heart and arm, of a clear, quick 
mind, whose eyes proclaimed the fire of his 
soul. By distinguished military service; he 
had acquired the right and dignity of a Ro- 
man citizen and knight, and had returned 
to his country well instructed and practised 
in all the arts of war and peace. He here 
perceived the disgrace and ruin which was 
being prepared for his native country ; and 
his mind pondered upon the great means 
of remedy. He speedily discovered a simi- 
lar feeling to reign among the noblest of 
the Cherusci and the neighboring tribes ; 
his inflaming word inspired their courage : 
they prepared the grand blow of deliver- 
ance, and in order to destroy the Romans 
the more securely, they enticed Varus by 
a planned rebellion to the frontiers — as it 
is related by the Roman writers — still far- 
ther away from the Rhine, into the depths 
of the Teutoburger forest, which flanked 
the districts towards the Weser. 

Varus, however, might still have escaped 
his fate, through treachery : the traitor be- 
ing found among the Germans themselves, 
in the person of Segestes, a prince of the 
Cherusci, who was an enemy to Segimer ; 
while he was envious also of Arminius's 
great reputation, and jealous because this 
much younger man, by the powers of his 
mind and his heroic virtues, attracted the 
eyes of all the tribes upon him. Even the 
day before the breaking out of the conspi- 
racy, when Varus had collected the princes 
at a banquet, Segestes entreated him most 
earnestly to take Arminius prisoner on the 
spot ; but a blind confidence in his own 
power, concealed from the governor the 
abyss that yawned beneath his feet. He 
advanced still deeper into the forest which 
covered the country of the Weser, and the 
princes quitted him with the promise of im- 
mediately joining him with their auxiliary 
troops. They came — their plan being well 
and happily laid — and in the midst of the 
Teutoburger forest, (in the present princi- 
pality of Lippe-Detmol,) where there are 
on all sides mountains and narrow valleys, 
they met him. Nowhere around was a 
beaten path visible, nothing but a thickly 
grown and impenetrable wood. Trees 
were obliged to be hewn, pits and morasses 
filled up, and bridges built. It was in the 



56 



VARUS AND ARMINIUS. 



stormy autumn season — the month of Sep- 
tember ; heavy rains had made the ground 
slippery and every step unsafe, while the 
tempest roared at the summits of the oaks, 
whence the tutelary deities of the country 
seemed wrathfully to threaten. Warriors, 
beasts of burden, loaded with baggage and 
munition, all passed heedlessly on, as in 
perfect security. 

Amidst these terrors of nature, appear- 
ed suddenly, on all sides, occupying the 
heights, the Germans as foes, hurling forth 
their destructive weapons against the com- 
pressed masses of Romans. These could 
but little defend themselves in their heavy 
armor, upon a slippery ground, and with 
arms which were spoiled for use by the con- 
tinued rain. They, however, continued 
their course under continual attacks, and 
arrived in the evening at a spot where a 
camp might be constructed. Fatigued as 
all were, they nevertheless exerted their 
utmost powers to raise defences which 
should keep the enemy off, in order to pro- 
vide themselves with at least one quiet 
night, were it even to be their last. Thus 
they awaited the dawn of day between hope 
and fear. In the morning every thing un- 
necessary was burnt ; the soldiers were 
thereby made lighter for battle, and the 
baggage was also diminished ; this, toge- 
ther with the women and children, of whom 
there was a great number with the expedi- 
tion, (as no war had been anticipated,) they 
placed in their centre, and commenced their 
retreat, probably in the direction of their 
fort Aliso. Their fate seemed to brighten ; 
they came to a more open space, where 
they could muster and regulate their ranks, 
and where the Germans did not venture to 
attack them ; but this was to be no resting- 
place for them, they were to resume their 
march forward, and the terrific forest once 
more received them. The enemy renewed 
and increased his attacks ; the tempest still 
continued, at which the Germans exclaimed 
as the)' pursued the Romans : " Behold this 
is done by our God, who will this day re- 
venge our wrongs upon our enemies." 
Many of the most valiant Romans sank 
beneath their wrathful, and unceasingly 
emboldened attacks. 

In this desperate position night appeared 
a second time, and they again endeavored 
to construct defences. But the attacking 
enemy, with his crie* of victory, left them 
no time, and then, when heaven and earth 



seemed to oppose them, and there was no 
hope of salvation, the courage of the bravest 
sank. Varus, seeing now that all was 
lost, and having already received several 
wounds, cast himself upon his sword ; ma- 
ny of the leaders followed his example, 
while the whole army was either made 
prisoners or killed, very few escaping. 
This last battle took place, according to 
the most recent researches, very probably 
between the present Horn and Lippe spring, 
on the southern borders of the Lippe.* 
Thus was annihilated the finest and most 
valiant of all the Roman armies, with the 
auxiliaries, 40,000 men strong. This was 
the hour of the heavy retaliation that was 
to be expected upon some such day, from 
the fury of a severely oppressed, freedom- 
loving, but still savage people. Many of 
the most distinguished prisoners bled as 
sacrifices upon the altars of the native di- 
vinities, others, who retained their lives, 
were used for the most degrading services ; 
and as the Romans themselves inform us, 
several of their distinguished countrymen, 
to whom at home the gates of entrance into 
the senate were open, concluded their mi- 
serable lives as the herdsmen of German 
flocks, or as the keepers or porters of Ger- 
man gates. It is also related, how embit- 
tered the Germans showed themselves to- 
wards the Roman judicial functionaries, 
with the feeling, as it were, that it was by 
their arts that the greatest danger was pre- 
pared against freedom and independence ; 
and further, that a German tore out the 
tongue of one of these functionaries with 
the caustic words, " Now cease hissing, 
adder !" Such is the account of the great 
German battle of freedom, according to the 
relation of our enemies themselves. In 
what a different light should we not behold 
it, had we the testimony thereupon of even 
one German historian ! 

But the opinion of all is unanimous and 
fixed, and it is confirmed by the confession of 
the Romans themselves, that our fatherland 
owes its freedom to this great victory in the 
Teutoburger forest, and we, the descend- 
ants of those races, are indebted to it for the 
unmixed German blood which flows in our 
veins, and for the pure German sounds pro- 
nounced by our tongue. But in Rome 
there was universal alarm and mourning' : 

* The three days of battle have been calculated by 
M. Schmidt, not without ingenuity, to have taken 
place about the 9th, 10th, and 11th of September. 



ARMINIUS AND 



while the Germans were full of rejoicing, 
and, storming the forts on this side of the 
Rhine,* cleared the whole country of the 
Romans. The Emperor Augustus was 
beside himself ; in his fury he struck 
his head against the wall, and constantly 
exclaimed : " Oh, Varus, Varus, restore 
me my legions !" For some months he 
allowed his beard and hair to grow, the 
guards of the city were doubled, and that 
no riot might occur, the Germans were 
dispatched from Rome, and even the Ger- 
man body-guard was conveyed across the 
sea into the islands. At last Augustus 
vowed great festivals to his god Jupiter, 
" should his empire attain a more flourish- 
ing state." — Thus did it happen in the 
Cimbrian war. 

In order to meet the more extensive in- 
cursions of the Germans which were now 
expected as certain, consequent upon this 
victory, Tiberius was hastily dispatched to 
the Rhine with a rapidly collected army ; 
to his astonishment, however, he found 
every thing quiet. The Germans did not 
desire conquest, they wished only to protect 
their freedom, and according to the very 
nature of their alliance, after the danger 
was removed each returned to his home. 
Tiberius held the vacillating Gaul in obe- 
dience, and passed again across the Rhine, 
but without proceeding very far into the 
country ; and as in a few years afterwards 
he succeeded Augustus in the empire, he 
transferred to his nephew, Germanicus, the 
son of Drusus, the management of the war 
against the Germans. 

Germanicus, a young and ardent hero, 
had before his mind the great example of 
his father, and he resolved to revenge the 
defeat of Varus. He undertook three 
grand campaigns in Lower Germany, in 
the same districts where war had previous- 
ly raged on the Lippe, and from the sea 
up the Ems towards the Weser and the 
Elbe. Germany was now again menaced 
with fresh danger, for Germanicus was a 
warrior worthy of the best ages of Rome. 
But equally as Arminius had obtained vic- 
tory over bad leaders, so did he now with 

* Aliso held out the longest. It was so strong, that 
the Germans, being without a knowledge of the art of 
besieging and the necessary instruments, could not 
conquer it by force. They had, therefore, recourse to 
famine ; but the Roman garrison managed, in an un- 
watched moment, by a ruse de guerre, to slip out, and, 
although with loss, they nevertheless succeeded in 
reaching the Rhine. 

8 



GERMANICUS. 5 1 ? 



so much craft and valor resist those better 
chiefs who advanced with large armies, 
that although he was not always victorious 
in his battles, he obliged his opponent, at 
the end of every campaign, to withdraw 
to his fortresses on the Rhine. And thus, 
on these occasions, he did not less for the 
freedom of his fatherland than he had pre- 
viously done in the annihilation of the le- 
gions of Varus. 

Germanicus made his first campaign in 
the year 14 a. d., with 12,000 Romans 
and a multitude of allies from the Pvhine, 
where Buderich and Wesel now lie, 
through the Csesarean forest in the vicini- 
ty of the Marsi, and fell craftily from sev- 
eral sides upon the unprepared enemy, 
(who, thinking themselves in the midst of 
peace, were at the time celebrating a great 
festival,) and destroyed the country for 
fifty miles around with fire and sword. No 
age, no sex was spared, and a widely 
celebrated temple — that of Taufana — (ac- 
cording to some, in Tecklenburg, accord- 
ing to others, in the neighborhood of the 
present Munster) — was destroyed. He 
did not press farther into Lower Germany, 
for now the Brukteri, the Tubanti, and 
Usipeti, speedily collected themselves to 
revenge the misfortune of their friends. 
The retreat of the Romans was not unac- 
companied by difficulties. It was only by 
prudence and strict order that Germanicus 
led his legions successfully back across 
the Rhine. 

In the following year, after he had first 
attacked the Chatti, who had joined the 
confederation of the tribes under Armin- 
ius, he rescued Segestes, who was hated 
by his own tribe, and who applied to him 
for assistance and rescue from the hands 
of his opponents. The feud between the 
two hostile houses had again broke out. 
Arminius, who loved Thusnelda, third 
daughter of Segestes, and whom the father 
refused to give to him in marriage, had 
eloped with, and made her his wife. Her 
father, however, recaptured her, and 
brought her back to his castle. Here he 
was besieged by Arminius, in order to re- 
cover his wife ; but Germanicus meantime 
delivered Segestes, and upon this occasion 
he took prisoner Arminius's consort, Thus- 
nelda, and conducted her to Rome. But 
she never forgot her husband or her high 
rank, and in her sentiments she fortunately 
more resembled him than her father. Se- 



58 ARMINIUS AND GERMANICUS. 



gestes, on the contrary, who had now found 
a protector, addressed the Romans in the 
same sense as at all times is usual from 
such as have betrayed their country : 
" This is not the first day of my fidelity 
and constancy towards the Roman peo- 
ple !" he exclaimed. " Since I was made 
a Roman citizen by the divine Augustus, 
I have, in the selection of my friends and 
enemies, had solely your advantage in 
view 7 ; not from hatred towards my coun- 
try — for traitors are hateful to those to 
whom they twin — but from the conviction 
that the same thing is beneficial to both 
Romans and Germans, and because I pre- 
fer peace to war, the old order of things to 
the new, and tranquillity to turmoil. And 
now that I am with you, I can become to 
the German people a useful advocate, 
should they choose repentance instead of 
ruin." 

Thus spoke Segestes. Augustus prom- 
ised him protection, and selected a dwell- 
ing for him on the Rhine. Arminius, 
however, felt the most violent rage and in- 
dignation, and above all, it pained him 
most deeply to think, that the child with 
which his consort was pregnant, must first 
behold the light of day in slavery among 
the Romans. Acting upon these feelings, 
he forthwith traversed the land of the 
Cherusci, summoning them all to the war 
against Segestes, and against the Romans. 
His words are rife with the most bitter en- 
ergy : " The noble father ! the great lead- 
er ! the valiant army \" he exclaimed, 
ironically, " who all combined together to 
carry off a weak woman ! Before me 
three legions, and as many leaders, have 
fallen ; i" do not conduct war by treach- 
ery, and against pregnant women, but 
openly against the armed ; and in our 
German groves are now to be seen the 
Roman banners which I have there conse- 
crated to our native divinities. Let Se- 
gestes continue to dwell upon the subjected 
banks of the Rhine. Let him there obtain 
the priestly dignity for his son ; but let 
him know that the Germans will never 
forgive him, or forget that they have seen, 
between the Rhine and the Elbe, the Ro- 
man fasces and the Roman toga. If, 
therefore, my countrymen, your fatherland 
and families, and our ancient German 
manners, are dearer to you than alien ru- 
lers and their followers, then join Armin- 
ius, who w 7 ill lead you to glory and free- 



dom, rather than obey Segestes, who will 
only conduct you to disgrace and slave- 
ry!" 

By such fiery language he excited and 
collected together the Cherusci and allied 
tribes, and at their head appeared at his 
side his uncle, Inguiomar, as the Romans 
call him, who stood in great respect and 
esteem among the people. 

Germanicus had already retired with 
his legions to the Rhine : upon receiving 
intelligence, however, of this fresh and 
great rising of the German tribes, he re- 
solved upon another expedition that same 
year, so as to prevent them from making 
an attack upon the Rhine. In order to 
pass more rapidly, and from several sides, 
into the heart of the country of the enemy, 
he, according to his father's example, led 
a portion of his army by sea to the estua- 
ry of the Ems ; two other divisions, under 
Coecina and Pedo, advanced from the 
Rhine through the interior of the country, 
and thus the infantry, cavalry, and the 
flotilla met together in Westphalia. Un- 
fortunately the Romans were not without 
German auxiliaries ; they had Batavian 
cavalry with them — and besides these, 
troops from the Tyrol and Salzburg, as 
also from the left bank of the Rhine. 
The country that lay between the Ems 
and the Lippe was devastated ; the Bruk- 
teri destroyed their own country them- 
selves, that a waste might lie before the 
Romans ; but the latter pressed onward, 
recaptured, in their pursuit of the Bruk- 
teri, the eagle of the (19th) legion, which 
the latter had taken in the battle with Va- 
rus, and arrived in the neighborhood of 
the Teutoburger forest, where Varus had 
been destroyed. Germanicus glowed with 
the desire to show r the last honor to the 
fallen leader and his army. He sent 
Coecina forward to inspect the mountains 
and passes, and to lay bridges and dams 
over the deceptive morasses ; and then he 
himself advanced and marched over the 
melancholy scene, ghastly and terrific in 
its appearance as well as in its associa- 
tions. The vestiges of the first camp of 
Varus might still be recognised by the 
larger circuit of ground, capable of con- 
taining three complete legions ; the second 
encampment was smaller, the wall half 
demolished, and the trench filled up and 
level. It was perceptible that the last 
remnant of the army had encamped itself 



GERMANICUS AND ARMINIUS. 



59 



there, until they were at length overpow- 
ered. In the middle of the plain heaps of 
whitening bones, the remains of the van- 
quished army, lay strewed around, and 
beside them were scattered about the frag- 
ments of lances, the bones of horses, and 
even heads transfixed to the trunks of 
trees. In the neighboring groves the al- 

O DO 

tars, still remained, upon which the com- 
manders and most distinguished leaders 
had been sacrificed to the gods. And 
some few, who, having survived the battle 
and escaped from slavery, had joined the 
present army, pointed out, here a spot 
where a leader fell, there where an eagle 
was seized, yonder where Varus received 
his first wound, and finally, where, further 
on, he gave himself his death blow. 

The Roman army then, in the sixth 
year after this defeat, buried the bones of 
the three legions without any one of them 
knowing whether he covered with earth 
the remains of his friend or enemy ; the 
commander himself planting the first turf 
upon the mound. The army now advanced 
with increased fury against the enemy. 
Arminius had well understood his own ad- 
vantage, and retired into the forests and 
morasses ; and when the Romans incau- 
tiously followed him, he broke forth, re- 
pulsed the cavalry, and drove them back 
upon the infantry. But when Germanicus 
advanced with the disciplined legions, he 
retired, and the contest remained undecid- 
ed. The results, however, were neverthe- 
less those of a victory ; the Romans com- 
menced their retreat : Coecina, one of the 
before mentioned leaders, serving under 
Germanicus, proceeded with four legions 
across the country towards the Rhine ; 
Vitellius, another leader, marched with 
two legions towards the shores of the sea ; 
and Germanicus himself, with the third 
body, embarked upon the ships. 

The road taken by Coecina was that of 
the formeily noticed pontes longi, or long 
bridges, a narrow dam road which ran 
across immense morasses. All around 
were gently rising wooded heights ;* these 
heights Arminius now occupied, whence 
he courageously attacked the Romans, and 
but little was wanting for Coecina to suffer 
the same fate as Varus. The dams and 

* Probably the forest heights of Mons C&sius, the 
so-called Baurnberge, between Horstmar, Schapdetten, 
and Caesfeld, where the sources of the Aa, Stewer, 
Berckel, and se\ eral rivulets are found. 



bridges had become so ruined with age, 
that it was found necessary to repair thern, 
while at the same time a camp was form- 
ed, and efforts made to keep the enemy off*. 
Many of the Romans sank into the morass, 
for the Cherusci, who knew the locality 
well, drove them to the most dangerous 
parts, and as these people were accustomed 
to fight among bogs, they, by their great 
length of body, and their monstrous jave- 
lins which they knew well how to cast 
from a distance, brought the Romans into 
great difficulties. Night alone saved the 
already wavering legions from the ruinous 
battle. But the Germans even then in- 
dulged in no repose, for they guided the 
courses of the springs which rose among 
those hills, direct upon the Romans en- 
camped below. 

This was the 40th year that Coecina had 
either served or commanded as a Roman 
warrior ; to him the chances of war were 
well known, and his mind, therefore, con- 
tinued un alarmed in all situations. He 
accordingly gave his orders, and with 
presence of mind commanded what was 
most expedient in this necessity. The 
night was in a variety of ways most tu- 
multuous. The Germans with their re- 
joicings and shouts made the very valleys 
below resound, so that even the ravines re- 
echoed with them ; among the Romans 
there were only to be seen isolated small 
fires, and here and there was heard an 
abrupt voice, they themselves lying dis- 
persed along the walls, or gliding about the 
tents, more because they were sleepless, 
than that they were watchful. Ccecina 
himself was alarmed by a bad dream. He 
thought he saw Varus rise, spotted with 
blood, from the morass, and beckon to him ; 
but the Roman did not follow him. and 
when the former extended his hand to- 
wards him he struck it back. 

At break of day the march was continu- 
ed as Coecina had arranged it, so that he 
was covered by two legions on each side. 
They, however, quitted their position upon 
the Germans attacking them with renewed 
fury, led by Arminius, who called out to 
them, " Here, Varus ! here are the legions 
already conquered by a like fate \" The 
battle was severe and animated. Coecina 
himself fell with his wounded horse, and 
must have been destroyed had not the first 
legion thrown themselves before him. The 
baggage and munition fell into the hands 



60 



GERMANICUS AND ARMINIUS. 



of the enemy, and the loss of these was the 
salvation of the Romans, for they enticed 
the booty-loving Germans from slaughter 
to pillage, and the legions thus at last ar- 
rived on the open plain, where they en- 
camped.* Their condition was neverthe- 
less deplorable, and the soldiers already 
began to complain aloud, that only one 
day was now left for so many thousands to 
live ; and so great was their terror, that, 
when a horse which had escaped, ran to- 
wards a few soldiers standing in its way, 
they all thought the Germans had now 
broken into the camp, and they fled towards 
its back gates. Ccecina, to bring them to 
a stand, used entreaties, commands, and 
threats of punishment, but in vain ; and as 
a last resource, he cast himself down across 
the gate, so that the fugitives could pass 
only over his body, and this desperate state 
of their old and honored leader, brought 
them at once to their senses and stopped 
their flight. 

In the mean time the Germans had sur- 
rounded the camp. Arminius, who knew 
the firmness of a Roman encampment, 
would not venture to storm it, but pre- 
ferred conquering the enemy by famine. 
His uncle, Inguiomar, on the contrary, in- 
sisted upon a speedy attack, and his advice, 
because it was bolder, pleased the Ger- 
mans better. They stormed the camp ac- 
cordingly, but just in the decisive moment 
Coecina caused his troops to sally out, beat 
back the besiegers, and forced them to 
flight. Arminius left the battle without a 
wound, but Inguiomar, his uncle, was se- 
verely wounded, and the legions, as many 
as were left of them, arrived safely on the 
Rhine. 

For the third campaign, in the 16th 
year, a. d., Germanicus made still greater 
preparations than he had for the former. 
A fleet of a thousand vessels, small and 
large, with deep and broad holds, and others 
with flat bottoms for landing, was collect- 
ed to carry the whole army, without expo- 
sing it to the dangers previously experi- 
enced by an expedition by land, into the 
heart of northern Germany, and if neces- 
sary, so fitted as to bring them also back 
again. During these preparations Ger- 
manicus made a rapid expedition with six 
legions, probably upon the road from the 
Wesel towards Lippstadt, on the northern 

* Possibly between Coesfeld and Velen. 



banks of the Lippe, as far as Aliso, to raise 
the siege of this fort, which had been re- 
taken from the Germans and repaired, and 
which they were now again besieging. It 
succeeded, for the enemy dispersed on his 
approach, and he strengthened the high- 
way between Aliso and the Rhine with 
new defences and dams. But as the chief 
attack was to be made from a different side, 
he marched back again to the Rhine, and 
thence embarked his whole army of not 
less than 90,000 men, and passing through 
the fossa Drusiana into the North Sea, 
landed at the mouth of the Ems. The 
Chauci were obliged to supply an auxiliary 
army, and the Angrivari were forced into 
subjection on the Lower Weser. The Ro- 
man army advanced as far as the present 
Minden. Arminius, at the head of the Che- 
rusci confederation, opposed it, and a battle 
ensued at Idistavisus, on the Weser, (prob- 
ably between Prussian Minden and Vlotho.) 
After a long and warm contest, the Ger- 
mans were obliged to yield the field to the 
Romans, after the latter had gained the hills 
which commanded the plain. But the 
Romans could only attribute their victory 
chiefly to the German auxiliaries who were 
with them, from the North Sea and from the 
Danube ; and thus, even at the very com- 
mencement of our history, it appears that 
Germans aided aliens in the subjection of 
their compatriots. But in those rude ages 
this must not be severely censured, for these 
tribes from the Danube had probably never 
heard of the name of the Cherusci. In this 
battle Arminius himself was wounded, and 
escaped only by the speed of his horse ; 
and so great was the slaughter, that from 
mid-day to the very depth of night, the 
work of murder was continued, and the 
land was covered with bodies and arms to 
the extent of fifty thousand feet. 

The subjected tribes of these districts 
had already determined to quit their seat 
between the Weser and the Elbe, and re- 
tire beyond the latter river, when they per- 
ceived the trophies, which the Romans had 
raised after the battle, and inscribed with 
the names of the conquered tribes ; the 
sight of this inflamed their wrath more than 
their own wounds and the remembrance 
of their fallen friends. The populace, the 
nobles, the young and the old, all seized 
arms, and again advanced against the Ro- 
mans. A second bloody battle took place 
in a wooded district between the Weser 



ARMINIUS AND MARB0D1US. 



61 



and the Steinhuder Lake, which proved 
that the nations' force was not yet broken ; 
for although the Romans ascribed the vic- 
tory to themselves, they nevertheless im- 
mediately afterwards commenced their re- 
treat, and Germany was saved. Hence- 
forth the Weser never again saw a Roman 
army. 

The greatest portion of his warriors, 
Germanicus led back by water down the 
Ems to the North Sea. But a tremendous 
storm overtook his fleet, destroyed a multi- 
tude of his vessels, and dispersed them on 
the coasts of Britain. He, himself, was 
shortly afterwards recalled from the com- ' 
mand of the armies on the Rhine, by the 
emperor Tiberius, who was jealous of his 
military fame, and he was sent to Asia, 
where he was destroyed by poison in the 
bloom of manhood. 

Thus did this truly German hero, Armi- 
nius, who was equally great whether in vic- 
tory or in a doubtful battle, behold his coun- 
try freed from the danger of a foreign yoke. 
The rapidity and strength with which he 
roused himself in misfortune, and instilled 
new courage into his people, produced its 
salvation. And be it remembered, he had 
not to contend merely with the rising or 
sinking power of the Romans, but while it 
stood in its highest perfection and extent. 
Such an army as fought against the Ger- 
man forces in most beautifully regulated 
military array at Idistavisus, and near the 
Steinhuder Lake, even the most powerful 
empires of the earth could not, up to that 
time, have resisted. 

After he knew that the frontiers were 
secured, he turned against an internal 
enemy, who had remained indifferent to 
the contest for German liberty, and whose 
manners, aped from the Romans, together 
with his despotism, made him doubly hate- 
ful to his own tribe, as well as to his neigh- 
bors. This was Marbodius, the king of 
the Marcomanni. After the battle of the 
Teutoburger Forest, Arminius had sent 
the head of Varus to Marbodius, probably 
as a token of victory, to shame him, be- 
cause he had not taken part in the league 
against Rome ; perhaps, also, as an ap- 
peal to his patriotism to break forth, at this 
decisive moment, from his position, so fa- 
vorable to the Germans, from its being so 
near and dangerous to the best Roman 
provinces. But Marbodius remained inert. 
The emperor Tiberius may likewise, per- 



haps, have employed his usual ingenuity — 
in order to conquer the Germans more by 
stratagem than arms — and have contrib- 
uted his share also in this case, to produce a 
division between the two German princes. 

The power of Arminius was now strength- 
ened by the Senoni and Longobardi, who, 
wearied with the system of dominion ex- 
ercised by Marbodius, at once renounced 
him, and joined the Cherusci ; but, on the 
other hand, Arminius was forced to behold 
his uncle, Inguiomar, desert his own ranks, 
and pass over to those of the enemy. Hos- 
tilities appear to have been commenced by 
Marbodius, inasmuch as he was the first to 
advance beyond the frontiers ; very prob- 
ably in order to overtake and chastise the 
renegade Senoni and Longobardi. A 
severe and sanguinary battle was fought, 
in which, as Tacitus states, they did not 
fight in irregular array, but with perfect 
military order and discipline. The result 
of the action was against Marbodius ; he 
was forced to retire back to his country, 
and thereby lost still more the confidence 
of his people ; and finally, driven away 
by the Gothic prince, Katualda, he fled to 
the Romans. The latter granted him a 
pension, perhaps as a reward for having 
remained neutral instead of joining Armi- 
nius ; and, eighteen years afterwards, he 
concluded his life — the means for prolong- 
ing which had been furnished by Roman 
charity — ingloriously at Ravenna. 

We have no records of the last years of 
Arminius, except what Tacitus relates in 
a few words, viz. : that he himself having 
become suspected of indulging a desire to 
rule despotically, a conspiracy was formed 
against him, in which his relatives (possibly 
Segestes and Inguiomar) participated, and 
he was murdered in the year 21, in the 
thirty-seventh year of his age, and in the 
twelfth of his chief command. But we must 
not forget that the Romans had this tale, 
probably, from the assassins of Arminius, 
and, perhaps, from their old friend, Seges- 
tes, himself ; for the whole spirit and tenor 
of his great life testify that he certainly 
desired nothing more for himself than what 
was justly his due. He may, however, 
have endeavored to have given to the north 
German confederacy — whose chief in war 
he was — a permanency and stability like- 
wise during peace, and thus have drawn 
the confederation closer together, in order 
that a new enemy should not take them 



62 



CLAUDIUS CIVILIS 



unprepared ; and as his great object in this 
was misunderstood, his old enemy, Seges- 
tes, and his uncle, who was perhaps en- 
vious of the great fame of a nephew so 
much his junior in years, may have avail- 
ed themselves of the general feeling to 
promote his downfall. The testimony of 
the great historian of his enemies, does 
especial honor to the memory of our hero ; 
for, after the short narrative of his death, 
he thus speaks of him : " Arminius was, 
without dispute, the emancipator of Ger- 
many. In battles not always the victor, 
he nevertheless remained in war uncon- 
quered ; and he is still celebrated in the 
heroic songs of the Germans. He is un- 
known in the chronicles of the Greeks, for 
they admire themselves alone ; neither 
among us Romans does his fame stand high 
enough, for we elevate and dignify only 
that which is ancient, and have but too 
little regard for that which is modern." 

Henceforth, the Romans thought no more 
of subduing Germany, but applied them- 
selves solely to the means of securing their 
frontiers from the incursions of the German 
tribes. They therefore continued to add 
to the strength of the banks of the Rhine 
and the Danube, and kept a considerable 
army, consisting of their best legions, as a 
guard upon the borders. The emperor 
Claudius granted to the chief seat of the 
Ubi the distinction of a colony of veterans, 
and, subsequently, in honor of his consort 
Agrippina, born in that spot, it was called, 
Colonia Agrippina, (Cologne.) The strong 
camp upon the Taunus mountains, which 
the Romans likewise considered as one of 
the most important points in the district of 
the Rhine, was re-established also by Clau- 
dius. 

In the year 69, another serious revolt 
again broke forth in the Low Rhine, under 
Claudius Civilis, a leader of the Batavian 
auxiliary tribes, and of royal birth. Like 
Hannibal, one-eyed, and of independent, 
haughty spirit, he nourished the greatest 
hatred towards the Romans, and, under 
Nero, had been dragged in chains to Rome, | 
where he narrowly escaped death. When, 
therefore, now a tribute was demanded 
from the Batavians, although they were 
only bound to do military service, Civilis 
invited all the chiefs to a festival in the 
sacred grove, where he communicated to 
them his plans, and, by his eloquence, 
gained over the whole body to join in the 



revolt. Messengers were dispatched to all 
the neighboring tribes, nay, even across 
to Great Britain ; and Civilis, without fur- 
ther delay, forthwith attacked and defeated 
a Roman encampment, and conquered the 
fleet on the Rhine ; but not content with 
small results, he swore not to cut his beard, 
or the hair of his head, before he had gain- 
ed a great and signal victory. He was 
now joined by the Caninefati, Friesi, and 
several tribes of the Saxon race ; and as 
soon as he had conquered the Castra Vetera, 
and had destroyed or made captives several 
legions, the whole body of Germans, dwell- 
ing on the right bank of the Rhine, rose 
up and joined him, as well as the Brukteri 
and other tribes on the left bank ; for their 
prophetess, Velleda, a Brukterian virgin of 
high rank, had predicted that the power of 
Rome was now approaching its end. Civilis 
sent her the most valuable portion of the 
booty he made ; and from her isolated 
tower, in the forest near the Lippe, she 
herself directed the war. All the fortresses 
beyond Mentz were taken, Cologne was 
made to pledge itself to abolish the Rhenish 
dues, at the decree pronounced by Velleda, 
that the German trade should be open and 
free from taxation. Gallic tribes, also, 
joined the confederation. The emperor 
Vespasian, who had, meantime, succeeded 
to the imperial throne, now dispatched 
Cerealis, an experienced and active gene- 
ral, to the head-quarters, where, on his ar- 
rival, he at once proceeded to sow dissen- 
sion, and produce suspicion among the 
army of Civilis against their leader ; and 
the Gauls, in accordance with their usual 
changeable character, withdrew them- 
selves ; while Civilis, twice defeated, was 
forced to retreat among the marshes, and 
wade through the dikes. Numbers de- 
serted him ; Velleda was taken prisoner ; 
and Cerealis, who gained over to him the 
passions of the majority, partly by mildness, 
partly by cunning, as well as by mysteri- 
ous promises, offered terms of peace. Ci- 
vilis then yielded ; the generals met on a 
river, according to the ancient German 
custom, and peace was again restored under 
the old conditions of furnishing military 
service only. Of the subsequent fate of 
Claudius Civilis, nothing more is known. 

After these fresh trials at superiority of 
arms, it was but occasionally that any 
emperor essayed to obtain military fame 
against his unconquered neighbors, and 



THE M ARC O M AN N IC WAR. 



63 



these endeavors were generally very un- 
successful, but in order to conceal the 
shame thereof, they were obliged to invent 
a variety of plausible excuses. No one, 
however, had conducted himself more 
shamelessly and ridiculously than the 
emperor Domitianus, who reigned between 
the years 80 and 90. He commenced a 
war with the Chatti, but did not venture to 
attack them seriously, for he quickly re- 
tired, leaving his purpose unfinished, and 
in order that he might not return to Rome 
with disgrace and obloquy, he purchased 
tall and strong-grown slaves in Gaul, 
dressed them like Germans, caused their 
hair to be dyed yellow and arranged in the 
German fashion, and then led them as if 
they had been German captives in triumph 
into Rome. In the second century after 
the birth of Christ, the Romans had to 
endure a very severe war with the Ger- 
mans which they called the Marcomannic 
toar, because the Marcomanni were best 
known to them from time immemorial, and 
because their attack, combined with that 
of the tribes of the Danube, most imme- 
diately threatened Italy. But a yet more 
extensive alliance of the tribes seems to 
have taken place, for also on the Rhine, 
and even on the coasts of the Baltic, the 
Romans had to endure hard contests. But, 
unfortunately, the accounts which we must 
collect from the later historians, (Jul. Cap- 
itolinus, Arl. Spartianus, Dio Cassius, as 
extracted from Xiphilinus, Aram. Marcel- 
linus, Orosius and others.) are very imper- 
fect. The emperor Marcus Aurelius well 
understood the greatness of the danger ; 
he caused the priests to be collected from 
all parts, prayers and large sacrifices to be 
made, and the oracles questioned respect- 
ing the issue of the war. It is also related 
by Lucian, that a wise man from Egypt, 
of the name of Alexander, who had ac- 
quired great fame, was questioned respect- 
ing the Marcomannic war. He replied 
that two lions, well anointed with fragrant 
herbs and spices, should be made to swim 
across the Danube into the enemy's coun- 
try, and that victory would not then fail. 
His advice was followed. The Germans, 
however, who held these lions to be for- 
eign dogs, killed them with clubs, and 
immediately afterwards gained a great 
victory over the Romans. 

The war now became so desperate that 
the emperor was necessitated to receive 



I into his army slaves, gladiators, and others, 
I who were previously considered unworthy 
! to bear arms. Even a band of robbers 
from Dalmatia were included in the ser- 
| vice ; and the emperor, that he might hnd 
means to carry on this severe war, sold 
every thing most precious in his treasury, 
together with his pictures, and his gold 
and silver vessels, the sale of which lasted 
two months. 

The Marcomanni, nevertheless, pressed 
forward as far as Aquileja, which lies on 
the frontier of Italy, causing a similar 
panic and confusion in Rome as at the 
time when the Cimbri crossed the Alps. 

Had a weak emperor then governed the 
Roman empire, its fate would probably 
have been decided. But Marcus Aurelius 
was a wise and valiant man, and saved 
Rome once more from great danger. He 
maintained a war for thirteen years against 
the allied tribes, and had to endure several 
sanguinary battles, being even obliged to 
maintain a warm skirmish with the Jazygi 
on the frozen Danube ; and although he 
brought many of the tribes individually to 
peace and thereby weakened the enemy, 
and succeeded in irritating German tribes 
against each other, he, nevertheless, did 
not survive the end of the war, but died 
from his exertions during the campaign at 
Windohona, the present Vienna, in the 
year 180. 

It now fell upon his son, Commodus, to 
lead the army against the enemy, and he 
made a speech to the soldiers, even over 
the body of his father, of what great things 
he purposed doing, and that the ocean 
alone should set limits to his conquests ; 
but his heart longed for the pleasures of 
Italy and for the sensualities of his me- 
tropolis. This was well known to his 
flatterers and courtiers, and as they them- 
selves were weary of the fatigues of the 
camp, they thus addressed him : " How 
much longer will you exchange Rome for 
the rude banks of the Danube, where noth- 
ing is to be met with but cold, rain, and 
eternal winter, where not a fruit-bearing 
tree is to be seen and nothing to be met 
with to exhilarate life ? When will you 
cease to drink the frozen water of the 
Danube while others indulge in the warm 
wells and baths of Italy V To such 
speeches Commodus listened eagerly and 
said, " It is true what you say, and if I 
preserve my life, I can assuredly more 



64 



CONFEDERATIONS OF THE TRIBES. 



effectually weaken the enemy than if I 
expose it to the dangers of war." Some 
of the tribes were so reduced by his father 
that they willingly concluded a peace with 
him, but from others he purchased it in a 
disgraceful manner by means of large 
presents, and then he hastened back to 
Rome. So valiantly, however, had these 
tribes fought, that, upon peace being con- 
cluded, the Quadi alone gave back 50,000, 
and the Jazygi 100,000 Roman prisoners; 
and all that the Romans had gained by the 
effusion of so much blood was, that things 
now remained for a short period tranquil 
upon these frontiers of their empire. 

The proximity of the Romans on the 
Rhine, the Danube, and the Necker, had 
by degrees effected alterations in the man- 
ners of the Germans. They had become 
acquainted with many new things, both 
good and bad. By means of the former 
they became acquainted with money, and 
many luxuries. The Romans had planted 
the vine on the Rhine, and constructed 
roads, cities, manufactories, theatres, fort- 
resses, temples, and altars; Roman mer- 
chants brought their wares to Germany, 
and fetched thence ambers, feathers,* furs, 
slaves, and the very hair of the Germans, 
for it was now the fashion to wear light 
flaxen wigs, instead of natural hair. Of 
the cities which the Romans built there 
are many yet remaining, as Salzburg, 
Ratisbonne, Augsburg-, Basle, Strasburg, 
Baden, Spires, Worms, Mentz, Treves, 
Cologne, Bonn, &c. But in the interior of 
Germany, neither the Romans nor their 
habits and manners had found friends, nor 
were cities built there according to the 
Roman style. 

The most important alteration that took 
place among the Germans at this period, 
was their concentration into several exten- 
sive confederations of the tribes. The 
more ancient example of the Suevi, the 
later combination of the Marcomanni and 
Cherusci, and perhaps various successful 
results in other German districts, chiefly, 
however, the character presented by the 
great Roman empire, which, notwithstand- 
ing its great corruption, was yet strong by 
its union : all this, as well as the predomi- 
nant power of individual tribes, and per- 
haps many other unknown causes, pro- 

* The Romans celebrated the white German goose, 
which they even nailed by its German name, gans — 
Plin. Nat. H., x. 27. 



| duced four great confederations of the 
tribes, which probably arose from small 
beginnings, and had existed perhaps for 
some time, but had only become known 
and formidable to the Romans in the third 
century after Christ. Their origin will 
probably always remain obscure to us. 
The Roman writers here leave us entirely, 
or are so scanty and uncertain in their in- 
dications, that we cannot build upon them ; 
and the historians who afterwards arose 
among the German tribes themselves, were 
so ignorant of their earlier history, that 
they were only able to produce old tradi- 
tions, and often placed them in the most 
wonderful fashion in connection with the 
narratives of the ancient writers ; and thus 
they connected the origin of the German 
tribes with the Trojan war, the expeditions 
of Alexander the Great, and other special- 
ly celebrated events of the ancient world. 
The confederations of the tribes as they 
occur in history, and as they are actually 
treated therein, are as follows : 

1. The Alamanni, afterwards called the 
Alemanni, and Allemanni, between the 
Danube and the Maine ; and subsequently, 
after they had won back the Roman tithe- 
land, also upon the Upper Rhine and 
Necker. They spread themselves later 
northward as far as the Lahn. They 
were a confederation of Suevic tribes, 
whose formation perhaps emanated from 
the Hermunduri, and, according to the 
opinion, erroneously formed, of some an- 
cients, derived their name from their being 
composed of all kinds of men, or manni. 
But it is perhaps more correct to consider 
the name Allemanni as a warlike, confed- 
erate name, equally as the Marcomanni 
signifies the War-manni on the frontiers, 
Germani, the army or Ger-manni in gene- 
ral ; the Allemanni may therefore mean 
the Manni, who formed the defence for the 
whole. They were warlike, wild, and 
valiant, and gave the Romans no little un- 
easiness. Dio Cassius first mentions them 
in the history of the emperor Caracalla ; 
accordingly, at the beginning of the third 
century from this period — particularly 
after they had penetrated the limes, and to- 
wards the end of the third century, after 
the death of the emperor Probus, when 
they had conquered the tithe-land — they 
fell upon the effeminate Gauls (who hence- 
forward, from terror, called all Germans 
Allemands,) at another time made incur- 



CONFEDERATIONS OF THE TRIBES. 



65 



sions across the Danube, and even across 
the Alps into Italy, and each time returned 
home with rich spoil. Northward from 
these dwelt : 

2. The Franks, on the Lower Rhine, as 
far as the Netherlands and the North Sea ; 
likewise a confederation collected from 
different tribes of the northwest of Ger- 
many : the Sigambri, on the Issel, which 
appears to have been the chief tribe, (the 
subsequent Salic Franks,) the Chamavi, 
Amsibari, Tenchteri, Usipeti, Brukteri, 
Chatti, Cherusci, Tubanti, and others. 
The Friesi and Chauci also joined them 
afterwards. The name of Frank is va- 
riously derived by ancient and modern 
learned men. The broadest derivation is 
that they wished to he frank and free peo- 
ple, and thence called their confederation. 
The name of Franks is much more proba- 
bly supposed to be derived from their pe- 
culiar weapon, a javelin armed with a 
barbed hook, which writers call Fran- 
ziska, (perhaps the ancient framea of the 
Germans.) History mentions the Franks 
to us for the first time distinctly about the 
middle of the third century, as a union of 
oorth German tribes. Flavius Vopiscus 
first names them in the life of the emperor 
Aurelian, about 242 ; after which the 
emperor Julian and other later writers. 
They were also very strong and bold. 
Their high opinion of themselves is ex- 
pressed in the introduction to the Salic 
law, where it states : " The high-famed 
nation of the Franks, who have God for 
their judge, are brave in war, profound in 
council, firm in union, noble, manly in 
form, bold, prompt, firm ; such is the na- 
tion, which, small in number, by strength 
and courage, burst the yoke of the Ro- 
mans." They traversed many Roman 
countries, particularly Gaul, from one end 
to the other, whenever they were excited 
by the lust of prey and booty. They 
even crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, and 
conquered the city of Tarragona. The 
Romans in the third century had so frail 
a tenure of these countries, that the 
Franks and other German warlike hordes, 
among whom are named the Burgundians 
and Vandals, had possession of seventy 
considerable cities in Gaul. After a long 
period a hero again appeared among the 
Roman rulers, in the emperor Probus 
(276-282;) he drove the Germans be- 
yond the Rhine, fell upon their country, 
9 



and conquered so many of them, that in 
order to reduce them, he was enabled to 
transplant many thousands into other por- 
tions of his empire. He conveyed a body 
of the Franks, who had their seat upon the 
North Sea, more than a thousand miles 
into a distant country, to the coasts of the 
Black Sea. He expected the Germans 
would here forget their bleak fatherland, 
for here they dwelt in a most beautiful 
and warm climate, and in a rich and de- 
lightful country. They, however, could 
not banish from their recollection the cold 
shores of the stormy North Sea, but only 
planned how they could return. They 
attacked and took possession of several 
ships, and in them passed, amidst a thou- 
sand dangers and difficulties, through un- 
known waters, across the seas of Greece 
and Africa, and by the coasts of Italy, 
Spain, and France, towards their home. 
They were often obliged to land, and fight 
with the natives for provisions ; they even 
conquered the large city of Syracuse in 
Sicily, which the Athenians in ancient 
times had vainly invested for three years ; 
and they at last came through the great 
Ocean into the North Sea, and back to 
their German coasts. This took place in 
the year 280.* 

3. The Saxon confederation is named, 
together with the Franks, as early as the 
year 288, by Eutropius, and was formed 
of the remaining Lower German tribes who 
had not joined the Franks, or had again 
separated themselves from them. Amm. 
Marcellinus next mentions the Saxons as 
the neighbors of the Franks about the 
middle of the fourth century, and after 
him they are named by many others. The 
greatest territorial extension which they 
attained in the course of the following cen- 
turies up to the time of Charlemagne, was 
from the Danes, from whom they were 
separated by the Eider, over Lower Sax- 
ony and the greatest portion of Westphalia, 
and in addition they occupied the banks of 
the Elbe, Weser, Aller, Seine, Ems, Lippe, 
and Ruhr. The history of this command 
of territory by the Saxons is entirely un- 
known to us. If we fix upon the name of 
the small tribe of the Saxons which is men- 
tioned in the second century by Ptolemy 
alone, and who places them at the mouth 
of the Elbe, and towards Holstein, it then 

* Zosimus, i., 71 ; Emnenius in Panegyr., iv., 18. 



66 



CONFEDERATIONS OF THE TRIBES. 



becomes probable that these, together with 
the Chauci, Brukteri, Cherusci, and Friesi, 
(who again detached themselves from the 
Franconian league,) the Angrivari, the 
Fosi, and other tribes, formed an alliance 
against the powerful confederation of the 
Franks, and drove these, who previously 
occupied the greater portion of Westphalia, 
farther towards the Rhine. 

The Saxons appear subsequently divided 
into three circles : that of the Eastphalians, 
beyond the Weser, in the country of Han- 
over and Brunswick ; the Westphalians on 
the Ems, and the Lippe in Minister, Osna- 
bruck, &c, as far as the Rhine ; and the 
Engerians, in the centre between both, in 
the vicinity of the Weser, continuing per- 
haps the name of the Angrivari in an 
abridged form. 

The Saxons likewise well understood 
navigation, although in the earlier times 
they possessed but poor ships, formed as 
they were principally of twisted branches 
and boughs of trees lashed together, and 
then covered over with hides of oxen and 
bullocks — they were called by the name 
of kieL* They committed many piracies, 
and became first known to the Romans at 
the end of the th>d century as pirates on 
the Gallic coasts , We shall find, subse- 
quently, that they crossed over to England, 
and there founded new kingdoms. They 
placed themselves only during the wars 
under the leadership of dukes, who after- 
wards immediately withdrew into the ranks 
of the nobility. In times of peace they 
legislated by representation, and sent from 
each of the three circles an equal number 
of chosen deputies to their assembly, whose 
decisions were valid for all. Thus the 
idea of a representative parliament, of 
which the ancient nations knew nothing, 
originated with the Germans. 

But still more powerful than all these 
tribes were : 

4. The Goths. Their name we have 
already found on the banks of the Vistula. 
Subsequently, however, it is mentioned 
from the shores of the Black Sea as far as 
the East Sea. They were evidently a 
union of many mixed nations, as it ap- 
pears, belonging hereditarily to the Gothic 
race, and perhaps founded already at the 
period of the great war of the Eastern 
tribes against Mark Aurelius. And while 

* Kiel, a Danish port, still bears this sign in its city- 
arms. 



on the one hand the Alemanni, Franks, 
and Saxons, attacked the country of the 
Romans, which lay towards the west, the 
Goths, on the other, turned their attacks 
towards the south and the east, the Black 
Sea and the Danube. Already, in the 
third century, the Romans had to maintain 
severe contests with them. The Gothic 
king Eniva, crossing the Danube, invaded 
Moesia and Thracia, conquered several 
cities, laid the country waste, and when 
the emperor Decius advanced to meet him, 
he gained so great a victory over him at 
Abrutum, that the emperor himself and his 
son remained slain upon the field. From 
this battle, in the year 251, the superiority 
of the Germans, and the weakness of the 
Romans, became more and more evident, 
although several powerful emperors gained 
victories over them. Even the successor 
of Decius, the emperor Gallus, was obliged 
to purchase peace with the Goths, by leav- 
ing them all the booty, as well as all the 
distinguished prisoners, and promising 
them besides a yearly tribute. At a later 
period they made, in conjunction with the 
Herulians, several bold and dangerous 
piratic expeditions, from the northern coasts 
of the Black Sea, as well as beyond it, to 
those of the Mediterranean. Athens, with 
many monuments of its flourishing period, 
the vicinity of Troy, and the splendid tem- 
ple of Diana at Ephesus, were overrun by 
them, and the latter wholly destroyed. 

The great prince of the Goths, who, of 
all others, spread their dominion the most 
extensively, was Armanarich, or Herman- 
rich, who lived in the fourth century. He 
ruled over them for more than two gene- 
rations, and attained himself the age of a 
hundred and ten years. His empire ex- 
tended from the Black Sea and the Danube 
over Moldavia, Wallachia, Hungary, Po- 
land, and Prussia, to the Baltic. 

The Goths early divided themselves into 
two head divisions, which afterwards, after 
many changes, appear in the history under 
the titles of the Eastern Goths and the 
Western Goths. Kings of the race of the 
Amalians (probably the pure, without 
stain) ruled over the Eastern Goths ; and 
the Western Goths were governed by the 
royal race of the Baltians, (from bait, 
bold.^ Among the Eastern Goths, the 
Greuthungi, and among the Western 
Goths, the Thervingi, were the chief tribes. 

The Goths belonged to the noblest and 



DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



67 



most civilized German tribes, and had 
adopted. Christianity at a very early pe- 
riod. Their bishop, Ulphilas, or Wulfila, 
(Woiflein,) as early as the fourth century, 
undertook the truly wonderful task of 
translating the Bible* into their language, 
until then but little cultivated ; and thus 
was speedily diffused among them, togeth- 
er with the belief in the Saviour of the 
world, both gentler feelings and manners. 

Besides these confederations, there were 
other isolated tribes in Germany, particu- 
larly two, who will speedily appear among 
the rest, as distinguished for power and 
dignity, viz., the Burgundi, earlier on the 
Vistula, and the Longobardi, on the Elbe. 

At the period that the German tribes 
flourished in their prime, and collected and 
combined their power in large unions, the 
Roman empire, in its declining strength, 
became daily more and more reduced 
within itself, and its magnitude was a bur- 
den to it. The majority of the Roman 
emperors, from the year 180 downward, 
became in a greater degree enervated, and 
with their effeminacy, grew likewise either 
more and more malignant and suspicious, 
or they were avowed tyrants, and shed the 
blood of the best men without reserve or 
shame. But even if a good ruler hap- 
pened to appear, and sought to maintain 
right and order, he was speedily murdered 
by the wild horde of soldiers ; for they it 
was who, in fact, ruled the empire. Ac- 
cording to their pleasure, they elevated or 
deposed the emperors ; and to such shame- 
less extent did they carry their sway, that 
they publicly offered the imperial crown 
for sale, and placed it upon the head of 
him who gave them the most money. In 
the course of one hundred and twenty 
years, from 180-300, in which period, in 
the ordinary course of things, six rulers 
would have succeeded each other, no less 
than six and thirty emperors governed the 
Roman empire, of whom twenty-seven 
were murdered, three fell in war, and only 
six died a natural death. 

It did not, however, suffice that an em- 

* This translation is the most ancient, and for us, an 
invaluable monument of our language. For a long 
period there only existed two MS. copies thereof : the 
so-called Codex Argentius, (of the silver letters,) in 
IJpsala, and the Codex Carolinus, in Wolfenbiittel. 
These, however, contain only the four Evangelists and 
a portion of the Roman Epistles ; while Ulphilas trans- 
lated the whole Bible, with the exception of the books 
of Samuel and the Kings. In recent times, however, 
considerable portions of the remaining translation have 
been discovered and made known in Milan. 



peror was destroyed every moment, but 
the murderers slew all his adherents with 
him ; so that blood was shed in streams, 
and the majority, in their selfishness, took 
especial care not to adhere too faithfully 
to their princes to the last. In such times, 
the Romans necessarily became a corrupt- 
ed, reckless, and contemptible people, who 
only cared to pass their days in idleness, 
luxury, and sensuality. For when man 
beholds before him no security for the fu- 
ture, and knows not if the fruits of his in- 
dustry will descend to his children, he then 
only considers how he himself shall enjoy 
the present moment ; and thus, in his sen- 
sual voracity and brutality, he places him- 
self upon a level with the irrational beasts, 
no longer thinking of a future judgment 
and a retribution. 

It is true that the doctrine of Jesus had 
calmly diffused itself likewise among the 
Romans, and had certainly saved many 
from the general ruin. The emperor 
Constantine himself even, who removed 
the seat of empire from Rome to Constan- 
tinople, made it, in the year 311, the es- 
tablished religion of his empire ; and, 
indeed, from that time Roman affairs took 
for a period a more favorable turn, but the 
improvement was not fundamental. The 
Romans, during the dominion of vice, had 
lost the higher moral power of the soul, in 
which alone the divine word can take deep 
root ; the former sinfulness became inter- 
mixed with the modern doctrines, and 
thus, as pure spring-water, when flowing 
into a morass, becomes as bad as the stag- 
nant pool itself, so did the admixture of the 
ancient wickedness with the new light of 
Christian virtue, destroy completely all 
beneficial results. 

In this condition of the world, it is easy 
to understand that the attacks of the Ger- 
man nations upon the Roman empire, must 
necessarily have become daily more suc- 
cessful ; and it also explains how they 
were urged by an irresistible natural im- 
pulse to overpower such miserable neigh- 
bors, by whom they themselves had been 
first attacked, and who, notwithstanding 
their enervation and corruption, considered 
themselves a nobler race than the unpol- 
ished Germans, whom they called barba- 
rians. And thus in nature also it may be 
observed as a rule, that where there is a 
vacuum, the active, agitated powers of air 
and water forthwith strive to break in. 



THE HUNNS. 



68 



CHAPTER III. 
375—476. 

The Hunns— Commencement of the Great Migration, 
375— Irruption of the Western Goths,Vandals, Suevi, 
Burgundians, and other tribes, into the Western Ro- 
man Empire— Alaric— Attila, God's Scourge, 451— 
The Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, 476. 

About the year 375, when the emperor 
Valens reigned in Constantinople, and the 
western empire was under the dominion of 
his nephew, the youthful Gratian, a new 
tribe, almost unknown and exceedingly 
savage, broke forth from Asia. They were 
not of German but of Mongolian origin, and 
were called Hunns. Terror and dread pre- 
ceded them, and those who had seen them 
described them in the following terms :* 
" The tribe called Hunns surpass every 
degree of savageness. They have firm-set 
limbs and thick necks, and their whole fig- 
ure is so misshapen and broad, that they 
might be considered as two-legged monsters, 
or as posts that have been roughly hewn to 
support the balustrades of bridges. And as, 
immediately after their birth, deep incis- 
ions are made in the cheeks of their chil- 
dren, so that the growth of hair may be 
hindered by cicatrizing the wounds, they 
remain beardless and most hateful to be- 
hold, even to the most advanced period of 
life. In addition to their ill-favored and 
repulsive shapes, they are so savage that 
they neither need fire, nor cook their vic- 
tuals; but the roots of wild plants and the 
half-raw flesh of the first good animal they 
meet with, and which they place beneath 
them upon the backs of their horses and thus 
ride it somewhat tender, is their whole sus- 
tenance. They enter houses only when 
they are forced by the most extreme neces- 
sity ; they avoid them as the separated 
graves of life, but wandering through moun- 
tains and valleys, they learn to endure, 
from their infancy, frost, hunger, and thirst. 
They clothe themselves in a linen garment 
or in furs, consisting of the skins of mice 
sewn together ; they cover their heads with 
overhanging caps, and their legs with the 
skins of goats. Their rough and clumsy 
boots prevent them from walking freely, 
and therefore they cannot fight on foot ; 
but are almost grown, as it were, to their 
horses, which are durable, but, in keeping 
with their masters, as characteristically 
ugly. All their business is transacted upon 
horseback, and thus this people buy and 

* Amm. Marcell. xxi., 2 ; Dordanis, 24. 



sell, eat and drink ; and, leaning upon the 
neck of his swift animal, the rider sinks 
into a deep sleep, even to the very phan- 
tasma of dreams ; and if a council is to be 
held upon serious matters, it is conducted 
in this same manner. 

" They commence battle with a terrific 
howl ; with the rapidity of lightning they 
advance and purposely disperse themselves 
in the same moment ; return rapidly again, 
hover about in irregular array, destroying 
heedlessly whatever they meet with here 
and there ; and from their extraordinary 
speed, almost before they are observed, 
they are already engaged in storming the 
wall, or plundering the camp of the enemy. 
At a distance they fight with javelins, 
whose points are furnished with polished 
bones, prepared with extraordinary skill ; 
but in close combat with the sabre, while 
the enemy parries the thrust, they cast a 
noose over him and carry him off. 

"Agriculture is not practised among 
them, and none touch the plough, for all 
roam about without a dwelling, without a 
home, without laws and fixed customs, 
always wanderers ; the women dwell in 
wagons, where they weave their coarse 
garments and bring up their children. If 
the question be put to them, whence they 
come, none can return an answer ; for they 
are begot at one place, born at another, and 
brought up again elsewhere. Adherence 
to contracts they know not, and like insen- 
sible animals, they scarcely know aught of 
justice or injustice, but they precipitate 
themselves with all the impetuosity of their 
desires upon an object, and they waver at 
every newly raised hope or prospect ; nay, 
they are so changeable and irritable, that 
even sometimes in the same day, without the 
least offence, they fall out with their allies, 
and again, without any persuasion, they 
return and become friends with them again." 

This lightly equipped and uncontrollable 
race, burning with a fearful and determin- 
ed desire of booty from strangers, broke 
forth from the sea of Asov, whither they 
were driven much earlier from their ancient 
pastures on the frontiers of China, and fell 
first upon the Alani, thought by some to be 
an Asiatic tribe, by others again considered 
to be a branch of the Goths ; but it is prob- 
ably a collective name, by which the Ro- 
mans signify the tribes eastward of the 
Goths on the Wolga and the Don, who may 
possibly have been of different races. The 



THE HUNNS 



Hunns are said to have sacrificed their first 
European prisoners to the manes of their 
ancient princes. This immense swarm 
then rushed onward upon the Goths. Her- 
manrich, a brave old warrior, upwards of 
a hundred years of age, and still suffering 
from a severe wound received in battle, 
when he saw he could not resist the Hunns, 
would not survive his formerly acquired 
fame, and therefore, in despair, killed him- 
self. His people were obliged to subject 
themselves to the power of these savages, 
and the Thervingians considering resist- 
ance useless, quitted their ancient seats, 
and sent messengers to the emperor Va- 
lens, at Constantinople, with a petition : 
" that if he would give them land and pas- 
turage beyond the Danube, they would be 
the defenders of the frontiers." As medi- 
ator for the Thervingians, it is very prob- 
able, that much was effected by the Gothic 
Bishop Ulphilas, who, in a persecution 
made against the Christians by the pagan 
Gothic princes, had, some time previously, 
together with several Gothic Christians, 
taken refuge, and been granted an asylum 
on Roman ground, at the foot of the Hce- 
mus. This pious and patriotic prelate had, 
indeed, during a space of forty years, been 
continually occupied in working for the 
benefit of his people. The emperor receiv- 
ed them kindly. They were not pursued 
by the Hunns, who now followed pastur- 
age, hunting, and pillage, for more than 
fifty years in the steppes and forests of the 
present southern Russia, Poland, and Hun- 
gary, by which means they came into fre- 
quent intercourse with the Romans, whom 
they often served in war ; and, humanized 
by this communication with the latter and 
the Germans, much of the uncouthness in 
their manners was removed. 

The new seat of the Western Goths in 
Msesia became very soon too narrow for 
them ; and as their herds did not supply 
them with sufficient support, they begged 
permission to barter for their necessary 
wants. The Roman rulers, however, Lu- 
picinus and Maximus, took such shameful 
advantage of their necessities, that for a 
loaf and about ten pounds of miserable 
meat, (frequently the flesh of dogs,) they 
demanded a slave in return. The majority 
of their herds were consumed, their slaves 
gone, and famine induced many to give up 
even their children for bread. While the 
people suffered from these grievances, 



AND GOTHS. 69 



Fridigern, the Gothic priuce, was invited 
as a guest by Lupicinus to Marcianopolis. 
He was a valiant youth, full of the heroic 
courage of his ancestors ; and on this oc- 
casion many young men, his brethren in 
arms and other friends, accompanied him. 
While he was eating, the cries of his fol- 
lowers outside rose suddenly upon his ear, 
for the Romans had fallen upon them and 
were murdering them. With his eyes 
sparkling with vengeance, and his sword 
in hand, he sprang up, and rushing out, 
saved his friends, and hastened away with 
them.* The Goths, embittered at the 
treachery of the Romans, broke up, de- 
feated Lupicinus, and traversed the nearest 
provinces with fire and sword ; and from 
the walls of Constantinople were seen the 
flames of the villages and country-seats 
which they had lighted. 

The emperor Valens advanced against 
Fridigern with an army ; the assistance 
which his nephew, Gratian, was bringing 
to his aid from the west, he would not wait 
for, in order to retain alone the honor of 
victory ; and he precipitately ventured a 
battle near Adrianople. It was severely 
contested ; but the Gothic infantry repulsed 
at last the Roman cavalry, and then the 
legions. The emperor fled wounded ; his 
horse falling, he had scarcely time to save 
himself in a neighboring peasant's hut. 
The Goths, far from thinking that the Ro- 
man emperor was concealed beneath a 
thatched roof, set fire to this as well as 
other huts ; and Valens found his death 
in this miserable manner in the year 378. 

In this pitiable state the empire was once 
more warded from its fall by the vigorous 
and prudent emperor Theodosius, a Span- 
iard by birth. He contrived to weaken 
the Goths by divisions, and made Fridi- 
gern's successor, Athanaric, conclude a 
peace. He promised the Goths a consid- 
erable supply of provisions, and they, in 
return, lent him 40,000 men as auxilia- 
ries. 

This emperor died in the year 395, and 
his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius, divi- 
ded the empire between them ; Arcadius 
took his seat at Constantinople, Honorius 
in Italy, and the first division was called 
the eastern, and the second the western 
empire. 

The sons did not resemble the father 
* Amm. Marcell., xxxi 5, and Jordanis, 26. 



70 



THE GOTHS— ALARIC. 



too indolent to undertake the government 
themselves, they allowed their chancellors, 
the Gaul, Rufinius, and the Vandal, Stili- 
cho, to rule. Rufinius, who was chancel- 
lor in Constantinople, corrupt and selfish, 
thought by war and daring adventures to 
exalt himself and increase his power ; ac- 
cordingly he excited the Goths under Ala- 
ric to make an irruption. The presents 
promised them by Theodosius were not de- 
livered, and Alaric devastated Thracia 
throughout ; and Stilicho advanced against 
him, but was driven back by the jealous 
Rufinius, who was murdered by the embit- 
tered army. Upon this, Alaric turned 
against Greece, then quite defenceless, 
which he robbed of its last treasures and 
glories. Suddenly, Stilicho attacked and 
pressed hard upon the Goths ; but Arca- 
dius ordered him to retire, negotiated with 
Alaric, and made him general of Illyria, 
that is — gave it up to him in 396. The 
Goths broke up from here in the year 402, 
and advanced across the Alps. Stilicho, 
nevertheless, once more succeeded, by a 
determined resistance, in forcing his dan- 
gerous enemy to retire beyond the boun- 
dary line of mountains. And in the same 
manner he saved Italy in the year 405 from 
the attack of a large mixed army of Ger- 
man tribes, which, under Radagaisus, en- 
deavored to break across the Alps from a 
different side, and were perhaps in alliance 
with Alaric. The history of these times is 
very confused, and it is therefore not clear 
if that body was destroyed near Fcesulse, 
as some historians relate, or whether Stili- 
cho was enabled to remove them by treaty, 
and direct them to Gaul. But it appears 
that Stilicho also pursued ambitious pro- 
jects ; for he had combined with Alaric to 
make an attack upon the eastern empire, 
but was accused of treachery by his ene- 
mies, and by command of the emperor 
Honorius, his own son-in-law, he was as- 
sassinated in the year 408. As soon as 
Uaric heard of the death of Stilicho, he 
unce more advanced against Italy, pressed 
through the passes of the Alps, crossed the 
Po, and went direct to Rome ; he left the 
emperor in Ravenna, for he despised this 
weak prince. In Rome all was terror and 
confusion ; for since 600 years the Ro- 
mans had seen no enemy before, nor dur- 
ing 800 years had they beheld an enemy 
within their walls, thence the city was call- 
ed the eternal city. They, nevertheless, 



once more gave voice to their ancient 
haughtiness, and thus addressed Alaric :* 
" The Roman people are numerous and 
strong, and by their constant practice in 
arms are so bold and courageous that they 
have no dread of war." But Alaric 
only laughed aloud at this, and replied : 
" Thickly standing grass is much easier 
mowed than thin." The ambassadors then 
asked the conditions of peace. He de- 
manded all the gold and silver, together 
with the whole of the rich plate contained 
in the city, and all the slaves of German 
origin. On which they asked, " What 
will you then leave us ?" " Your souls !" 
said he. Thus insolently spoke a man, 
born among a barbaric tribe, upon the isl- 
and of Peuce, (at the mouth of the Dan- 
ube,) to that city which, for centuries, had 
ruled the habitable earth, and through the 
gates and streets of which the proudest 
heroes had marched in triumph, crowned 
with victories gained over foreign nations, 
and loaded with booty from Europe, Asia, 
and Africa ! 

At this moment, certain prophets from - 
Tuscany, who were in the city, offered 
themselves to drive Alaric back from Rome 
by prophetic threats, if, in return, they 
might be allowed to institute feasts and 
sacrifices to their ancient divinities. Doubt- 
less, when he heard of such weak and fu- 
tile proposals being made, the valorous 
Alaric treated the matter with merited con- 
tempt and derision. 

When now the Romans discovered no 
hopes of being rescued, they were obliged 
to fulfil the wishes of their enemy, and 
promise him 5,000 pounds of gold and 
30,000 of silver, besides a multiplicity of 
rare and costly articles. But so much gold 
and silver was not to be found in the pos- 
session of the inhabitants. They were, 
therefore, obliged to have recourse to the 
ornaments and decorations of the ancient 
temples ; and it is said that, among the 
statues of their divinities, that of Valor was 
also melted down — it thus appearing as if 
all that still remained in Rome of that no- 
ble quality in man was now annihilated for 
ever. 

The emperor Honorius refused to enter 
into any negotiation whatever with Alaric, 
who, therefore, returned next year to Rome, 
and appointed another emperor, of the name 
of Attalus, as rival to Honorius ; but as, 
* Zosimus, v., 34. 



MIGRATION OF THE TRIBES. 



71 



after one year's trial, he also proved him- 
self to be wholly worthless, Alaric reduced 
him again to the dust from which he had 
raised him, and the city of Rome, which 
held out against him, he now took by storm. 
This happened on the 23d of August, in the 
year 410. The Goths entered the imperial 
palace and plundered it, as well as the 
houses of the nobles ; but they so far mod- 
erated their ire, that they did not burn the 
city. It was a happy thing for the Romans 
that the Goths were Christians ; for those 
who fled to the churches were not molested 
or touched ; nay, a singular occurrence, 
which is related to us, displays very evi- 
dently the pious feeling of these people. A 
warrior, who entered the house of a female, 
found gold and silver vessels there. She 
told him that they belonged to the holy 
apostle St. Peter, and were given to her in 
charge for the church ; he might, there- 
fore, act as he thought proper. The sol- 
dier communicated this to Alaric, who sent 
immediately thither, and caused the sacred 
vessels to be carried with solemnity back 
to the church. The Romans, animated by 
such generous tolerance, accompanied the 
train, chanting solemn hymns ; and the 
Gothic warriors, astonished at the unex- 
pected spectacle, ceased to plunder, joined 
the procession themselves, and thus was 
the fury of war transformed into genial 
peace by mere Christian emotion. 

Alaric remained only a few days in 
Rome ; he then advanced towards Lower 
Italy, indulging his imagination with mag- 
nificent plans, for, as it appears, he pur- 
posed embarking for the beautiful island of 
Sicily, and thence to proceed to Africa, in 
order to conquer likewise this granary of 
Italy. But death overtook him at Cosenza, 
in his 34th year. The entire Westro- 
Gothic nation bewailed his loss, and pre- 
pared a remarkable and memorable grave 
for him. They dug another bed for the 
river Busento, conducting the water through 
it, and then buried their king, fully armed 
and equipped, in the original bed of the 
river, accompanied by his war-horse and 
the trophies of his victories. They then 
conducted the course of the river back 
again, in order that neither Roman covet- 
ousness nor revenge should desecrate or 
disturb the great Alaric, in the grave where 
he reposed from his victories. Upon his 
death, the Goths elected for their king the 
most handsome of their young nobles, the 



youth Athaulf, or Adolphus, the brother-in- 
law of Alaric. He advanced from Lower 
Italy to Rome, where he obliged the empe- 
ror Honorius to give him his own sister, 
Placidia, as consort; he then quitted Italy, 
passed with his nation into Gaul and Spain, 
and he and his successor, WaMa, were the 
founders of the extensive Westro-Gothic 
kingdom, which comprised the south of 
France as far as the Loire, and speedily 
embraced Spain also, the metropolis of 
which was Toulouse, on the river Garonne. 
In the year 419, the Romans formally de- 
livered Southern Gaul up to Wallia. The 
commencement of the fifth century was 
therefore in the highest degree turbulent, 
from the violent movements of the various 
nations. Almost all the German tribes sent 
out hordes of troops upon excursions of pil- 
lage or conquest ; or they themselves, 
pressed forward by the superior attacks of 
other tribes, broke up their abode, that they 
might, arms in hand, seek elsewhere for 
new dwellings. The weak alone, who 
could or would not quit their paternal dwell- 
ing, remained behind, and became mingled 
with and lost amidst the immediately suc- 
ceeding race. Besides the Goths, the Van- 
dals and Alans were pressed forward by 
the Hunns, and advanced from the east 
gradually towards the west. In their ad- 
vance, the Burgundians, who likewise had 
quitted their dwelling-place on the Vistula 
and had arrived as far as the Upper Dan- 
ube, with a portion of the Suevi, namely, 
the Quadi, and other tribes joined them. 
It was probably a swarm of these mixed 
tribes which, under Radagaisus,or Radigast, 
made the attack upon Italy in the year 405, 
and which by great good fortune was ward- 
ed off by Stilicho. This isolated horde dis- 
appears, as well as the name of its leader, 
without leaving a trace in history. But in 
their attacks upon Gaul and Spain the be- 
fore-mentioned tribes were more fortunate. 
Stilicho had opened to them the road thith- 
er, by withdrawing the legions from the 
Rhine and from Gaul for the defence of 
Italy. They now desolated the country 
from Strasburg to Amiens. Treves was 
four times plundered, Mentz and Worms 
destroyed, the inhabitants of Strasburg, 
Spires, Rheims, and other cities driven 
forth as slaves. After these swarms had 
at last been driven back into the south of 
France by the Romans and the Franks, 
they, in the year 408, wore called into 



72 



THE BRITONS— ATTILA, GOD'S SCOURGE. 



Spain by the rebellious Roman governor, 
Gervatius. Hitherto this country had been 
spared during these fearful times, but its 
turn came at last. The Vandals, Alani, 
and Suevi, crossed the Pyrenees, and speed- 
ily conquered the greatest part of the coun- 
try. A portion of the Alani remained in 
Gaul, and are found later on the side of 
the Romans, in the great battle with Atti- 
la; after which they disappear. The Bur- 
gundians also remained under their king, 
Gundikar, (Gunther.) and first founded 
their kingdom in Alsace, where it speedily 
extended towards the Rhone and Saone in- 
to Switzerland, and from thence it spread 
to Savoy. In Northern Gaul, however, the 
Franks appear about this time to have made 
themselves masters, so that all that lies to- 
wards the north, from Boulogne on one side, 
to Cologne on the other, was subject 
to their sway. Before the middle of that 
century Treves also, which they had 
four times conquered, remained in their 
power. 

The Vandals, who with the Alani had 
taken their seat in the south of Spain, 
passed thence in the year 420, under their 
king, Geiserich or Genserich, upon the in- 
vitation of the discontented Roman gov- 
ernor, Bonifacius, over into Africa, and 
conquering there the whole of the northern 
coast, founded for a century a flourishing 
kingdom, the chief city of which was 
Carthage. What a migration, from the 
very shores of the Baltic, where these 
tribes first appear in history, even to the 
borders of the African deserts ! Geiserich, 
one of the great men of his age, but of a 
savage disposition, ruled for 50 years, from 
428-477. After him the kingdom of the 
Vandals fell, in the luxuriant climate of 
the country, produced by internal disturb- 
ances, and by the enervation of this other- 
wise powerful tribe. The emperor of Con- 
stantinople, Justinian, took advantage of 
their reduced state, and in the year 553 
sent his general, Belisarius, to Africa with 
an army, who overcame them in eight 
months. Their last king, Gelimer, was 
led by him in chains on his triumphant 
entry into Constantinople. 

The Suevi remained in Spain, but be- 
came, by degrees, more and more pressed 
upon by the Westro-Goths under Wallia 
and his successors, being soon limited to 
the northwestern portion of Spain and 
Portugal : and at last, in the year 585, 



they were entirely united with the Westro- 
Gothic kingdom. 

In the middle of the fifth century, 449, 
the Angeli, Saxons and Futi, passed over 
into England, and there founded new 
dynasties. Under the emperor Honorius, 
and immediately after him, the Romans 
had entirely quitted Britain. The Britons 
had, however, become so enervated under 
their sway, that after the withdrawal of 
the Roman garrisons, they felt themselves 
incompetent to protect their freedom. 
Their neighbors in the Scotch Highlands, 
the warlike Picts and Scots, breaking forth 
from their mountains with undiminished 
power, pressed hard upon them ; and they 
found no other alternative but to call 
strangers once more to their defence. 
Their choice fell upon the tribes of Saxon 
origin who inhabited the coasts of the 
North Sea, and whose valor they had often 
had occasion to know when these fell in 
with their piratic squadrons on the coasts 
of Britain. Two Saxon brothers, Hengist 
and Horst, or Horsa, heroes of a noble 
race, who derived their origin from Wodan, 
accepted the invitation of the British king, 
Vortigern, and with only three ships, which 
bore 1600 warriors, they landed. Their 
valor alone supplied the place of numbers ; 
they beat the Picts near Stamford, and 
speedily afterwards large troops of their 
countrymen followed them over from the 
continent. The Britons then would willing- 
ly have been freed of their new guests ; 
they, however, preferred remaining, sub- 
jected the whole of England as far as 
W ales, and founded the well-known Anglo- 
Saxon kingdoms or heptarchy, of which 
Kent, established by Hengist, formed the 
first. 

In a large village, seated in a plain be- 
tween the Danube and the Theiss, in Hun- 
gary, and surrounded by palisades, which 
had originated in a camp, there stood, in 
the midst of a spacious court, an extensive 
wooden mansion, adorned with many pas- 
sages and halls, and which formed the 
dwelling of Attila or Etzel, king of the 
Hunns. He had united his people — until 
then dispersed under many leaders — under 
his own dominion ; and in effecting this, 
had not hesitated even to slay his own 
brother, Bleda. All the tribes of the Hunns 
and their subjected nations, distributed 
from the Wolga to Hungary, reverenced 
his command. He was lord of the Gepidi, 



ATTILA AND THE HUNNS 



73 



Longobardi, Avari, Ostro-Goths, and many- 
nations in the south of Germany ; they, 
however, retained their languages, their 
customs, and their laws, and were ruled 
by their own princes ; so that they were 
to be considered more as allies than sub- 
jects ; and besides the language of the 
Hunns, that of the Goths, or German, was 
spoken at the court of Attila. 

He himself was small of stature, had a 
large head, deeply-seated eyes, which he 
proudly cast around, a broad chest, much 
animation, and a manner and bearing 
which thoroughly displayed the ruler. 
His most favorite name, indeed, was Gode- 
giesel, the scourge of God, for the punish- 
ment of the world. 

But as it may be assumed generally 
with regard to rulers, the founders of 
mighty empires, that they have not alone 
to thank their conquering swords for their 
acquired power, so also on his part King 
Attila gave undoubted proofs that for gov- 
erning he possessed capacities more mild 
and intellectual than the mere rude cour- 
age and skill of a warrior. For if he was 
terrible towards his enemies, and in his 
wrath severe and exterminating, still, on 
the other hand, he was gentle and kind to 
those he took under his protection. And if 
in war he himself always led on his peo- 
ple to battle, he was nevertheless, in times 
of peace, always to be found seated at 
their head before his palace gates, perform- 
ing the office of mediator and judge between 
each and all who came to him, without 
distinction. 

He loved splendor around him, but he 
himself lived in a simple and plain style, 
as if his greatness did not require this foil. 
The trappings of his horse were unadorned, 
and but little costly ; at his banquets, gold 
and silver vessels were placed before his 
guests, while he alone had those of wood ; 
he ate but little meat, despising, according 
to the custom of his nation, even bread. 
After each dish was served, the cup or 
wassail-bowl was handed round, and his 
health and prosperity drunk ; while min- 
strels sang heroic songs in praise of his 
valorous deeds. The court jester then fol- 
lowed with his wit and fun, and hilarity 
and merriment ruled at the board of the 
royal host ; but he alone never intermit- 
ted his strict seriousness. He remained 
throughout grave and thoughtful ; and it 
was only when his youngest son, Irnack, 
10 



entered the hall and approached him, that 
his features relaxed into a smile, and whom 
he greeted with affection; for of this son it 
had been prophesied, that he alone would 
be the means of preserving the succession 
of the race of Attila.* 

This powerful ruler, of whom it has 
been said that, when with his mysterious 
sword — which had been found by a shep- 
herd in the steppes of Scythia, and was 
considered to be the sword of the god of 
war — he struck the earth, a hundred na- 
tions trembled, and even Rome and Con- 
stantinople shook to their foundations, arose 
with his army in the year 451, and turned 
his course towards the west. He advanced 
with 700,000 men, all under him as chief 
ruler, and every tribe under its particular 
prince ; and although the princes them- 
selves trembled before him, his whole army 
had but one soul, and his nod alone direct- 
ed every movement. His path was called 
destruction ; for what could not fly, or was 
not destroyed, as he progressed in his road, 
was forced to follow in his train. 

He advanced through Austria and the 
Allemannic country, across the Rhine, 
overcame the Burgundian king, Gundikar, 
(Gunther,) even to the destruction of his 
whole tribe ; conquered and plundered the 
cities of Strasburg, Spire, Worms, Mentz, 
Treves, and others, and vowed not to stop 
until he reached the ocean itself. The 
military portions of the countries he tra- 
versed joined him either spontaneously or 
by force, and the gigantic horde increased 
at every step like an avalanche. 

But the Romans and several German 
nations had now armgd themselves against 
the great danger which threatened the 
west ; for it was now to be decided whe- 
ther Europe should be German or Mon- 
golian, whether German races were to 
found new kingdoms upon the tottering 
ruins of the Roman empire, or the great 
king of the Hunns. The Romans had at 
this time once again a good leader of the 
name of iEtius, who had formerly, when 
banished by Valentinian, sought refuge at 
the court of Attila ; he collected an army 
in Gaul, and applied for aid to the Westro- 
Gothic king, Theodoric or Dieterich, who 

* This description of Attila and his court is handed 
down to us by an eye-witness, the sophist, Priscus, 
who attended in the suite of an embassy from the em- 
peror Theodosius II. at the court of Attila : Byzant. 
Hist. Script, i. Jordanis also describes Attila, cap. 
xxxv.— Both relate also about the sword of Mars 



74 ATTILA AND 



dwelt in Toulouse, and whose kingdom 
also was in great danger. To him Diete- 
rich replied, although, in earlier times, 
JEtius had been his enemy : " A just war 
has never appeared to fall too heavy upon 
any king of the Westro-Goths ; and never 
has any such king been known to fear 
when it depended upon a glorious deed. 
Even thus think the nobles of my kingdom 
also ; and the entire nation of the Westro- 
Goths will, at the call, cheerfully seize 
their well-tried arms, at all times victori- 
ous." The Burgundians had also promised 
assistance, besides Sangipan, the Alanian, 
who ruled upon the Loire ; a portion of 
the Franks also, together with the city of 
Paris itself, and even a branch of the 
Saxons, which had colonized, it is unknown 
at what period, at the mouths of the Loire, 
or perhaps had landed there direct from a 
maritime expedition — all these united to- 
gether for the same purpose. 

In the broad plain of France, through 
which the Marne flows, and which was 
called by the ancients the Catalaunian 
Plain, where the city of Chalons now lies, 
there rises near Mury, in the vicinity of 
Troyes, a moderately high hill, which com- 
mands the district. It was here that the 
army of the West met the forces of the 
Hunns, and a severe battle was fought. 
It may be called a battle of the nations, 
for the majority of the European nations 
stood here opposed to each other. The 
left wing of the Roman army was com- 
manded by iEtius, the light by Theodo- 
ric ; between them they posted king San- 
gipan, who was the least to be trusted. 
The hordes of the Hunns, on the opposite 
side, appeared innumerable ; one wing 
was commanded by Arderic, the king of 
the Gepidi ; the others by Theudimer, 
Widemir, and Walamir, the princes of the 
Ostro- Goths. Attila was in the centre of 
the whole. The multitude of petty kings 
obeyed his least nod, and they fulfilled his 
commands in silence and terror ; he alone, 
the chief of all these kings, thought and 
acted for all. When the battle was about 
to begin, he summoned his leaders before 
him, and said, " It does not become me to 
say common-place things to you, or for 
you to listen to such. Be men; attack, 
break through, cast all down ; despise the 
Roman array and their shields. Fall upon 
the Western Goths and Alani, in whom 
lies the strength of the enemy. If you 



THE GOTHS 



must die, you will die even when you flee. 
Direct your eyes to me, for I shall go 
first ; he who does not follow — shall be a 
corpse V 3 

Both armies strove to obtain the hill ; 
the battle was very furious, and there was 
terrible slaughter. The Hunns soon broke 
through the centre, where the Romans 
were stationed, and whom they put to 
flight ; and soon afterwards the Westro- 
Goths gave way before the Ostro-Goths. 
While the Westro- Gothic king was ad- 
dressing his people he fell, but gloriously, 
for his death inflamed his nation to re- 
venge it; and his son Thorismund leading 
them on, put the enemy to flight, and thus 
decided the battle. Upon the approach of 
night, Attila was obliged to retire within 
his camp of wagons. As he did not know 
but the enemy might pursue him, he caused 
innumerable saddles and wooden shields to 
be piled up, in case of necessity to set fire 
to them and die in the flames; at the same 
time, to terrify the enemy, he commanded 
a noise to be made all night with arms, 
drums, trumpets, and songs ; but they did 
not attack him. Among the piled heaps 
of the slain, they sought the body of the 
Westro- Gothic king, and celebrated his 
funeral by a procession, amid laments and 
warlike instruments sounding, taking with 
them the spoils of the Hunns in their very 
presence, who however did not venture to 
interrupt the ceremony. Thorismund fol- 
lowed the body of his father, and wished to 
return and renew the attack ; but he was 
dissuaded from this by iEtius, who advised 
him to return to his kingdom, that his 
brother might not take first possession of 
the crown. He was anxious not to destroy 
the power of the Hunns completely, in 
order, perhaps, to be enabled to use it sub- 
sequently against the Goths. 

In the following year, Attila, who was 
thus enabled to recross the Rhine unpur- 
sued, made a second incursion into Italy, 
and destroyed in a terrible manner Aqui- 
leja, Milan,* and other cities. Rome itself 
was alone saved from a similar fate by the 
supplications of Pope Leo, and the rich 
ransom he offered to him. Want of sup- 
plies, and disease among his army, forced 

* Sucibius relates that, at this place, Attila met with 
a picture, in which were represented some Scythian 
men kneeling before the Roman emperor ; and that 
there, opposite to it, he had his own figure painted, 
seated upon the imperial throne, and at his feet the Ro- 
man emperors, throwing down before him bags of gold. 



ATTILA— HIS DEATH. 



75 



him to retreat across the Alps ; he never- 
theless threatened to return again, and had 
already prepared another expedition, but 
amidst his preparations he died, in the year 
453. He was mourned over, and buried 
according to the customs of his people. 
The Hunns slashed their faces with wounds, 
and shaved away their hair, and upon a 
broad plain, beneath a silken tent, his body 
lay in state. About it coursed the caval- 
ry, singing his deeds as they galloped 
around, and vaunting the good fortune, that 
the great Attila, after immortal victories, 
in the most glorious moment of his nation's 
history, and without pain, had closed his 
life, and had transferred himself to the spi- 
rits of the ancient heroes. In the night he 
was laid in a golden coffin ; this was placed 
in a silver one, which was enclosed in an 
iron one ; the caparison of his horses, his 
arms, and costly ornaments being buried 
with him. After the ceremony, the work- 
men were immediately slaughtered on his 
grave, that none of them might betray where 
the hero of the Hunns reposed.* 

As soon as the terror of his name no 
longer bound the nations together, they 
separated ; many refused obedience ; and 
after his first-born son, Ellak, had fallen in 
a great battle against Arderic, the king of 
the Gepidi, the whole power of the Hunns 
disappeared, and they dispersed further 
towards the east. The head of one of the 
sons of Attila — such are the changes in 
human fate — was shortly afterwards seen 
held up for display, at one of the race-courses 
in Constantinople ! Arderic occupied the 
country of the Lower Danube, and the 
Ostro- Goths took possession of Hungary, 
towards Vienna. The remaining portion 
of the German tribes who had been subject 
to the power of the Hunns, no doubt like- 
wise took advantage of this moment of re- 
newed independence, to return to their old, 
or to take possession of new dwelling-places. 
Phis period may therefore be considered 
as decisive of the form of the immediate 
future, until the entire destruction of the 
Roman power in Italy produced new re- 
volutions for a portion of Europe. 

The Western Roman Empire now con- 
sisting of Italy alone, declined more and 

. * The name of Attila, or Etzel, was afterwards men- 
tioned in the German legends ; he was there grouped 
with Herman arich and the subsequent Theodoric, 
(Dieterich, of Berne.) He does not, however, appear 
there as an enemy to the Germans, but as a mighty 
valiant ruler in the east of Germany. 



more towards its utter extinction. The 
wretched emperor, Valentinian III., mur- 
dered with his own hand iEtius, who had 
been the support of the empire, and who had 
once more saved it in the Catalaunian plains, 
against Attila, because he had been made 
to suspect him. Valentinian himself was 
slain, at the instigation of Petronius Alax- 
imus, who now became emperor, and forced 
Eudocia, the widow of the murdered mon- 
arch, to marry him. She however, out of 
revenge, invited the Vandal king, Geise- 
rich, from Africa. He came, conquered 
in 455 the city of Rome, plundered and 
devastated it in a dreadful manner for the 
space of fourteen days, as if, by him. Fate 
retaliated upon the Romans, for their terri- 
ble destruction of Carthage six hundred 
years before. He then embarked again 
for Africa, with a fleet of many ships, 
loaded with costly booty and prisoners of 
all classes, who were sold as slaves. 

After Valentinian, nine sovereigns, in 
the short space of twenty years, bore the 
degraded title of Emperor of Rome. At 
last, in the year 476, Odoacer, a prince of 
Scyric descent, commander of an allied 
horde of Scyri, Herulians, Rugians, and 
Turcilingi, a man equally distinguished 
for his mental powers and physical strength, 
thrust the last of those shadowy emperors, 
Romulus Momyllus or Augustulus, as yet 
a boy, from the throne, and called himself 
King of Italy. The tender age of the 
young emperor when he laid aside the pur- 
ple robes, the crown and arms, and came 
and deposited them in the camp, caused 
him to be spared, and he was sent by 
Odoacer to a castle in Campania. The 
above-named tribes, who doubtlessly be- 
longed to the Gothic confederation, had 
gradually advanced from their earlier dwell- 
ings on the Baltic towards the south, until 
they found a dwelling on the Danube and 
the frontiers of Italy, and there served the 
Romans frequently for pay. This small 
band, therefore, at last extinguished the 
Roman empire, in the year 476, and in 
the 1230th year since the foundation of the 
capital. 

About this period the following was the 
manner in which the countries of the 
western empire were divided among for- 
eign tribes, the result of the great migra- 
tion which had taken place a century be- 
fore . 

Italy was under the dominion of Odoa. 



76 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRIBES. 



cer, and his kingdom extended itself to- 
wards the north, across the Alps, as far as 
the Danube. In Hungary the Ostro- Goths 
were powerful, and the Longobardi had 
long before advanced from their seats upon 
the Elbe, and fixed themselves to the north 
of the Danube, towards the Theiss. In 
Bavaria was formed by degrees, (without 
history giving a detailed account of it.) 
from remnants of the Rugi, Heruli, Scyri, 
Turcilingi, and certainly from Suevic 
tribes, particularly the Marcomanni — the 
nation of Bojoarians under the royal race 
of the Agilolfi. The name more particu- 
larly indicates the descent from the Marco- 
manni, coming from Bohemia, inasmuch as 
the more ancient name of this country, 
Boja or Bojos, has been transferred to Bo- 
joheim. Baiheim, or Beheim. The Mar- 
comanni, who had previously wandered 
back to this country, after the Danube dis- 
tricts had become free, fixed themselves in 
Franconia and Bavaria, and called them- 
selves Bojoari or Bajovari. 

The Allemanni dwelt in the eastern 
part of Switzerland, in Swabia, and down 
both banks of the Rhine, as far as the 
Lahn and Cologne. On the left bank of 
the Pvhine they were afterwards called 
Alsatians. The name of Suevi also ap- 
pears about this time among them, and has 
preserved itself to this day in the name of 
the country — Swabia. 

In the centre of Germany, from the 
present Harz mountains to Franconia, the 
powerful Thuringians held their sway, 
whose earlier history is very obscure. 
They first appear noticed about the middle 
of the fifth century, without our author 
mentioning their origin or earlier state. 

In Lower Saxony and W estphalia the 
Saxons retained their ancient seats and 
constitution, and close to them on the North 
Sea were the Friesi. 

On the Lower Rhine, on the Maas and 
the Scheldt, as far as the Netherlands, and 
in the north of France, dwelt the branches 
of the Franks ; the most considerable of 
which were the Salians, in the Nether- 



lands, and the Ripuarians, dwelling along 
the coasts of the Rhine. 

Close to them, on the Seine, a Roman 
governor, of the name of Syagrius, main- 
tained his power for ten years longer, 
until the year 486, when already there 
was no longer an emperor in Rome. The 
northwestern point of France, the present 
Brittany, had already been occupied much 
earlier by fugitives from Britain, who had 
fled before the Picts, and then formed un- 
der the name of Armoricee an alliance of 
free cities. 

Southeastern France, Savoy, and west- 
ern Switzerland belonged now to the Bur- 
gundians. Their chief cities were Gene- 
va, Besancon, Lyons, and Yienne. The 
Burgundians were certainly the mildest of 
the conquering tribes of this period, being 
early attached to Christianity, cultivation, 
and art ; and to them that portion of France 
is indebted for its many remains of ancient 
Roman works of art. In Switzerland the 
French lancmao-e still marks its ancient 
boundaries against the Allemanni, for the 
Burgundians mixed more with the Ro- 
mans, and adopted much of their language. 

Southwestern France, from the Loire 
and Rhone to the Pyrenees, as well as a 
great portion of Spain, was subject to the 
Western Goths, but northwestern Spain to 
the Suevi. 

The northwestern coast of Africa was 
Vandalian. In Britain the Angeli and 
Saxons by degrees retained their power 
and augmented it more and more. 

The east and northeastern portion of 
Germany was left comparatively bare by 
the advance of the tribes towards the south 
and west, and Slavonic tribes migrated in- 
creasingly thither, who had been seated on 
those boundaries from time immemorial, 
and who had also, perhaps, been partly 
subject to the Germans. Those foreign 
branches now gained the superiority, and 
the remains of the Germans who would 
not quit their original dwelling-place, be- 
came subject to, and were dispersed among 
them. 



CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 



77 



SECOND PERIOD. 

FROM THE CONQUESTS OF CLOVIS TO CHARLEMAGNE. 

486—768. 



The historical writers of this period form but a very 
limited class, and are of very unequal estimation. 
What they relate of the earlier times is mostly founded 
on tradition, and can scarcely be placed in conjunction 
with what has been furnished by the Roman authors : 
still, in reference to the history of their own period, and 
those immediately preceding, they are nevertheless of 
high importance : 

1. For the " History of the Franks," we may con- 
sider as a principal writer, Gregory, bishop of Tours, 
(Gregorius Tiuonensis,) who died in the year 595. He 
calls his book an ecclesiastical history, but therein he 
describes generally the acts and proceedings of the 
Franks, in ten books, until the year 591. His language, 
characteristic of his time, is uncivilized, his descrip- 
tion confused and interrupted by legendary wonders, 
going, however, very deeply into the details, and in re- 
ference to subsequent years, as the record of a contem- 
porary, it is very exact, and thus renders him equally 
instructive ; he "likewise possesses the merit of being 
honest and a lover of truth. He has been styled the 
Herodotus of this period. 

Fredegar, about the year 650, made from Gregory's 
work a short abridgment, interspersed with fables, 
(■' Historia Francorum Epitomata,") which proceeds 
as far as the year 584, and then continues the history 
in a ' ' Chronicum" until 641. This " Chronicum" 
was again taken up and resumed by three other men, 
but with certain chasms, until 768 ; very meager and 
without connection, but still important, because the 
writers were chiefly witnesses of the events described. 
The Si Gesta Regum Francorum," are, likewise, in part 
extracted from Gregory, whose description they con- 
tinue to the year 720, very briefly and not without many 
inaccuracies. 

With these andlater, are the "Annals," short sketch- 
es which were made annually in the monasteries, of 
the most important events, and thus, at least, in part 
originate from eye-witnesses. They were afterwards 
copied and communicated from the one monastery to 
the other, often augmented there, then subsequently 
various portions corrected and prepared, and thus they 
acquired greater extent and value. The most impor- 
tant are those which bear the simple title " Annalis 
Laurissenses," from a monastery in the L pper Rhine 
province, which go on from 741 to 788, and were con- 
tinued by Eginhardt, from 788 to 829. They have been 
partially published in the older collections, but more 
completely given in the " Monumenta Germanise His- 
torical' collected by Pertz. 

2. For the " History of the Goths" are to be men- 
tioned : 

a. Cassiodorus. invested with high offices of state, 
under Odoacer, Theodoric, and their successors, and 
who died in the year 565, in the convent \ ivarosa ; he 
■wrote a history "of the Goths, which, unfortunately, 
was lost. There have, however, been preserved his 
" XII Libri Yariarum," a very important work, be- 
cause it contains edicts, instructions, and documents, 
which were written in the names of the kings ; learned, 
elegant, but vain and verbose. 

b. The monk Jordanis, (thus he is called, and not 
Jornandes, in the more ancient documents, and by 
himself likewise,) a Goth, living about the middle of 
the sixth century, has brought into an abridgment— de 
Rebus Geticis — the lost history of Cassiodorus, but has 
disfigured it by the interlineation of every thing he 
knew or heard of besides. Stdl, although without 
iudgment and historical knowledge, his book is of the 
highest value, inasmuch as for many events that is 
nearly our only source. It extends to the year 540. 

c The parallel of " Procopii Ceesarensis Vandahca 



et Gothica" may in the details explain much, because 
the Greek proceeds upon very different views to those 
of the western writers. 

d. Isidor, bishop of Seville, (Isidorus Hispalensis.) 
who died in 636, wrote a short history of tiie Goths, 
Vandals, and Suevians, to the year 628, but which 
again explains nothing about the earlier history of these 
nations, and refers more properly to Spain alone. 

3. The chief writer on the history of the Longobardi 
is Paul Diaconus, the son of V\ arnefried, one of the 
first men of his age, living at the courts of Desiderius 
and Charlemagne, and who died as a monk on Mount 
Cassino in the year 799. In his "De Gestis Lango- 
bardorum, libri vi.," he describes the deeds of his na- 
tion with a great predilection for tradition : the com- 
mencement is quite unhistorical, but subsequently he 
becomes more careful and exact, and presents us with 
detailed information extremely valuable. 

4. For German history likewise are of great import- 
ance the biographies of- the Roman Pontiffs, at least from 
the eighth century, composed by contemporary writers ; 
they continue to the beginning of the ninth century. 

5. Extremely important also are the letters of dis- 
tinguished men which have been handed doom to us 
from that period, especially those of Saint Boniface, as 
well as the biographies of him and other holy men, 
n it 38 Sanctorum,) which often present the most faith- 
ful picture of their times, and have preserved for us the 
most valuable information; 

6. And lastly ; for our research into the relations of 
life, the manners, customs, and institutions, are very 
important, the Laws of the German nations or 
tribes," who belonged to the Franconian empire : the 
Salians, Ripuarians, Allemannians, Burgundians, and 
Bavarians, and later, the Saxons and Thuringians. But 
there remains much therein wliich is very obscure, in- 
asmuch as they contain principally only the penal law 
of these people, and cannot, therefore, yield us the de- 
sired information respecting the other relations, are not 
regulated according to general principles, contain no- 
thing of the constitution of the empire beyond what 
refers to the administration of the law, and present 
even in that portion what to our eye appears very frag- 
mentary. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Clovis, king of the Franks, 482-511— Theodoric, sur- 
named Dieterich of Berne, 488-526— The Longobardi 
in Italv, 568— Changes in the Customs and Institu- 
tions of the Germans— The Language— Constitution 
—Feudal Svstem— Laws— Pastimes— Christianity in 
Germanv— The Grand Chamberlains— Charles 3Iar- 
tel against the Arabs, 732— Pepin the Little— The 
Carlovingians. 

During the great movements of the 
tribes, which we have just related, the 
Franks had not, like the Goths, Burgun- 
dians, and other nations, migrated from 
their dwellings to settle themselves else- 
where, but they remained in their own 
seat, and from thence conquered only that 



7S 



CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRAXKS. 



portion of Gaul which lies to the north of 
the Forest of Ardennes. And this forest 
also sheltered them from being drawn into 
the great stream of migration. Their di- 
vision also into several branches, each of 
which had its own king or prince, prevented 
them from making extensive and general 
expeditions. 

But their time came. About the year 
482, Clovis, or as we should say, Lewis, 
the son of Gilderich, became prince of the 
Salian Franks ; and he soon prepared him- 
self to execute the plans of his bold and 
comprehensive mind, for the bent of his 
ardent spirit was to make war and con- 
quest. Clovis belongs to that class of ru- 
lers in the history of the world, who think 
all ways good that lead to dominion. He 
has sullied the celebrity of his military 
fame by the most despicable want of faith 
to his relatives and allies. He at first 
concluded with the princes of the Franks, 
who were his equals, and for the majority 
his relatives, alliances of war against other 
tribes, and after he had conquered them 
by their assistance, and had become power- 
ful, he then also dispatched those very 
friends out of his way by poison, the dag- 
ger, and treachery. By this means he 
became eventually king of all the Franks. 

Of his foreign enemies, he first attacked, 
when only twenty, the Roman governor 
Syagrius, whom we mentioned above, ef- 
fectually beat him at Soissons, (Suessiones,) 
and occupied the country as far as the 
Loire. Syagrius, who fled to the Western 
Goths, was obliged to be delivered up to 
Clovis and was executed. This commence- 
ment of the conquests of Clovis took place 
in the year 486, ten years after Romulus 
Augustulus was deposed. 

He then advanced with his army against 
the Allemanni, who in the mean time had 
fallen upon the country of the Ripuarian 
Franks, for both nations having their bound- 
aries upon the river Lahn, had been ene- 
mies for years. They met in the year 
496, near Zulpich, in the district of Juliers, 
and fought bitterly against each other, and 
the victory already inclined to the side of 
the Allemanni, when in the heat of the 
battle, his soul excited by anxiety, Clovis 
fell upon his knees and vowed to become a 
Christian ; and as victory now absolutely 
turned on his side, he caused himself and 
three thousand of his Franks to be baptized 
in Rheims, at the subsequent Easter fes- 



tival, by the Bishop Remigius. This was 
the commencement of the introduction of 
the Christian faith among the Franks, and 
Clovis was henceforward called the eldest son 
of the church and the most Christian king. 
His consort Clotilda, the daughter of a 
Burgundian prince, had long wished to 
convert him to the better faith by the force 
of gentle persuasion ; he, however, had 
always despised it until the necessity of 
the battle overpowered him, and it was in- 
deed very evident both in him and in the 
Franks in general, that their conversion 
was a work of mere compulsion. For 
Clovis murdered his relatives after as well 
as before, and subdued one Christian nation 
after the other, while the Franks for 
several centuries bore the character of 
being the most treacherous of all the Ger- 
man nations. 

After the Allemanni were reduced, and 
the kingdom of the Franks had spread it- 
self along the Rhine to Switzerland, and 
after the Burgundians were obliged to 
promise tribute, Clovis bent his eyes to- 
wards the kingdom of the West Goths, 
who possessed the most beautiful portion 
of France in the south. Thus, although 
he had only shortly before had a confer- 
ence with their king, Alaric, and had sworn 
friendship to him, he yet determined to at- 
tack him as an enemy. 

The wise Ostro- Gothic king, Theodoric, 
who previously to this had founded his 
dominion in Italy, counselled the unruly 
Clovis, whose sister, Audofleda, was his 
consort, in the most urgent manner from 
his unjust expedition against Alaric, and 
reminded him that peace and union be- 
came Christian nations. But Clovis, who 
knew only the language of the sword and 
of rude force, gave no ear to him ; he 
attacked the Westro-Gothic kingdom ; and, 
in the year 507, in a plain of the river 
Vienne, near Yougle or Vironne, fought 
and won a great battle in which Alaric 
himself fell, transpierced by the spear of 
Clovis, who took possession of the chief 
cities of his country, and would, no doubt, 
have destroyed the whole kingdom, had 
not the great Theodoric stepped between 
and driven him back with a strong hand. 
He was, therefore, obliged to content him- 
self with the country between the Loire 
and the Garonne. 

Clovis did not live long after this, but 
died at Paris, in the year 511, in the forty- 



THE MEROVINGIANS— THEODORIC THE GOTH. 



79 



third year of his age, and his empire was 
divided between his four sons. 

His successors to the throne of the Franks, 
who are called the Merovingians, were in 
general worthy of their founder. It ap- 
peared as if vice and tyranny, unheard of 
cruelty, and savage revenge were heredi- 
tary in this family, and as if a curse had 
from the beginning been poured over them. 
In the space of forty years six Merovingian 
kings were destroyed by poison or the 
sword ; and the intrigues and revengeful 
passions of malicious women form an im- 
portant feature in these horrid scenes. It 
cannot, therefore, suit the purport of this 
history to penetrate further into the details 
of these events, which are equally as un- 
nourishing to the mind, as they are unfruit- 
ful in regard to the knowledge it is so 
desirable to obtain from the great entirety 
of our history. The nation of the Franks, 
under such princes, could not possibly be 
raised from its state of moral rudeness and 
degradation, but necessarily became plung- 
ed more deeply in vice. Their power, 
however, continued to extend itself more 
and more. They by degrees subjected 
the Burgundians, and in Germany the 
powerful nation of the Thuringians, and 
the dukes of Bavaria sought their protec- 
tion. About the middle of the sixth cen- 
tury all the German nations from the 
frontiers of the Saxons to the Alps allied 
themselves with the kingdom of the Franks ; 
Franks, Thuringians, Allemans or Swa- 
bians, and Bavarians. The Saxons alone 
and the Friesi still remained independent 
in their northwestern dwellings. 

When, after king Attila's death, the 
kingdom of the Hunns fell asunder, the 
Ostro-Goths, as has been already mention- 
ed, became again free, and dwelt in Hun- 
gary and the neighboring countries of the 
Danube. They had frequent disputes with 
the emperor, in Constantinople, and upon 
one of these occasions Theodoric or Die- 
terich, a son of one of their princes, was 
sent as hostage to that city, and there he 
saw, as had Marbodius and Arminius form- 
erly, in Rome, the institutions of a great 
empire. He remained there ten years, 
and was instructed in the Grecian arts and 
sciences, so that no German prince of his 
time equalled him in accomplishments. 
After the death of his father, Theodemir, 
and of his uncles, he became sole king of 
the Ostro-Goths, and now resolved, like 



other rulers, to found for his people a large 
and beautiful kingdom, for they longed to 
be led to more desirable lands than the 
wastes near the Sau and the Danube. The 
Emperor of Constantinople, Zeno, who con- 
sidered himself now as the sole inheritor of 
the entire ancient empire of the Romans, 
upon this presented him with the land of 
Italy as the reward for services rendered, 
and instead of his promised subsidies in 
money. Italy was still under the rule of 
Odoacer, but his kingdom was not pro- 
perly to be considered German, because 
the Herulians and Rugians formed but a 
small portion of his people. 

Theodoric broke up with his nation in 
the year 488, pressed through the passes 
of Italy, and encountered Odoacer near 
Aquileja and Verona. But the Italians 
fought with little zeal for their king, and 
he was both times obliged to fly. King 
Theodoric, from this last battle, was styled 
in legendary songs and ballads, in a mul- 
titude of which his fame was recorded, the 
great hero, Dieterich of Berne, (which sig- 
nifies Verona.) Immediately after this, 
Odoacer was a third time defeated near 
the Adda, after his own city, Rome, had 
shut its gates against him, and for three 
years he was besieged in Ravenna, until, 
in the year 493, he was at last forced to 
yield, and his lands fell into the hands of 
Theodoric, by whom he was killed. His 
kingdom had lasted seventeen years. 
Theodoric became lord of Italy, and ruler 
over the countries beyond the Alps to the 
Danube, and in the wars of the Franks 
and Westro-Goths he made himself master 
of the provinces as far as the Rhone, an 
extensive and beautiful kingdom, which 
might have existed to the present day if 
his successors had equalled him in wisdom 
and virtue. His chief cities were Ra- 
venna and Verona. 

He himself reigned more than thirty 
years, and was not only a kind and mild 
master to his Goths, but also a gentle ruler 
over his Roman subjects and all who dwelt 
in Italy ; so much so, that this country 
had not enjoyed so happy a time for many 
centuries as under him, the foreign prince. 
Agriculture and trade again flourished. 
Art and science found in him a protector, 
and ancient cities, lying in ruins, were re- 
built. Italy enjoyed under, and subse- 
quent to his reign, for a period of forty 
years, continued peace, and was so dili- 



SO THEODORIC THE GOTH— HIS DEATH. 



gently cultivated, that it not only grew 
sufficient grain for its own consumption, 
but could even export it to Gaul, while 
formerly, under the Roman emperors, it 
was always necessary to procure a supply 
from Sicily and Africa. 

His wisdom and justice raised him 
above all the kings of his time. He 
stepped among them like the father of a 
large family and an institutor of peace ; 
and the most distant tribes had recourse to 
his counsel, and honored him with pre- 
sents. To the other kings of German 
origin, with almost all of whom he had 
allied himself by marriage, he wrote as a 
father, thus: "You all possess proofs of 
my good- will. You are young heroes, and 
it is my duty to counsel you. Your dis- 
order and irregularities grieve me ; it is 
not a matter of indifference to me to be- 
hold how you allow yourselves to be gov- 
erned by your passions, for the passions of 
kings are the ruin of nations ; while, on 
the contrary, your friendship and unity 
together are, as it were, the veins through 
which the wishes of nations flow into each 
other." 

He placed such principles before their 
eyes, and showed thereby that his mind 
had formed the conception of a great al- 
liance, founded upon justice and wisdom, 
between all the Christian nations of Ger- 
man origin, who had fixed their seat in 
Europe. An alliance, such as reason has 
depicted before the eyes of all ages as a 
ublime picture ; and as it has displayed 
tself, from time to time, by the mouths of 
enlightened men, so that justice and order, 
and especially the spirit of Christian unity, 
should predominate, and hatred and thirst 
after prey be reined in — evils which, alas ! 
through the want of such an alliance, have 
ravaged Europe from one end to the other. 
Had Theodoric been enabled to form such 
a noble union, he would have founded 
more of that which is truly grand than 
the ancient Romans, over whose posses- 
sions he had now become ruler, and whose 
empire he was anxious to restore, not by 
the rude force of arms, but in the form of 
a peaceful alliance of nations. But as the 
mild force of truth and justice always finds 
its enemy in the selfishness of those who 
only seek their own advantage and the in- 
dulgence of their passions, Theodoric con- 
sequently experienced that the world was 
not then yet rife enough for the fruction 



of his great ideas j for while he preached 
peace with earnestness and love, Clovis, 
the Frank, raged war with his sword, de- 
spising his doctrine, and seeking only tc 
bring a multitude of tribes under his do- 
minion. 

The great Theodoric died in the year 
526. His monarchy had now no duration ; 
for his son, Athalaric, was but just ten 
years old, and died shortly after his father. 
The nobles of his kingdom were no longer 
unanimous, but elevated and deposed sev- 
eral kings after each other. The Roman 
subjects, also, could not forget that their 
rulers were Goths, and attached to the 
Arian faith. They wished themselves 
again under the Greek emperors, who 
dwelt in Constantinople, and were mem- 
bers of the orthodox church, although the 
dominion of these emperors had become 
lamentably bad, and was in a ruinous 
state. It was then that the emperor Justi- 
nian, who was one of the best of the series, 
took advantage of this discontent, and sent 
his general, Belisarius, and after him 
Narses, into Italy, to subject this country 
again to his rule. A long and severe war 
arose, conducted by the Goths with their 
usual valor, but without success, and 
which destroyed the country, and almost 
depopulated Rome by several sieges, so 
that no trace was left of its ancient splen- 
dor. 

The Goths raised themselves once more, 
after four of their sovereigns had been 
destroyed, under their king, Totilas, who 
was worthy of ruling the dominions of 
Theodoric ; but as he also, after he had 
fought with fame for eleven years, waF 
killed in the year 552, in a battle against 
Narses, and ten months afterwards, his 
successor, Tejas, fell likewise in the three 
days' desperate battle near Cuma, the 
Gothic kingdom sunk into such a ruinous 
state that twenty-seven years after the 
death of Theodoric, and in the year 553, 
the Ostro-Goths were not only vanquished, 
but also almost entirely annihilated. A 
few only escaped over the Alps to seek an 
asylum among other German nations. 

Fifteen years after the fall of the Ostro- 
Goths, another valiant German nation, the 
Longobardi, who had taken possession of 
the earlier dwelling-places of the former on 
the Danube, executed an act of retaliation, 
justly timed for them, on the Greeks. The 
Greek general, Narses, upon falling under 



THE LONGOBARDI IN ITALY. 



81 



the displeasure of the emperor Justinian, 
had himself called forward their king, 
Alboni or Albwin, who had already over- 
come the Gepidi, and now ruled in Hun- 
gary, Austria, Carruthia, and even in a 
portion of Bavaria. This king possessed 
that heroic courage which graves itself 
deeply in the hearts of nations. Not only 
his own nation, but those of the Saxons and 
Bavarians sang his praise for centuries 
after his death. 

On the second day of April, in the year 
568, the king Alboni broke up from Hun- 
gary with all his Longobardian men, their 
women and children, accompanied by 
20,000 Saxons. The country they hitherto 
possessed was left by them to their allies, 
the Avari, who were found still there by 
Charlemagne subsequently. It was a morn- 
ing full of splendor when, from the heights 
of one of the advanced mountains of the 
Alps, which was afterwards called the 
King's Mountain, the astonished strangers 
cast their eyes down upon their new and 
beautiful country. Wherever Alboni passed 
he showed his veneration for the church, 
and sought, on every occasion, the affection 
of the people. By the conquest of Pavia, 
at the confluence of the Ticino and the Po. 
he founded his dominion in Upper Italy, 
which, to the present day, has been called 
Lombardy, from the Longobardi, and he 
made it the chief city of those districts. In 
Lower Italy, also, this nation conquered 
beautiful tracts of land, and founded the 
principality Benevento, which comprises 
the greatest portion of the present kingdom 
of Naples. But Rome and Ravenna re- 
mained in the hands of the Greeks, who 
gained the Franks to their side by presents, 
in order that they might, by their means, 
prevent the Longobardi from taking pos- 
session of the whole of Italy, and consoli- 
dating it into one powerful and strong king- 
dom. And, unfortunately for the country, 
in this object they succeeded. From that 
period to this day, Italy has remained dis- 
united, and has endured the severe fate of 
a divided country, internally rent. Stran- 
gers have, from time immemorial, contested 
for its possession, and its ground has been 
deluged with streams of native and foreign 
blood. 

The Longobardi cultivated their newly- 
acquired country so admirably, that the 
melancholy traces of former devastation 
became daily less discernible. The king 
11 



also procured his supplies from the produce 
of his possessions ; and from one farm to 
another he was regular in his visits of in- 
spection ; living, in fact, with all the sim- 
plicity of a patriarch, combined with the 
dignity of a great military leader. Their 
free-men, as among the ancient Romans, 
labored of their own accord to turn the de- 
sert and waste tracts into arable land, thus 
distinguishing themselves from other Ger- 
man nations. Agriculture flourished par- 
ticularly around monasteries, whose chron- 
icles, says a great German writer, contain 
the less dazzling but more satisfactory his- 
tory, of the way in which they almost over- 
came, or, at least, assisted Nature, and how 
cheerful gardens and smiling fields covered 
the ruins of ancient Italy. 

The majority of German nations,"at the 
time of the great migration, had come into 
new countries wholly different from their 
former settlements, and there found inhab- 
itants of a different race, with other lan- 
guages, manners, and laws. They, con- 
sequently, could not themselves continue to 
exist stationary in their new country upon 
the same footing that they had been used 
to in their former homes ; and it is import- 
ant that we should place before our view, 
in its broad outline, the great difference 
presented between the tribes which had 
wandered forth as conquerors, and those 
which had remained behind adhering to 
their ancient simple customs. 

The German conquerors found in Gaul, 
Spain, Italy, and England, inhabitants con- 
sisting of Romans and natives mixed. They 
left them, it is true, after they had appro- 
priated to themselves a portion of their 
possessions, in their dwelling-places, but 
generally as an ignoble and degenerate 
race. By the laws of the Franks, the fine 
for killing a Roman or a Gaul was only 
the half, and in some cases but one fourth, 
of what it was for a free Frank. After- 
wards, notwithstanding their original separ- 
ation and distinctive character, it could not 
well be otherwise but that the Germans by 
degrees became mixed with the natives, and 
that many of the latter, who were superior 
to the Germans in knowledge, as well as 
in cunning and refinement, speedily obtain- 
ed, under weak kings, distinguished offices, 
and now ruled their former lords. They 
even obtained, as services were paid only 
with land, grants of possession as feudal 
tenures, and became thereby partakers in. 



82 



CHANGES IN THE CUSTOMS AND INSTITUTIONS. 



the feudal rights. Romans and Gauls 
were seen to rank among the counts, dukes, 
and grand stewards, and thence arose, al- 
though perhaps but slowly, a mixture of 
nations, and accordingly of manners, lan- 
guages, and forms of ideas. 

The ancient vigorous nature of those 
Germans who came into warm and luxuri- 
ous countries, became enervated by effemi- 
nacy and sensuality. Thus the Vandals 
in Africa, and the Ostro-Goths in Italy, in 
the course of twenty years after their arri- 
val, had become so much transformed and 
degenerated, that they submitted to enemies 
who previously could scarcely bear their 
powerful glance. The tribes, however, 
which remained in Germany, continued as 
firm and vigorous as ever; and if after- 
wards they became by degrees more mild, 
like their climate, their forests were never- 
theless cleared so gradually, that the change 
in the people took place without too rapid, 
and thereby injurious a transition. 

But the greatest change that happened 
to the migrated German branches, was in 
reference to their language. For, as in 
the conquered countries, the Roman or 
Latin language was chiefly spoken, and as 
this was at that time much more cultivated 
than the German, it could not be supplanted 
by the latter ; but there arose a mixture of 
both, whereby they became changed, and 
the indigenous language of the country be- 
fore the Roman period, often formed a third 
component of this medley. Consequently 
in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Eng- 
land, a language is spoken formed by a 
mixture with the Roman, which may per- 
haps fall more gently upon the ear than the 
German, which yet retains much of its 
former roughness from the ancient forests ; 
while, however, the former tongue is nei- 
ther so energetic, so hearty, and honest, nor 
so rich in peculiar words. The German 
language remains ever fresh and florid, 
and is open to continual improvement in 
beauty and richness. It is a language en- 
tirely original, the roots of which ramify 
into the aboriginal foundations of German 
national idiosyncrasy, and draws its nour- 
ishment from the rich fountain of life with 
which nature has endowed the nation ; it 
may be compared to the living plant in a 
fruitful soil, and the labor bestowed upon 
it, is as that of the gardener who watches 
and carefully attends to the development 
of the favorite tree. But the language 



formed by a composition of many others, 
is but the work of man, like the artificial 
web which the hand of man prepares from 
the plants of the field. It is true this may 
be beautifully and richly worked ; but it is 
then and for all times finished, and possesses 
no further internal power of life and growth. 

The constitution of the conquering Ger- 
man nations necessarily became also es- 
sentially changed, At home, in their 
original condition, the power of royalty in 
peace was but insignificant. The elders 
or counts, as the appointed judges in every 
gau or district, regulated the usual affairs, 
adjudged disputes according to custom, and 
upon more important and general affairs 
the national assembly was convened. But 
in war the power of the leader surpassed 
every thing else, and justly so, as it then 
depended upon prompt decisions. The 
king or prince was the unlimited lord, and 
the most faithful of his suite or Gefolge 
ranked next to him. When such a war 
had speedily passed away, the prince 
again retired into the insignificance of a 
state of peace ; but in the many years of 
the incursions, amidst constant warfare, 
his power became firmly established. The 
whole nation became an army, and it ac- 
customed itself to the obedience necessary 
in war. The institutions of peace lost 
much of their force, and as in their incur- 
sive movements they had no country they 
could call their own, their whole confidence 
and attachment were necessarily concen- 
trated in their leader, who led them to vic- 
tory and pillage, and the forcible posses- 
sion of a new country. He was the safe- 
guard and hope of the nation ; he stood to 
them in lieu of home and father-land, and 
those who stood next to him, as his suite, 
were the most prosperous. 

To these latter, when conquest was com- 
pleted, he apportioned first their share of 
booty and of land, as in ancient times he 
had given them only their horse, arms, and 
entertainment. But without doubt he took 
to himself the most desirable and consider- 
able share, and particularly the lands of 
the conquered or slain princes ; his power 
being thus founded by his possessions and 
strong adherents. The Goths, the Bur- 
gundians, and the Longobardi, who came 
as migrating nations, with their wives and 
children, must certainly have exacted from 
the conquered a considerable portion of 
i their possessions. The Ostro-Goths in 



THE CONSTITUTION— THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 



83 



Italy demanded one-third of the land, 
while the Westro-Goths and Burgundians 
required from the Gauls as much as two- 
thirds. The Franks, on the contrary, made 
their conquests in excursions from home, 
not only as a nation, but as the suite of 
their prince. Their numbers were not 
great, hence they did not require to take 
from the Gauls and Romans any portion 
of their land, although, according to their 
ideas of the rights of conquerors, they con- 
sidered the whole as their property ; and 
in many cases, no doubt, they seized much 
of private property, so that the chance of 
the Gauls became often much more fa- 
tal, inasmuch as they were more imme- 
diately exposed to the wild and arbitrary 
demands made.* But altogether, they still 
found in what the Romans had previously 
possessed as national property, a sufficiency 
of land ; besides, in those portions of Gaul 
which they took from the Westro-Goths, 
the majority of those land possessions fell 
to them which the latter, upon the con- 
quest, had appropriated to themselves ; for 
many of them were killed in the war, and 
many likewise quitted the country and ad- 
vanced into Spain, that they might not be- 
come slaves to the Franks. The whole 
mass of the conquered state-lands above 
mentioned (according to the Roman ex- 
pression, fiscus) formed now, after the king 
had received his chief portion, the common 
property of the conquerors. It was thence, 
so long as they held together as an grmy, 
that their support was furnished ; after- 
wards, when they began to domicile them- 
selves among their new subjects, and, ac- 
cording to the original disposition of Ger- 
man nations, desired to obtain entire pos- 
session, they received this from the mass 
of fiscal lands, as a reward (beneficium) for 
the military services rendered ; and for 
which they remained obligated to afford 
further military duty at the command of 
the king, holding, however, possession of 
the land merely as a fief, or loan, (lehen,) 
during their lives. 

From this commencement was developed 
the entire constitution, afterwards so im- 
portant and influential, and which was 
called the feudal state. In the following 
centuries it obtained, by degrees, its full 
perfection, particularly when it extended 
itself backward to the ancient seats of 

* " Nec ullus muttire coram iis audebat," says Greg- 
ory of Tours. 



the Franks, and the other German nations 
subjected to them. The exertions to ob- 
tain fiefs, and procure appointment for the 
services connected therewith under the 
sovereign, became increasingly predomi- 
nant, for thereby was attained influence 
and power ; and to gain this many gave 
up their freedom. The feudatories took 
the name of liege subjects (fideles) and 
people (leudes) of the prince, or vassals, 
(vassi,) whence vasalli is derived. The 
feudal lord was called senior (whence 
seigneurs) or dominus. The name an- 
trustio (confidential) signified the liege sub- 
ject, leader of a troop, or arimanie of the 
escort or train, in which quality he had to 
take a particular oath of fidelity, and then 
stood trusie dominica. Those liege sub- 
jects who stood in ctose service to the prince 
were called administrators. 

The great vassals could distribute from 
their own land fiefs to other poorer indi- 
viduals, who engaged in their service, and 
thus became after, or arriere vassals. 
They were obliged, with these their fideles, 
to follow the heerbann of the prince, while 
the common freeman, who had only an 
allodial, or free inheritance, (in contradis- 
tinction to feudum*) was only obliged to 
attend in great national wars, and for 
which the heerbann, in the ancient Ger- 
man sense, was proclaimed. Notwith- 
standing which, the feudatories soon began 
to look down upon the freeman as upon 
one much their inferior, and to consider 
themselves, on the other hand, as the no- 
bility of the nation — even when they were 
not descended from the original nobility of 
the nation, for Gauls were likewise ena- 
bled to receive fiefs ; nay, already, under 
Clovis, these were elevated beyond the 
Franks in honors, for they more easily 
yielded obedience than the latter, and 
were thus more agreeable to the king. 
The law also made a distinction prejudi- 
cial to the free possessor. The liege sub- 
jects (in traste dominica) had a higher 
amount of fine-money allowed them ; it 
amounted to three-fourths of that of the 
common freeman ; and even when the 
liege subject was merely of Roman de- 
scent, the sum was higher than that of the 
free Frank, it being 300 solidis, while 
that of the latter was 200. 

The feods, originally, were not heredi- 

* The word feudum, however, does not present it- 
self before the second century. 



84 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM— THE LAWS. 



tary ; the lord could withdraw, and invest 
others with them ; but in the course of 
time, and particularly under weak govern- 
ments, the vassals found means, in one 
way or the other, to obtain hereditary pos- 
session, and make it nearly independent ; 
the royal power being thus again restrict- 
ed, by those whom it had previously ele- 
vated for its support. The majority of 
vassals were also powerful by their inher- 
ited property ; and who would deprive the 
powerful man, or his son, of his feod % 
Property and feods became mixed, because 
he who inherited the property inherited 
also the feod. 

The power of the kings was, therefore, 
not unlimited, and the ancient freedom not 
annihilated, inasmuch as the nation still 
participated in the decision of important 
national affairs. Regular assemblies were 
still held, and by the Flunks at first, in 
March ; afterwards, under Pepin the Lit- 
tle, in May ; whence the names of March 
and May plains. But the greatest differ- 
ence from ancient times was, that these 
assemblies consisted no longer of the ma- 
jority of all the freemen, but chiefly of 
feudatories, so that the nobility gave the 
decision. 

The laws of the German nations of this 
age show that their state was still very 
rude. The punishment of death was 
scarcely awarded to any crime except 
treason and infidelity. The German re- 
garded personal liberty so highly, that he 
would not yield to any other the right to 
his life. Murder might be compounded 
for with money or goods, and the compen- 
sation obtained by relatives, who, accord- 
ing to the ancient right of the retribution 
of blood, could have demanded the blood 
of the offender. Accordingly, the injured 
family possessed the right of feud or hos- 
tility against the other, until satisfaction 
was given. Expiation for the non-exer- 
cised family revenge was, therefore, the 
original signification of the retribution, or 
fine-money. The punishment of death, 
however, would not have withheld these 
passionate nations, who instantly grasped 
the sword, and had but little fear of death, 
from the momentary satisfaction of re- 
venge ; the pecuniary penalty was, on the 
contrary, very high for that period, and 
therefore more felt ; and he who could not 
pay it lost his freedom, and became the 
slave of the offended party. Many poor 



freemen thus lost their liberty, because 
their possessions were esteemed of but lit- 
tle value, as, for instance, an ox by the 
Salic laws was worth two gold shillings, a 
cow but one, a stallion six, and a mare 
three ; therefore, an opprobrious word cost 
a considerable sum, for he who called ano- 
ther a liar, was obliged to give him six 
shillings, or two oxen ; he who called him 
knave or scoundrel, as much as fifteen 
shillings. The extent of the punishment 
certainly conduced to their frequently ma- 
king arrangements, in order that they 
might not, through the excitement of a 
passionate moment, involve each other in 
deep misfortune. As each went armed, 
and could always defend himself, the mur- 
der of a man, according to the Allemannic 
law, was only half as heavily punished as 
that of a woman, who was defenceless. 
But theft was more abhorred than murder, 
because a coward may also attack defence- 
less objects. According to the Saxon law, 
he who had stolen a horse was punished 
with death, but every murder, even that 
of a noble, money could buy off. The 
highest fines inflicted were, first, that of a 
Bavarian duke, of 960 shillings, and sec- 
ondly, that of a bishop, of 900 shillings. 
There was no fine fixed for a king, for his 
person was considered sacred and unas- 
sailable. With the Franks, the fine- 
money of the royal Antrustio, if he was a 
Frank, was equal to that of a count, 600 
shillings ; of the freeman 200, and the 
Litus 100. For the Romans it was fixed 
at half these amounts, in the same pro- 
portion : so that the Romanus cotiviva regis 
paid 300 shillings, the Romanus possessor 
100, but the Romanus tribularius, instead 
of 50, paid only 45. Among the other 
nations, according to their laws, there 
wei*e many variations. Every corporeal 
wound was very precisely fixed by a mo- 
ney rate ; the mutilation of the hand, for 
instance, cost 100 shillings, of a thumb 
45 ; the nose the same, the fore finger 35, 
and any of the others 15 shillings. 

Judgment was held under the open firm- 
ament, in an enclosed place, called Mal- 
lum, (Malstatte, or Malberg,) and before 
an elevated shield. The judges chosen 
under the presidency of the count were, in 
all cases, for freemen also freemen them- 
selves, and called in judicial language 
Rachimburgi. or boni homines. These were 
nominated by counts, usually to the num- 



PASTIMES— CHRISTIANITY IN GERMANY. 



85 



ber of seven. In cases where the Rachim- 
burgi could not find judgment, the so-called 
Sagibarones, who were appointed as special 
counsellors or magistrates, stepped in to 
decide. The regular tribunal which met 
at certain fixed periods, was called mallum 
legitimum. It was attended by the entire 
population, and the whole community gave 
its decision, and not the judges, (Rachim- 
burgi,) who merely found the judgment. 
In the especial or summoned tribunals, 
however, at which only few assisted besides 
the counts and judges, the latter decided at 
once ; the others present did not act as a 
community, but only attended as audience, 
and as such had nothing to say. 

To arrive at the guilt or innocence of 
an accused person appeared to the Ger- 
mans, with their acute feeling for the sa- 
credness of justice, to be one of the most 
indispensable duties. When, therefore, 
the truth was not to be obtained by means 
of witnesses, they sought higher aid, by 
having recourse to the so-called judgments 
of God. The innocence of the accused 
party seemed confirmed if they remained 
unharmed upon being exposed to the dan- 
gers which, in the ordinary course of 
things, are injurious ; if, for instance, 
upon exposing the hand or foot to boiling 
water or a glowing iron, it remained un- 
marked, or if in single combat he con- 
quered his opponent. They had confi- 
dence that God would not allow innocence 
to fall, and no doubt in the single combat, 
at least, the consciousness of innocence 
would frequently give the victory. 

Their chief pleasures were still the 
chase and war. The former they loved 
so much, and so highly prized all that 
pertained to it, that the Allemanni esti- 
mated a stolen lime hound at twelve shil- 
lings, while a horse could be compensated 
at six, and a cow at only one shilling. A 
common trained haAvk was valued at three, 
and one that had taken a stork at six shil- 
lings. 

The whole moral and civil condition of 
the German tribes, in the centuries imme- 
diately after the great migration, was in 
certain respects worse than their ancient 
simple state, when they followed the im- 
mediate impulses of their nature. They 
were now on the transit from the uncon- 
scious life of nature to a consequent pro- 
gress in civilization, and this period of a 
nation is the worst, because the conscious- 



ness of moral dignity begins to awaken 
before the power of self-government is 
present to subdue the active impulses of 
passion. 

The Goths, Burgundians, Longobardi- 
ans, and Franks, had, as has been related, 
much earlier adopted Christianity ; in 
Germany proper it made its appearance a 
couple of centuries later. For although 
the Allemanni, Thuringians, and Bavari- 
ans were subject to the Franks, the latter 
did not give themselves much trouble to 
disseminate the holy doctrines among 
them ; although, by such a boon, they 
might have given them a compensation for 
the loss of liberty. It appeared, indeed, 
as if they, who had adopted Christianity 
in need and in the tumult of battle, sought 
and desired only to promulgate it with the 
sword. On the other hand, the apostles 
who planted these mild doctrines among 
the German forests, came from distant 
countries — from England, Scotland, and 
Ireland. The Angli and Saxons, who had 
landed there as heathens, were slowly con- 
verted to Christianity, not by force, but by 
instruction and conviction. And it, there- 
fore, struck so deep a root in their minds, 
that speedily a multitude of inspired and 
Christian men travelled from those coun- 
tries as teachers of the heathens. They 
had not to expect either rich abbeys or 
much honor and reward among them, but, 
on the contrary, ridicule, contempt, want, 
and the most extreme danger. 

Such men were the holy Columban 
and Gallus, in the sixth century ; Kili- 
an, Emmeran, Rupertus, and Willibrod, 
in the seventh and eighth centuries ; 
and, at last, the Englishman Winefred, 
who afterwards received the honorable 
name of Bonifacius, (the Beneficent.) He 
labored from the year 718 to 755 with in- 
exhaustible courage for Christianity. In 
Franconia, Thuringia, on the Rhine, and 
among the Saxons and Friesi, his zeal 
planted the divine doctrines ; and while he 
introduced and established the Christian 
worship, so humanizing to the manners, he 
collected the communities into villages, 
and this laid a foundation for towns. For 
the strengthening of the new faith, he 
fixed bishoprics here and there, or regu- 
lated those already existing, as in Salz- 
burg, Passau, Freisingen, Ratisbonne, 
Wurtzburg, Eichstadt, and Erfurt ; the 
celebrated abbey Fulda was founded bv 



86 



CHRISTIANITY IN GERMANY — ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. 



his follower Sturm, and at Ohrdruf he 
planted a school for future teachers, who, 
according to the rule of their institution, 
not only zealously propagated Christianity, 
but also the arts of agriculture and horti- 
culture. 

In addition to all this, he did not hesi- 
tate, although at great personal danger, to 
contend against the rude disposition of the 
people with the force of his faith. He 
overturned their altars, and cut down their 
sacred trees, beneath which they sacrificed 
to their gods. One among these, at Geiss- 
mar in Hessia, was particularly celebra- 
ted ; but Boniface himself seized the axe 
and helped to hew it down. The sur- 
rounding heathens firmly believed that the 
god who dwelt in the tree would speedily 
come forth with fire, and consume the cul- 
prit and all his companions. But the tree 
fell without the fire coming, and with it 
dropped their former confidence in their god. 

But Boniface complained even more of 
the bad Christian priests themselves, whom 
he found among the Franks, than of the 
savageness of the heathens. They lived 
in all kinds of vice, and made no con- 
science of sacrificing to the false gods, as 
well as to baptize howsoever was x-equiiiJ f 
from them for the money offered for so 
doino*. And even the best among them 
took as much delight in arms and the 
chase as in the duties of their spiritual 
office. " Religion has now been prostra- 
ted full sixty or seventy years," says he in 
an epistle to Pope Zacharias ; " and the 
Franks for more than eighty years have 
had neither an assembly in council of the 
church nor an archbishop. The bishop- 
rics are in the hands chiefly of greedy 
laymen or criminal churchmen, who per- 
ceive profit in nothing but temporalities." 
Hence one of his chief cares was, that 
councils should be held by the Franconian 
clergy to restore good morals and the 
ancient church discipline, and that the 
clergy should participate in the assemblies 
of the March plains, (Martii Campi,) that 
the weal of the Church might also be 
there taken into consideration ; and to- 
wards this he accomplished much, for 
which he made himself greatly distin- 
guished. 

In the year 746, Boniface was made 
archbishop of Mentz, and as such he stood 
at the head of the East-Franconian clergy, 
which he accustomed to unconditional obe- 



dience towards the Roman bishop, who now 
as pope stood uncontestedly at the head of 
the western church. Boniface, however, 
would not remain inactive and pass his later 
years in quiet, for the conversion of the 
heathens was now, as formerly, still the la- 
bor and aim of his life ; and at last his zeal 
was rewarded with the martyr's fate. Upon 
his return to the Friesi, in order solemnly 
to consecrate some newly-baptized Chris- 
tians, he was fallen upon by a troop of bar- 
barians, who expected to gain booty from 
him. His servants seized their arms to 
repel the attack ; he, however, forbade them 
to shed blood, and was therefore at once 
murdered with all his companions by the 
furious band. 

The religious foundations, churches, and 
cloisters which Boniface and others built in 
Germany, became not only the sparks 
whence the light of religion and intellectu- 
al cultivation proceeded, but many of them 
formed also the nucleus of new towns and 
villages which, by degrees, arose around 
them. Not only the bondsmen built their 
huts close to them, but others also sought the 
protection of their walls, and merchants and 
traders- proceeded thither in the hopes of 
making profit from the multitude of stran- 
gers who flocked there for the sake of wor- 
ship. The name of the festival, Kirchmesse 
or Churchwake, derived thence its origin. 

The kingdom of the Franks was divided 
into two great portion 5 , Neustria and Aus- 
trasia. or the W estern and Eastern kingdoms ; 
and the former was again frequently divided 
into several parts. In the Western king- 
dom, the Roman manners and language 
maintained the superiority ; but in the East 
those of the Germans were predominant. 
Both nations were frequently at war and 
discontented with each other. 

In the year 613, Clothaire II. once again 
united the two divisions of the kingdom, but 
soon afterwards resigned that of Austrasia 
into the hands of his son Dagobert, who, on 
the death of his father, in the year 628, 
again combined the whole together. Under 
these two governments, which may be in- 
cluded in the series as the most happy, the 
kingdom became strengthened, and the in- 
ternal relations, by the exertions of Arnolph, 
bishop of Metz, and the great chamberlain 
or prime minister, Pepin of Landen, (grand- 
father of Pepin of Heristal,) were greatly 
improved, and rendered more perfect and 
settled. 



DAGOBERT— THE GRAND CHAMBERLAINS. 



87 



The judicial system now assumed more 
of the Christian character ; for, according 
to the original pagan law, every act of mur- 
der, with the exception of that committed 
against the king, could be compounded for 
with money and land, whereas now it was 
decreed that each premeditated murder 
should be punished with death. The clergy 
likewise were placed upon a more elevated 
and distinct footing, and which, indeed, was 
extremely necessary and desirable, so that 
Christianity might not again sink and fall 
into neglect. In order that bishops should, 
as far as possible, consist of the most worthy 
men, the ecclesiastics received, with the co- 
operation of the people, the right of election, 
(clerus cum populo.) The jurisdiction of 
the clergy was likewise, at the great synod 
of Paris in 614, established upon a more 
firm and secure basis ; and at the grand 
conferences its influence became more im- 
portant, inasmuch as they appeared there 
almost alone with the great vassals or high- 
er officers of the crown. The ancient as- 
semblies of the people had, under Clovis, 
entirely ceased to exist. 

Dagobert resided chiefly in Paris. We 
find that under him continual wars were 
carried on between the Franks and Slavi, 
which produced against them a friendly 
league between the Franks and Saxons. 
Dagobert released the Saxons from their 
tribute of five hundred cows. 

After the death of Dagobert, in 637, the 
decline of the Merovingian dynasty com- 
menced anew, and we find seven kings 
ruled like puppets by guardians, acting as 
prime ministers or mayors of the palace, 
thus producing the complete fall of the race. 
These mayors got the entire sway of the 
kingdom. Originally, the major-domus 
was only steward ; he stood at the head of 
the royal house and of the royal people, 
(leudes,) and was leader of the feudal 
retinue in war, next to the king. The 
heerbann of freemen was not under him. 
But when the retinue obtained, by degrees, 
the precedence, and became properly the 
state, the heerbann fell into disuse, and the 
independent freemen becoming reduced in 
number, the grand steward then rose to be 
effectually the first officer of the kingdom, 
and under weak kings was their ruler. 
When a war was to be conducted, the 
grand steward placed himself at the head of 
the troops, and showed himself prepared for 
warlike feats ; in peace also, he exercised 



privilege of mercy, disposed of offices, dis- 
tributed vacant sinecures, and left to the 
king merely the honor of his name and that, 
of the crown, and the indulgence of his 
sensuality in the inner apartments of the 
palace. It was only at the March assem- 
bly that the king appeared personally 
amidst his people. There he sat publicly 
upon the seat of his ancestors, greeted his 
nobles, and was saluted in return by them ; 
he received the presents brought by the na- 
tion, and handed them over to the grand 
chamberlain or steward standing beside the 
throne, distributing, according to his recom- 
mendation, the vacant places, and confirm- 
ing those he had already disposed of. He 
then mounted his chariot, which, according 
to ancient custom, was drawn by four oxen, 
drove to his palace, and remained there 
until the following March assembly. 

Such was the condition of the great 
conqueror Clovis's descendants, before two 
hundred years had passed since his death. 
About the year 700, the grand steward 
over the whole kingdom of the Franks, 
Neustria as well as Austrasia, was Pepin 
of Heristal, (near Liege ;) a very careful 
and prudent man, who restored order and 
justice, held the old March assemblies re- 
gularly, and won so much the love and 
confidence of the people, by restoring in 
this manner their rights against the en- 
croachments of the hordes, that he was 
enabled to make the office hereditary to his 
family. His son, Charles Martel, who 
was grand steward after him, saved the 
whole of Christianity at this moment from 
a great impending danger. 

A savage horde had arrived from the 
south, and had in a short time traversed 
extensive tracts with fire and sword, and 
subjected all to their dominion. No nation 
could set limits to them, their arm was 
irresistible, and struck their opponents like 
lightning. These strangers were the Arabs ; 
they came from Asia, and they derived their 
great power from the new faith. For he 
whom they called their prophet, Mahomet, 
had announced to them much from the 
doctrines of Moses and of our Saviour ; 
besides which he promised to this people, 
who were addicted to sensual pleasures 
beyond every thing, great rewards and an 
ever-during bliss in Paradise, if they 
fought zealously for their new faith, and 
extended it over all countries. Mahomet 
lived about the year 622. They had now 



88 



THE ARABS— PEPIN THE LITTLE. 



rapidly conquered several lands in Asia 
and Africa, and in less than a hundred 
years after the death of Mahomet, in the 
year 711, they had already crossed the 
Straits of Gibraltar to Spain. Roderic, 
king of the West Goths, who ruled in 
Spain, opposed them near Xeres de la 
Frontera ; he strove for his crown, for the 
freedom and religion of the West Goths ; 
long and severe was the battle. Roderic 
fought heroically, until a treacherous count, 
who called the Arabs across the straits, 
passed over to the enemy. The king then 
fell, and with him the flower of his army. 
The kingdom of the West Goths was sub- 
jected to the Arabs, and they soon ruled 
from the sea to the Pyrenees, so that only 
a very small spot to the northwest of 
Spain, in the mountains of Gallicia, re- 
mained a free possession in the hands of 
the Goths. 

After the Arabs had conquered Spain, 
they cast their eyes upon France, and, 
crossing the Pyrenees, fell upon that coun- 
try. At the same time they showed them- 
selves below Constantinople with a large 
army and a fleet : so that they embraced 
the whole of Europe from east to west, 
determined upon conquering it and ex- 
tinguishing Christianity. And had they 
obtained the victory on both sides they 
would have advanced still farther, and the 
two great armies would have met and 
united in Germany and have completed 
the work. But Providence had determin- 
ed otherwise. The city of Constantinople 
held firm against the attack, with its strong 
walls and Greek fire, which the inhabi- 
tants used against the ships of their enemy. 
But in France they were opposed by the 
powerful hero Charles Martel, the son of 
Pepin ; he was called Martel or the ham- 
mer, because by his bravery he struck his 
enemies down, as it were, like a hammer. 
With his Franks he crossed the river Loire 
to meet the enemy, and came upon them 
between the cities of Tours and Poitiers, 
where a wide plain spread itself out. The 
battle here took place on a Saturday in 
October, in the year 732. Close and im- 
passable, and covered with an advanced 
wall of shields, the Franks stood immovea- 
ble, and endured their first violent attack, 
for this was always the most furious. The 
Franks, however, then suddenly broke 
forth, precipitated themselves upon the 
Arabs, repulsed them, and it is said that 



more than 300,000 fell, together with their 
general, Abderachman, slaughtered by the 
swords of the Franks. Those who re- 
mained fled towards southern France, 
whence Charles soon drove them forth, and 
placed forever a boundary against them on 
this side. Charles, who, for this deed, was 
highly honored throughout all countries, 
died in the year 741. 

His son was called Pepin the Little, oi 
the Short ; he was also grand steward unti. 
752, and ruled the kingdom according tc 
his pleasure, but with wisdom and justice, 
while king Childeric III. sat in his palace 
like a shadow, and took not the least care 
of his government. When Pepin saw the 
disposition of the Franks favorable to him, 
he caused an assembly of them to take 
place in the year 751, when it was de- 
termined to send an embassy to Rome, with 
this question : ' ; Is he justly called king 
who has the royal power in his hands, or 
he who merely bears the name ?" To which 
pope Zacharias replied, " He must also be 
called king, who possesses the royal power/' 

The holy Boniface had accustomed the 
Franks, in certain cases of conscience, io 
apply to the pope for advice as their spiritu- 
al father, and the papal reply is to be 
regarded as counsel and opinion, as an 
answer to such a question, but not as a 
deposal of king Childeric, by virtue of the 
power existing in the pope. Upon this, 
the Franks assembled again at Soissons, 
and took the crown from Childeric, the last 
of the Merovingians, cut off his long hair, 
the mark of honor with the Frankish kings, 
and had him removed to a cloister, there to 
end his days ; while Pepin, the son of 
Charles Martel, and grandson of Pepin of 
Heristal, was in the year 752 solemnly 
anointed and crowned king of the Franks 
by the archbishop Boniface, 268 years after 
Clovis the Merovingian had, by his victory 
over Syagrius. upon this same field of 
Soissons, first founded the kingdom. 

Pepin by his courage and wisdom aug- 
mented the power of his nation. At this 
time, in 753, pope Stephen crossed the 
Alps (he being the first pope who since 
the foundation of the church had under- 
taken this journey) to demand the assist- 
ance of Pepin against the Longobardian 
king Aistulph, who had conquered Raven- 
na, and demanded tribute and submission 
from the pope. Pepin promised him aid, 
and retained him through the winter at his 



CHARLEMAGNE, OR CHARLES THE GREAT 



89 



court in Miinster. Here the pope repeated 
the anointment of the king, as already per- 
formed by the holy Boniface, anointing 
also his two sons, Carloman and Charles, 
(after he had himself lifted the latter, then 
twelve years old, from the font,) and then 
presented to the Franks these members of 
the newly-created dynasty as alone legiti- 
mate. In the spring of the year 754 the 
king advanced against Italy, defeated Ais- 
tulph at Susa, reconquered Ravenna, with 
the surrounding country, which had pre- 
viously belonged to the Greek emperors, 
and presented it to the pope. This formed 
the beginning of the papal states. 



Pepin died .in 768, in the fifty-fourth 
year of his age, and the Franks mourned 
his death as much as if he had sprung 
from the ancient royal race. In stature 
he was short, but very strong. It is rela- 
ted of him, that once, upon the occasion of 
a combat of wild beasts, some one jested 
about his size, upon which he stepped into 
the arena, drew his sword, and with one 
blow struck off the head of a lion : " I am 
not tall," said he, "but my arm is strong!" 

His sons, Charles and Carloman, were 
elected kings by the nation of the Franks, 
in a solemn assembly, and regularly di- 
vided the kingdom between them. 



THIRD PERIOD. 

THE CARLO VINGIANS FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO HENRY I. 



768—919. 



The events of the reign of Charlemagne called forth 
the energy of the historical writers : 

1. The annals and chronicles, of which mention has 
been made previously, became augmented, and proved 
for this period more and more important ; while educa- 
tion, so much promoted by Charlemagne, is therein 
displayed, both hi the language and treatment of the 
subject. 

2. In reference to the history of Charlemagne, the 
works of Einhard or Eginhard will always remain the 
most important, being written by a man who was in 
immediate communication with that sovereign. His 
" Annales," from 741-829, treat more particularly of 
this period than the continuation of the " Annal Lauris- 
senses," before mentioned. The " Vita Caroli Alagni," 
after giving a brief account of the wars of Charlemagne, 
describes especially every other particular connected 
with his life and its events ; and must be read by all 
with pleasure, hi addition to this we possess also his 
letters. 

3. Theganus, bishop of Treves, who died in 848, 
wrote the life of Louis the Pious, — De Gestis Ludovici 
Fii" — certainly not very impartially, and rather too 
briefly, yet written with sincerity and exact informa- 
tion. 

4. The " Vita Hludovici Pii auctore anonymo," is 
much more complete, written by a member of the em- 
peror's household ; this is rich in facts, and is expressed 
with j udgment. 

5. Equally important is the poetical representation of 
a contemporary, Ermoldus Nigellus, in his elegiac poem, 
" in honorem Hludovici Caesaris." 

6. Nithard, grandson of the emperor, who died in 
858, describes most completely the disputes among the 
sons of Louis, in his " IV Libris de dissensionibus hlio- 
rum Ludovici Pii ;" he shows himself to be decidedly 
on the side of Charles the Bald. 

7. The " Vita Sti-Anskarii," by Rimbert, Archbishop 
of Hamburg, written under Louis the German, treats 
more especially upon the North German relations. 

8. Enhard's and Rudolphus's "Annals of Fulda," 
and their continuators, are, after the conclusion of 
Einhard, very important in German history. In his 
work, Rudolphus gives a very interesting description 
of the Saxons ; he is the onlv writer who was acquaint- 

12 



ed with the writings of Tacitus, and from the titer's 
Germania he has quoted several chapters literally. 
With respect to the western moiety of. the Frankish 
kingdom, the " Annales Bertiniani" (so called from the 
Abbey St. Bertinbei Gent) of 8-2-2, give the best infor- 
mation. The last moiety was perhaps written by the 
celebrated Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims. 

9. A monk of St. Gallen, Monachus Sangallensis. has 
described in two books, " de Gestis Car. Alagni," the 
life of the emperor in a peculiar fashion, according to 
communications received and popular legends, mostly 
without historical fidelity, but still not without grace. 

10. Abbo, a monk of St. Germain, was present at the 
siege of Paris by the Normans in 885, and has de- 
scribed the events of that period in a poem, " de Bellis 
Pariiacis," in a very animated style. 

11. The so-called Poeta Saxo, (900,) has rendered 
into verse what Einhard's Annals relate of the em- 
peror, and has partly succeeded in his work, although 
he can never, or but rarely, be used as a reference. 

1-2. The Chronicles of the Abbot Regino, who died 
in 915, and which extend to the year 907, are very im- 
portant for the latter period of the Carloving;ans. 

13. The letters of the popes, sovereigns, princes. &c„ 
of this period are also very important, particularly 
those which are contained in the Codex ("arolinus ; 
likewise the letters and works of Alciun, as also the 
letters of Servatus Lupus, Eginhard's inend, and 
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims. 

14. Finally, it is quite certain that the '* Capitularia 
Regum Frahcorum," the laws of the realm, and gen- 
eral decrees of the kings, form a principal source of 
reference for our historv. They were collected by 
Baluzius. and have been recently published by Pertz, 
in the third volume of the " Monumenta." 



CHAPTER V. 
768—814. 

Charlemagne, 768-814— The state in which Charle- 
magne found the Empire — The East-Roman or 
Grecian Empire— England— The North of Europe— 



90 



CHARLEMAGNE— STATE OF THE EMPIRE. 



The Spanish Peninsula — Italy — Austria and Hun- 
gary — Germany- The Wars of Charlemagne — The 
feaxons — The Longobardi — The Arabs — The Bava- 
rians — The Empire of Charlemagne — Charlemagne, 
Emperor of Rome, 800 — The Death of Charlemagne, 
814— His portraiture. 

It has been the fate of Charlemagne, as 
well as of the majority of extraordinary 
historical characters, to be subjected to the 
ordeal of a very different, and frequently 
a very opposite criticism. By many he 
has been classed with the noblest heroes 
and sages of the human race, by some, 
however, he has been rejected as a blood- 
thirsty tyrant, whose whole object and de- 
sire was war and destruction. It is true 
that he led his armies from one end of his 
extensive empire to the other in constant 
warlike expeditions, and subjected many 
nations by force of arms to his dominion, 
thus giving Europe an entirely different 
form. The question therefore to be solved 
is. whether history shall bless or curse him 
for these extraordinary deeds. 

A false judgment must necessarily be 
passed upon great men and the great events 
of nations, by those who cannot transport 
themselves from their own times back into 
those whereof the picture is to be drawn. 
In periods when society is in a ferment, 
and barbarism and civilization are in con- 
test witji each other ; when from the ex- 
isting component parts something new and 
great is to germinate, towards which the 
tranquil course of things, as handed down, 
will not suffice — Providence sends forth 
mighty individuals, who are destined to 
lead a whole age many steps onward in its 
development, and according to the object 
which they are to accomplish, it furnishes 
them with adequate vigor of intellect and 
strength of will. But because such chosen 
spirits do not follow the beaten track, and 
because, perhaps, while their eye is fixed 
upon the distant mountain summit, many 
a flower is crushed beneath their feet, and 
they in the impatient struggle, which in 
the short space of the life of one man is to 
determine the plan of the course of centu- 
ries, wound unconsciously many a sacred 
right; the easy, indolent spirit of the lover 
of repose, therefore, to which the sanctity 
of rights forms the foundation-stone of life, 
is loud in execration against the vessel in 
which was compressed such gigantic, 
mighty powers, and the judgment thence 
pronounced is frequently severe and un- 
'ust. But who shall censure the mountain 



stream because it flows not like the mead- 
owy brook, but drags forth even stones and 
trees, bearing them onward with it in its 
course? It is true it tears forth by the 
roots the decayed and rotten stems, but 
thereby the light of heaven is opened to 
cheer the progress of the more young and 
tender plants. 

Let this, however, by no means be con- 
sidered as an apology for the violence of 
tyrannical rulers, whose actions flow from 
an impure source. Man is a free agent, 
and presents himself as the ready instru- 
ment of Providence in its great plans. The 
manner in which he executes his office de- 
pends upon himself, and either justifies or 
condemns him. It is not the great deeds 
he has performed, nor the thousands who 
have bled in battle, while others in the in- 
toxication of victory have profanely wor- 
shipped him, that decide upon his merits or 
demerits, but it is the object by which he 
was governed, and the purpose for which 
he accomplished his extraordinary plans : 
whether he has been guided by great 
thoughts towards a worthy and noble end, 
or only by his own pride, his ambition, and 
vanity, or, to speak figuratively, whether 
in the mirror of his life the infinite crea- 
tion and its worlds, or only his own proud 
image be reflected. This may be observed 
from many signs, but it is especially to be 
recognised therein, viz., when he has re- 
vered the dignity of humanity as a sacred 
object, even in its details, or not observing 
or acknowledging it, but despising men, 
he has merely used them as instruments to 
his purposes. 

This should be our rule of judgment, in 
order that we may not allow ourselves on 
the one side to bestow admiration upon 
mere power without intrinsic goodness, nor 
on the other to prejudge unjustly all those 
names which are inscribed in the volume, 
too frequently perhaps in characters of 
blood and fire. 

The work of a great man derives its 
proper light from the condition of the 
world when he appeared upon the stage ; 
it is therefore necessary to take a short re- 
view of the state of Europe at the time 
Charles attained the empire. 

1. The East-Roman, or Greek empire, 
still existed ; but only in the strange mix- 
ture of old and new relations, of splendor 
and misery, of presumption and weakness, 
as it had existed for a thousand years — in 



ENGLAND— THE NORTH OF EUli 



ROPE — THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 9 J 



the history of the world a riddle. For it is 
scarcely to be conceived how the mere 
shadow of an ancient, great, and splendid 
state, or as it were the gaudily-decorated 
corpse of antiquity, as that empire has 
been happily called, should have preserved 
it -elf so long without internal life. The 
change of rulers and the inconstancy of all 
conditions were so great, that for an em- 
peror of Constantinople no title was more 
Flattering than being styled, " The imperi- 
al son of a father born in the purple robe," 
(porphyrogenitus porphyrogeniti.) For the 
throne came by turns to men who had 
been born among the dregs of society, and 
who owed their elevation to some crime. 
To Charlemagne this distant and extensive, 
but wealthy empire, could not be immedi- 
ately either an object of dread or ambition. 
Fie maintained friendship with the Greek 
emperors, and they mutually honored each 
other with embassies and presents, for it 
was desirable to the Greeks to be upon 
good terms with him. " Retain the Frank 
for thy friend, but prevent him from being 
thy neighbor," was an established proverb 
among the Greeks. 

2. England, at the commencement of 
Charlemagne's reign, was still divided 
among several Anglo-Saxon kings, and 
formed a secluded world of its own, with- 
out possessing any influence upon the na- 
tions of the continent. Charlemagne's 
name, however, was speedily known and 
highly esteemed. One of his most confi- 
dential friends, Alcuin, was an English- 
man, and by his means he often caused 
the princes there to be written to, and per- 
suaded them to be united and repel the at- 
tacks of the valiant Danes. Even the 
Thanes, or petty kings of Scotland, called 
him no otherwise than their lord. 

3. The north of Europe was still but lit- 
tle known. It is true it was the cradle of 
valiant men, who knew how to wield the 
iron of their soil with a powerful arm, and 
who after the reign of Charlemagne, by 
their maritime expeditions gained them- 
selves a terrific name upon all the coasts 
of Europe. They were yet, however, with- 
out importance to the Frankish empire. 
Nevertheless, with his comprehensive mind, 
Charlemagne perceived the danger which 
threatened from them. It is related that 
being once at a seaport, (it is said at Nar- 
bonne,) some ships approached the coast, 
but their crews were not known. Charle- 



magne's quick eye detect* d them to be 
Norman pirates by their shape and rapid 
motions. They hastily retired when they 
heard that the great emperor was there. 
After they had disappeared he turned sor- 
rowfully from the window, shed tears, and 
at last said to those around him, " You 
would fain know, my friends, why I wepl f 
Not from fear, no ! but it vexes me that, 
during my life, they have ventured to this 
shore, and with grief do I foresee, alas ! 
the mischief they will bring to my succes- 
sors." 

4. The Spanish Peninsula was subject- 
ed to the Arabians with the exception of 
some Westro-Gothic places among the 
mountains, but their religious zeal had al- 
ready cooled, and their power was tamed 
by internal dissensions. Charlemagne's 
grandfather had deterred them from the 
conquest of Europe, and they thought only 
of maintaining their own existence in Spain. 
But Charlemagne could not behold with 
indifference the enemies of the Christian 
name as his neighbors. 

5. Italy was divided into three domi- 
nions, the Longobardian in Upper and a 
portion of Lower Italy ; the Grecian in 
Lower Italy and Sicily ; and the Roman 
in Middle Italy. Rome was in a mixed 
state, for the power was divided between 
the pope, the senate, and the people, but 
the pope daily acquired more importance. 
The superior protective dominion of the 
city had passed from the Greek emperors 
to the kings of the Franks, for Pope Ste- 
phen, in the name of the Roman senate and 
people, had, in the year 754, conveyed the 
dignity of a Roman patrician to King Pepin 
and his sons. Between the Romans and 
the Longobards there arose a bitter hatred 
and implacable enmity, which were the 
immediate cause of Charlemagne interfer- 
ing in the affairs of Italy. He had, indeed, 
endeavored to remove the ancient jealousy 
which prevailed between the Franks and 
the Longobards by marrying the daughter 
of Kin^ Desiderius, but upon this occasion 
Pope Stephen wrote to him thus : " What 
madness in the most excellent son of a great 
king to sully his noble Frankish race by 
an alliance with that most faithless and most 
fulsome nation, the Longobardi, who should 
not be named among the multitude of na- 
tions, and from whom doubtlessly the race 
of lepers had their origin. What com- 
munity of feeling has light with darkness, 



92 



AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY— THE AVARIANS, &c. 



or a believer with an unbeliever?" The 
Longobards richly returned this hatred of 
the Romans ; one of their bishops says of 
them : " Under the name of a Roman we 
comprehend all that is mean, cowardly, 
avaricious, and lying, nay, even all vices 
combined." Charlemagne's union with 
the royal house of the Longobards was not 
durable, for two years afterwards he sent 
back the daughter of King Desiderius : 
whether it arose from the ill-will of the 
pope to this marriage, or whether other un- 
known reasons urged him, we cannot say, 
but we shall speedily see that greater causes 
arose for the enmity between them. 

6. To the southeast of Charles's posses- 
sions in Austria and Hungary, dwelt the 
Avari, a Mongolian nation from Asia, which 
had long warred with and plundered the 
provinces of the eastern empire, but now 
quietly but anxiously guarded the treasures 
amassed during two centuries. These lay 
heaped up in nine particular places, sur- 
rounded by walls and ditches, and which 
were called circles, appearing to invite, as 
it were, every one to retake them from 
their possessors, who themselves did not 
know how to enjoy them. 

7. The remaining portion of the eastern 
German borders was occupied by the dif- 
ferent branches of the Slavonians and Van- 
dals, rude nations of a less noble, natural 
disposition than the Germans. In Ger- 
many they possessed Holstein, Mecklen- 
burg, Brandenburg, Pomerania, a portion 
of Saxony, the Lausitz, Silesia, Bohemia, 
and Moravia. In Holstein were the Wag- 
rians ; in Mecklenburg, the Obotriti ; in a 
portion of Brandenburg, the Wilzen ; in 
another part the Hevellers and Ukerns ; 
the Pomeranians in the province which 
has received their name — collective branch- 
es of the Vandals. In the district of Meis- 
sen, the Sclavonian Sorbi ; in Lausitz, the 
Lausitzers ; in Bohemia, the Ezechi ; and 
the Moravians in Moravia. 

8. In Germany itself Charlemagne found 
greater tranquillity. The Septs, who had 
been subjected to the Franks, the Alle- 
manni, Bavarians, and Thuringians, had 
by degrees accustomed themselves to the 
foreign dominion, which was not only not 
oppressive, but had even left them their 
manners, laws, and peculiar customs. But 
with the exception of the Bavarians, they 
were no longer ruled according to ancient 
custom by their own dukes, but according 



to the Frankish institutions, by counts with- 
out hereditary power in distinct districts. 
Thence they wanted a central point of 
union, and the ancient love of independence 
survived most firmly among the Bavarians 
alone. The bishops in all these provinces 
were very much attached to the Carlovin- 
gian dynasty. 

But on the borders of his empire, in the 
north of Germany, dwelt neighbors who 
offered the first object for the trial of his 
strength, namely, the Saxons, unconquered 
and free, fixed in their boundaries from the 
German Ocean to Thuringia, and from 
the Elbe to the vicinity of the Rhine. 
While among the Franks, the old German 
institutions had been much altered, and the 
warriors in the Gefolge or suite of the king, 
had assumed the order of nobility, and oc- 
cupied the place of the freemen, the Sax- 
ons still lived in the ancient manners of 
their ancestors, without a common chieftain, 
each Gau or district under its own head, 
and only during war, under a self-elected 
leader. It was a community of freemen 
in free dwellings. The interior of their 
country was defended by forests and mo- 
rasses, and strong places for the defence of 
the boundaries were erected on the Lippe, 
Ruhr, Weser, Dimel, and Elbe. In their 
groves of a thousand years' growth, they 
still sacrificed to the gods of their fathers, 
while the other German tribes had all 
adopted Christianity; nay, they were even 
accused of still celebrating human sacri- 
fices. The Franks considered themselves 
so superior to them by reason of their Chris- 
tianity, as well as the general superiority 
of their cultivation, that their historians can 
scarcely deprecate sufficiently the rude- 
ness and vvildness of the Saxons. But they 
were not so much dangerous as burden- 
some neighbors of the Franks, because, ac- 
cording to the ancient German practice, 
they did not wish to make conquests, but 
merely roved in predatory incursions into 
neighboring countries. But a well-guard- 
ed frontier would have been a sufficient 
protection against them, as well as against 
the Sclavonians and Avari, and we see 
from this sketched description, that Charles 
might have remained, like the Merovin- 
gians, in quiet possession of his inheritance 
without conducting such great external 
wars. The Frankish empire extended in 
self-sufficient strength, from the Pyrenees 
to the Lower Rhine, and from the Eng- 



THE SAXONS— THE WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE— ITALY. 



93 



lish Channel to the Ens, in Austria, and 
had nothing to fear from any of its neigh- 
bors. 

But a mind satisfied with mere tranquil 
possession was not accorded to Charles ; 
its internal power was used to vent itself 
in new forms, for this was the law implant- 
ed in his nature. The condition of the 
world demanded great creative powers, in 
order not to remain for centuries longer 
waste and confused. We dare not cen- 
sure Charles because he followed this im- 
pulse of his nature, but the way in which 
he followed it and modelled his new crea- 
tion, gives the measure of judgment against 
him. Were high and noble thoughts his 
guide, and was his own genius great, or 
was it petty, and directed to vain things 1 
Upon that the history of his life must de- 
cide. 

After Charles (who ascended the throne 
in his twenty-sixth year) and his brother 
Carloman had reigned together some years, 
the latter died in 771. The nobles of Car- 
loman 's possessions desired his brother for 
their king also, and cast out the two sons 
of Carloman from succession to the throne, 
with whom the widow fled, and took refuge 
at the court of Desiderius, king of the 
Longobardi. Thus was Charles sole ruler 
of the Franks. Upon this he assembled 
at Worms an imperial diet in 772, where 
he represented to the assembly the repeat- 
ed offences of the Saxons and the merit of 
their conversion to Christianity ; upon 
which the nation declared war against the 
Saxons — the first and longest war that 
Charles was engaged in — for it continued 
with several interruptions to the year 803, 
consequently for thirty-two years. During 
this time Charles frequently conquered the 
Saxons in open field, and forced them to 
conclude peace, but when he again quitted 
their country, and was obliged to withdraw 
to the farther end of his empire, they broke 
the peace, rebelled against the obnoxious 
dominion, chased away the Frankish gar- 
risons, and made incursions into the coun- 
try of the Franks, until Charles again ap- 
peared and forced them anew to submis- 
sion. 

The first irruption made in their coun- 
try, in the year 772, was successful and 
short. He proceeded from Worms, through 
Hessia to the Weser and the Dimel. He 
conquered the burg of Eresberg (the pre- 
sent Statberg, in the bishopric of Pader- 



born,) the Saxon place of retreat not far 
from the Weser, in a rude neighborhood, 
and upon a precipitous height ; and de- 
stroyed the celebrated Irminsul, (or statue 
of Irmin,) an object regarded with the 
most sacred veneration by the Saxons, but 
of which we do not precisely know whether 
it was an image of a god, or perhaps a 
monument of Arminius, thus revered with 
divine honors. The Saxons concluded 
peace upon the banks of the Weser, and 
gave twelve chiefs as hostages. 

Charles was rejoiced at having so speed- 
ily concluded an advantageous peace, for 
already other affairs called him into Italy. 
Desiderius, who by the reception of the 
widow of Carloman had already shown 
himself as an enemy, required of the new 
pope, Adrian, that he should anoint the 
sons of Carloman as kings of the Franks ; 
and upon Adrian's refusal, he threatened 
him with war. The pope demanded aid 
from Charles, who at once advanced, cross- 
ed the Alps, marched round the passes, of 
which the Longobardi had taken posses- 
sion, and encamped before Pavia in the 
year 774. Desiderius purposed defending 
his metropolis until sickness and want 
should force the Franks to retire. But 
Charles was not of a disposition to be so 
soon fatigued ; he let his army lie six 
months before Pavia, went himself to the 
Easter festival at Rome, which he for the 
first time witnessed, and there confirmed 
the deed of gift made by his father. He 
then returned to Pavia, which soon yielded 
to him, received Desiderius as a prisoner, 
and sent him, after shaving his head for 
the cowl, to the monastery at Corvey in 
France, where, after a short time, he died. 
Charles now called himself king of the 
Lombards, and caused himself to be crown- 
ed at Monza. 

As the Saxons had in the mean time re- 
commenced war, he on his return, and af- 
ter he had held a diet at Dliren, made in 
775, a new incursion into their country, 
conquered Sigberg, restored the Eresberg 
destroyed by the Saxons, pressed onward 
over the Weser to the Oker, there receiv- 
ing hostages from the Eastphalians, and on 
his return, near Buckeburg, (Buchi,) ob- 
taining also those of the Angravarians. 
But as, in the mean time, the Longobar- 
dian, Duke Rotgaud, of FriouL to whom, 
as vassal of the empire, he had intrusted 
the passes of the Alps, decided upon taking 



94 THE ARABS— THE SAXONS, THEIR OVERTHROW AND SUBJECTION. 



advantage of the moment, and rebelled, 
Charles was already again in Italy, (776,) 
and punished the seceders before they 
thought him even apprized of their plans. 
This time, also, he was about to advance 
to Rome, when a message arrived with in- 
telligence that the Saxons had again re- 
volted, had retaken Eresberg, and laid 
siege to Sigsberg. He speedily returned 
back into Germany, forced his way through 
all their forest-defences as far as Lipp- 
spring, when the Saxons again yielded, and 
many vowed to become Christians, and of- 
fered themselves to be baptized. He built 
a fortress on the Lippe, perhaps where 
Lippsstadt at present stands. 

In the following year (777) he was al- 
ready enabled to hold a diet at Paderborn, 
in the country of the Saxons, where the 
majority of the nation swore fidelity. Their 
boldest leader, however, Wittekind, (Saxon, 
Widukind,) had fled to the Danish king, 
Sigfried. It was at this diet that the am- 
bassadors of the Arabian governors of Sa- 
ragossa and Huesca, in Spain, appeared 
before Charles, and entreated his assistance 
against the king, Abderam. He consider- 
ed it worthy of his dignity not to allow 
those who placed themselves under his pro- 
tection to entreat in vain ; besides, these 
unbelievers, who had pressed onward into 
Europe, were his most hated enemies. Ac- 
cordingly he advanced in the following 
year (778) into Spain ; the petty Chris- 
tian princes in the mountains of Navarre, 
who had maintained themselves independent 
of the Moors, here joined him ; he conquer- 
ed Pampeluna, Saragossa, Barcelona, and 
Girona ; and the country as far as the Ebro 
swore allegiance to him. Henceforward it 
formed part of his empire, under the name 
of the Spanish marches or limits, and was 
a land of protection for the Christians re- 
maining in Spain. 

Upon his return, however, with his ar- 
my, winding itself, as it is poetically de- 
scribed, like a long brazen serpent among 
the rough rocks of the Pyrenees, and 
through the obscure forests and narrow 
paths, the rear-guard became separated 
from the main body, and in an ambuscade 
laid by the mountaineers, fell into the ra- 
vines of Roncesvalles. The Franks could 
not fight in their heavy armor, and they fell 
with their leader Rutland, the Count de la 
Manche. This is the celebrated knight, 
Roland, who later, as well as his king, 



Charles, is so much sung in the legends 
and heroic lays of Europe. 

Meanwhile the Saxons, according to cus- 
tom, when the king was at a distance, had 
again seized arms. Under Wittekind they 
fell upon the country of the Franks, and 
devastated it with fire and sword as far as 
Deuz, opposite Cologne. This, like the 
earlier revolts of the Saxons, was not so 
much a war of the nation and of the heads 
of families, but of individual leaders with 
their suite or Gefolge, who did not consider 
themselves bound by the treaties. Charles 
returned, drove the enemy far back into 
their country, and in 780 constructed for- 
tresses on the Elbe to fix a strong rein 
upon them. And now thinking himself 
quite secured in that quarter, he made a 
journey in 781 to Rome, to cause his sons 
Pepin and Louis to be anointed by the 
pope, the former king of Italy, the latter 
king of Aquitaine, (South France.) 

The Saxons in the interim had maintain- 
ed themselves perfectly quiet, but the re- 
membrance of their ancient freedom would 
not quite die within them, and Christianity, 
which had been brought to them with the 
sword by their hated neighbors, gained no 
power over their hearts. It appeared in- 
supportable to them that a man should not 
himself revenge a contumely, and that a 
hero should not have a particular heaven. 
The impost of tithes which they were obliged 
to pay to the church, appeared also exces- 
sively oppressive to them. As Wittekind 
had, therefore, now returned and placed 
himself at their head, they thought the 
present was the best moment for them to 
shake off the yoke, and, the same as for- 
merly, when their nation fell upon Varus 
in the Teutoburger forest, they now sur- 
rounded the Frankish leaders Geilo and 
Adalgis, upon Mount Suntel, on the We- 
ser, just as they were about to march 
against the predatory Sorbians dwelling on 
the Saale, and destroyed them as well as 
the greatest portion of their army . 

This deed inflamed the wrath of the 
king, (who was already excessively irrita- 
ted at their repeated rebellion,) to the de- 
gree, that he broke into the country, deso- 
lated it far and wide, and caused 4,500 im- 
prisoned Saxons to be beheaded near Ver- 
den on the Aller, as a terrible example to 
the rest, and as a sacrifice for his army de- 
stroyed — as it appeared to him, by treache- 
ry ; a stain in his history which cannot be 



THE BAVARIANS— THE LONGOBARDIANS— THE AVARIANS. 95 



justified, but may partly be excused by the 
rash and turbulent manners of those times, 
and the excited passions of the king. As 
a consequence of this severe act, Charles, 
in 783, beheld the whole nation of the Sax- 
ons, under Wittekind and Alboin, rise si- 
multaneously in such furious rage and 
madness as had never before been evinced. 
Two severe battles were fought near Thiet- 
melle, now Detmold, and on the river Hase 
in Osnaburg ; the first was undecided, but 
the second so unfortunate for the Saxons, 
that Charles advanced as far as the Elbe, 
and in this and the next year, when with 
his wife and children he passed the winter 
campaign at Eresburg, he progressively 
strengthened his power in their country. 
Wittekind and Alboin then saw that Heaven 
had decided the fate of their nation, and 
that a longer resistance would completely 
annihilate it. They promised submission 
to the powerful king, and took an oath to go 
themselves to France, and be there bap- 
tized ; and they kept their word. In the 
year 785 they came to Attigny, and Charles 
himself was sponsor to the Saxon duke, 
Wittekind, and his wife Gera. 

From this time henceforward Saxony be- 
came more tranquil, and submitted to the; 
Frankish institutions as well as to those of 
Christianity. Charles, for the purpose of 
strengthening this doctrine among them, 
likewise founded, by degrees, several bish- 
oprics and religious foundations, which con- 
tinued to spread light "around, viz: in Os- 
naburg, in 783 ; Verden, in 786 ; Bremen, 
in 788 ; Paderborn, in 795 ; Halberstadt ; 
Elze, (which was removed in 822 to Hil- 
desheim,) and Munster, in 806. Yet the 
seeds of disquiet were not quite destroyed ; 
small disputes still frequently arose, and 
we shall shortly come to one of greater im- 
port. 

Charles's next dispute was with Duke 
Tassilo of Bavaria, of the ancient race of 
the Agitolfingi. Tassilo had still old of- 
fences to answer for, inasmuch as he had 
never supplied Pepin or Charles with 
troops, and he was now charged with hav- 
ing incited the Avari of Hungary to war 
with the king. His consort Luitberga, a 
daughter of the Longobardian king, De- 
siderius, may have enacted her part like- 
wise in these designs. Tassilo was con- 
demned to death by the assembled nobles at 
the diet of Ingelheim, 778, but pardoned 
by Charles ; and by his own wish, together 



with his son Theodore, banished to a mon- 
astery. Bavaria became now, like the 
other Frankish countries, ruled by royal 
counts or governors, and the bishopric of 
Salzburg was raised to an archbishopric 
over the whole of Bavaria. 

In the year 787, Arechis, the Longobar- 
dian Duke of Benevento in Lower Italy, 
also yielded allegiance to the king as his 
superior feudal lord. He ruled that beau- 
tiful country as far as Naples and Brindisi. 
He made it a condition, however, that he 
himself should not come to Germany and 
appear before Charles, which was granted. 
The duke received the ambassadors of the 
king at Salerno ; his army surrounded the 
palace, young nobles, with the falcon on 
their gauntlet, formed rows upon the grand 
steps leading up to the Burg, while the 
hall was filled with the provosts of cities, 
and their council in state dresses, &c. The 
duke, seated upon the gorgeous, golden 
chair of state, stood up, and swore to be 
faithful to the king, to maintain peace, and 
to perform feudal service to the extent of a 
league beyond the frontiers of Benevento. 

After this, Charles formed the resolution 
to punish the Avari in Austria and Hun- 
gary for their earlier predatory expedi- 
tions. Accordingly, he marched against 
them in the year 791 : the Franks advanc- 
ed on the south side of the Danube ; the 
Saxons, with the Friesi, who were both 
obliged to yield feudal service, advanced 
upon its northern bank ; and upon the river 
itself a flotilla conveyed another portion of 
the army. Their appearance alone drove 
the Avari away full of terror ; they left to 
the enemy the immense booty of their trea- 
sures, and Charles subjected the country 
to his dominion as far as the river Raab. 

In the following years, he merely sent 
detached forces against them. His main 
army remained, meanwhile, in South Ger- 
many, and worked at a canal to form the 
junction of the Altmuhl with the Rednitz 
rivers, between the Maine and the Danube, 
which, had it been completed, would have 
united the North Sea, by means of the 
Rhine, with the Danube to the Black Sea ; 
an important work, replete with rich com- 
mercial prospects. Levantine merchan- 
dise would thus have found a direct course 
from their repository at Constantinople to 
the very heart of Charles's states. But 
unfavorable weather, and the difficulties of 
the ground, but chiefly the want of skill in 



96 THE FRIESIANS— THE SAXONS— THEIR UNION WITH THE FRANKS. 



his workmen, who knew not how to drain 
the water from the places that were dug, 
nor to secure the banks of the canal from 
falling in, rendered the work nugatory. 
Charles, therefore, abandoned the under- 
taking ; but the honor of completing this 
great plan, originating with him, has 
been handed down and conferred in our 
days upon another sovereign of the Ger- 
man race. And the cause why he did not 
now again attack the Avari, and thus open 
to himself the road to Constantinople, was 
produced by a fresh rebellion of the Sax- 
ons, who, not liking long warlike expedi- 
tions, but only short excursions, found the 
hard marching feudal service in such dis- 
tant parts particularly trying. They re- 
sisted it and mutinied, and induced the 
Friesi to do the same. The king was, 
therefore, obliged to make several incur- 
sions into their country, in the course of 
which, in 797, he advanced as far as the 
ocean between the mouths of the Elbe and 
Weser. Meantime, the war against the 
Avari was continued successfully by his 
generals, and then by his son Pepin, to the 
year 796 ; the seat of their Chagan or 
chief, the main circle of their land, with 
all its treasures were conquered, and the 
country thus wrested from them was taken 
possession of by fresh inhabitants, convey- 
ed from other German states, but chiefly 
from Bavaria. Charles distributed the im- 
mense booty among his army, by which 
means the quantity of noble metals became 
suddenly very much increased in the 
Frankish country. 

The object of Charles in this expedition 
against the Avari, as well as in those 
against the Sclavonian nations, was chiefly 
to secure the eastern frontiers of the king- 
dom. Thence arose a long line of frontier 
provinces, from the Adriatic Sea to the 
Elbe, along the ancient boundaries of the 
Longobardi, Bavarians, Swabians, Franks, 
Thuringians, and Saxons. To these were 
appointed margraves, who bore the title of 
marchio, (dux limitis,) and who had their 
seats originally fixed in the most strongly 
fortified burgs of the ancient districts. The 
inhabitants of these frontier provinces, 
through wars and repeated revolts, became 
gradually destroyed, and were replaced by 
German colonists, for whose protection the 
burgs were usefully adapted, as well as for 
bringing either into subjection or alliance 
the neighboring Slavonic princes. Several 



of these princes entered, subsequently, the 
ranks of the princes of the empire ; for 
Charles's plans and regulations in these 
countries operated late in after years with 
beneficial effect. 

The disputes with the Saxons continued 
until the ninth century ; but the strength 
of these people became more and more 
weakened, and especially after Charles, 
forced, by their obstinate resistance, to 
adopt such extreme measures, transplanted 
some thousands of them from their native 
land into other parts of his kingdom. Thus 
they were gradually reduced to a state of 
peace, even without any formal treaty be- 
ing concluded — the peace of Selz in 803, 
as hitherto accepted, not being admissible 
as a proof of treaty — and Charles was ena- 
bled to commence upon his plans and ar- 
rangements in Saxony. He proceeded at 
once to strengthen Christianity among them 
more firmly, while, however, he granted 
them greater independence than he had to 
the Allemanni and Bavarians. They re- 
tained their ancient privileges, and were 
chiefly governed by native counts, who 
were, it is true, chosen by Charles, and 
were placed under the imperial envoys. 
This, therefore, may rather be called a 
union of the Saxon nation with that of the 
Franks, as Einhard himself terms it, than 
a subjection ; and, indeed, they well merit- 
ed, by the persevering consistency with 
which they conducted it, so honorable a 
conclusion to their long struggle for free- 
dom. But, on the other hand, Charles's 
perseverance is also to be admired ; for al- 
though he had the advantage of numbers 
and great superiority in the art of war on 
his side, still the Saxons had the benefit of 
their country, and the forests and morasses, 
as formerly in their battles with the Ro- 
mans. 

Charles, to confirm tranquillity for ever 
among them, transplanted about 10,000 of 
the most violent from the Elbe and the 
coasts of the North Sea into the country 
of the Franks, as cultivators of the impe- 
rial farms ; and from that transplantation, 
no doubt, is derived the names of Sachsen- 
hausen near Frankfort, as well as Sach- 
senheim and Sachsenflur, in Franconia. 
The places left thus void on the Elbe he 
gave over to his allies the Vandal Obotriti, 
in Mecklenburg, and the Vagrian Sclavi, 
from whom this part of Holstein has receiv- 
ed and preserved the name of Vagria. 



RESULTS OF THE WARS— CHARLEMAGNE AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 



97 



If we cast back our glance upon these 
first thirty years of the reign of Charles, 
thus filled with wars, we must admire the 
great rapidity with which he marched from 
Saxony to Italy, from there back to the 
Weser, and then back again twice the 
same road ; then into Spain along the Ebro, 
and back to the Elbe, proceeding on to 
Hungary, to the Raab, and again returning 
into his own country ; and wherever he 
arrived, his presence immediately deciding 
the contest. Herein we have at once the 
true character of a hero ; this boldness and 
rapidity of thought, resolution, and action ; 
this impression of innate personal great- 
ness, which nothing could resist, and which 
greatness nobody has sought to deny. But 
still more than all this, it was not absolutely 
the love of war and conquest, and the honor 
of his name, which inspired him to drive 
his armies on so breathlessly through the 
countries of Europe, but his plans were 
regulated by one grand creative idea for 
which he considered himself called upon to 
make these sacrifices. 

What already the great Ostro-Gothic 
king, Theodoric, had in contemplation, 
prospective, as it were, of future times, 
but which it was not allowed him to ac- 
complish, viz., the union of the Christian 
Germanic nations into one empire, Charle- 
magne executed ; not certainly in Theo- 
doric's manner, by the gentle force of per- 
suasion and conviction, for by that means 
the end was not to be attained, but accord- 
ing to the custom of his nation and of his 
age, by the terror of arms. Yet, he can- 
not be charged with having capriciously 
sought war more urgently than was neces- 
sary for the attainment of his object. 

The central point of this great Germanic 
empire was to be the beautiful country of 
the Rhine, and Ingelheim near Mentz was, 
therefore, made the royal seat, but which 
was afterwards transferred to Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle and Nimwegen. No doubt he might 
have found richer and more attractive spots 
in Italy and France, to induce him to fix 
his residence there, but his constant mind 
was more attached to his ancient father- 
land than to the most beautiful countries 
of the earth. He was no Frankish king, 
as it has frequently been wished to repre- 
sent him ; but he belonged to the Austra- 
sian Franks, which is the country of the 
Rhine, and where the Franks had their 
chief intercourse with the Germans still 
13 



remaining there, and thus continuing most 
pure and unmixed. This country he in- 
tended should form the main and central 
seat of his empire, and the noble stream of 
his fatherland, as it were, its great vital 
artery, which should unite all its different 
sections. This is indicated by the canal 
by means of which he purposed connecting 
the Rhine and the Danube. 

But if the Lower Rhine and Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle were to form the centre and seat of 
his empire, it becomes evident that his chief 
contest must be with the Saxons, who were 
here too close and unquiet neighbors of his 
residence for him to tolerate. He neces- 
sarily, therefore, extended the limits of his 
empire farther to the north and northeast. 
But his war with the Saxons had a still 
different but equally serious object ; it 
being essentially a religious war, for the 
honor and diffusion of the Christian faith. 
Charles was eminently a champion of the 
church, and therein a type of the chivalric 
middle ages. It is true the mild doctrines 
of Christianity should not be diffused by 
fire and the sword ; and Charles sufficiently 
experienced how little durable was the 
conversion when at his command hundreds 
at the same moment stepped into a river 
and had water poured over them in sign of 
baptism ; but in this he followed less his 
own wishes than the character of his nation, 
which had itself been converted suddenly 
and during the external excitement of the 
tumult of battle. To him, however, be- 
longs the fame and glory that he also knew 
and honored the right mode of igniting the 
light of faith. For besides this, he founded 
monasteries, churches, and bishoprics in 
Saxony, and that these doctrines might be 
more fully developed and propagated, he 
caused also all the young Saxons, received 
as hostages, to be assiduously instructed 
with others, that they might, as teachers, 
enlighten their nation. And so perfectly 
did he succeed in his plans, that this same 
Saxon nation, which had hitherto so obsti- 
nately resisted Christianity, was speedily 
filled with the greatest zeal for it, and. 
made in every respect a flourishing pro- 
gress. 

The confidential and beloved frrnd of 
the king, Pope Adrian died in 795. Chaiies- 
mourned for him lor a father, ami caus- 
ed an inscription in he placed ovei his tnnib* 
which contain^ " « expression uf hi* vene- 
ration. His :s..<. .'dsKor, Pop< Leu lit., \v«u» 



98 



POPE LEO III. — CHARLEMAGNE 



CROWNED EMPEROR OF ROME. 



misused in a revolt of the Romans, and 
sought protection from Charles, who re- 
ceived him in solemn state at Paderborn,* 
whither the pope came in 799, amidst an 
almost incredible concourse of venerating 
people, when he gave him his promise to 
go himself to Rome to punish the evil-doers ; 
and which promise he fulfilled in the year 
800. At the Christmas festival of that 
same year, Charles was present at the ser- 
vice in St. Peter's church at Rome. On 
this great occasion individuals from almost 
every nation of the west were collected 
together in the metropolis of the Christian 
church, and an innumerable concourse of 
people filled the temple. After high mass, 
when Charles knelt at the altar, Pope Leo 
brought forth an imperial crown and placed 
it upon his head, when the whole assem- 
bled multitude exclaimed : " Charles Au- 
gustus, crowned by the Almighty, the great 
and peace-bringing emperor of the Romans. 
Hail, all hail, and victory!" At the same 
time the pope knelt down before him."j* 



* Pope Leo consecrated at Paderborn, among other 
objects, the altar of St. Stephen, which is still to be 
found in the vault under the choir of the cathedral. 

t Eginhard, the biographer and friend of Charles, 
says indeed— and we may presume as received direct 
from the mouth of the emperor himself— that the latter 
had, at first, adopted the title, Augustus Imperator, with 
very great reluctance, and that he assured him he 
would not even have entered the walls of the church 
on that grand day of festival, had he foreseen the in- 
tention of the pope. Nevertheless, it is scarcely to be 
•conceived that a proceeding so grave and highly impor- 
tant could have been arranged without the knowledge 
and concurrence of Charles, who, indeed, in all his ac- 
tions never allowed himself to be led by others. Besides, 
it is already evident, from wiiat is shown by other good 
testimonies, (Annul. Lauris. ham,) that the renewal of 
the imperial dignity had been discussed and resolved 
•upon, for Alcuin himself knew of it beforehand, he 
having given to one of his pupils a Bible and a letter, 
both of which he was deputed to present to the emperor 
at the Christmas festival in Rome, and in which letter 
the learned master wished the mighty sovereign all 
happiness ad splendorem imperialis potentia. But what 
struck Charles, no doubt, with sudden surprise and mo- 
mentary vexation was, that the pope should merely 
have presented to him the imperial crown, and that 
it had not been left to him, the sovereign, to place it 
upon his own head himself, or to command it to be done 
by the pope, (as his bishop,) as was the custom with the 
Creek emperors, who were crowned by their patriarchs ; 
thence, there is little doubt, arose the expressions attri- 
buted to him by Eginhard. This, indeed, is clearly 
shown subsequently, when, at Aix-la-Chapelle, he or- 
dered Louis to place the crown upon his own head 
Charles always considered himself as chief ruler over 
Home, and styled the Romans in his decrees as his sub- 
jects, and included Rome in his will among the chief 
cities of his empire. The popes again, on their part, 
placed his own name, as well as those of his successors, 
on their coins, and included them in their bulls. In 
his letters, Charles henceforth calls himself : ''Carolus 
serenissimus augustus a Deo coronatus magnus paein- 
■cus imperator Romanum gubernans imperiuiri. qui et 
per misericordiam Dei rex Francoram et Lahgobardo- 
rum." To him it was important to hold dominion 
over those other nations which had not devolved upon 
him by hereditary right, by some other means t?ran the 



Thus in 324, the year after Romulus 
Augustulus had lost the Roman imperial 
dignity, it was again renewed by Charle- 
magne, who, as a patrician, was already 
chief protector of Rome. He himself at- 
tributed so much importance to the impe- 
rial coronation, that all his subjects, from 
twelve years of age upwards, were obliged 
to renew their oath of allegiance. His 
power was now extended over Italy, 
France, Catalonia, the Balearic islands, 
and on the other side as far as the North 
Sea, the Elbe, the Bohemian forest, the 
Raab, and the mountains of Croatia, thus 
even over the greatest portion of the an- 
cient Roman empire in Europe. 

By this solemn act, Charles's grand un- 
dertaking was completed, according to its 
outward form. All the Christian nations 
of German origin, excepting England, 
were united in one large body, and 
Charles, as their temporal chief, was 
crowned under the ancient and, by God's 
guidance, renewed title of Roman empe- 
ror. As such, he was the chief protector 
of the church — by the Franconian synod 
he was styled the regent of true reli- 
gion — as well as the guardian of justice 
and peace in Europe ; and under his pow- 
erful protection, the recently planted germ 
of fresh life and new moral cultivation 
could safely develop itself, without being 
trampled upon by the destructive conten- 
tion of nations. Accordingly, this was 
the great aim and purpose of the Roman 
imperial dignity, as renewed by the Ger- 
mans, and as Theodoric had contemplated, 
which Charles alone, however, was ena- 
bled, by his power, to call into existence — 
an object which has ever continued to be 
fostered in the heart of every noble and 
magnanimous emperor succeeding to the 
throne of the Germanic empire. 

Charles's empire was therefore not what 
it has been endeavored by a new name to 
call — a universal monarchy ; not one em- 
pire wherein all the nations and countries 
within his reach were subject to his, the 

mere sway of conquest, and he well knew that among 
the German tribes the title of Roman emperor always 
connected itself with the idea of supreme govern- 
ment. Besides, to the emperor all were equally bound 
to yield allegiance— counts, bishops, freemen, and ser- 
vitors ; while in obedience to the king, the freemen 
varied materially from the vassal, and the bishop from 
the layman. It likewise established his position to- 
wards the clergy, for the pope became now the first 
bishop of the empire, and Alcuin says distinctly, (cap. 
ii.,) that the imperial power is higher than any other, 
Seven that of the pope. 



STATE OF THE EMPIRE— LOUIS CROWNED KING OF THE FRANKS. 99 



individual's will, and by one law, custom, 
and language, united into one uniform, 
circumscribed whole. Such was not 
Charles's wish. He honored the pecu- 
liarities of nations, left them their laws, 
which were based upon their ancient cus- 
toms and modes of living ; he left them 
their manners and their language, which 
a nation could not be deprived of without 
inflicting the most grievous wound. He 
was even so widely distant from the idea 
of an empire strongly and despotically 
ruled by the will of one individual, that 
during his life, in the year 806, at Dieten- 
hofen, he divided his countries between his 
three sons, so that Pepin should take Italy, 
Louis Aquitaine, and Charles the remain- 
der, consisting chiefly of German coun- 
tries. They and their successors were 
bound to consider themselves as the mem- 
bers of one race, and under the superior 
guidance of the emperor for the time be- 
ing, or the head of the family, hold fra- 
ternally together, and accustom their na- 
tions to a similar unity. 

His soul was full of such good and noble 
thoughts, that Europe would soon have 
flourished upon the basis he thus laid, had 
but a portion of his spirit fallen to the 
share of his descendants. 

But Charles partially foresaw with his 
own eyes the destruction of his plans. 
Both of his most promising sons died shortly 
after each other, even before their father, 
and Louis, the weakest, alone remained. 
The eldest, Charles, had made several 
successful campaigns against the Sor- 
bians beyond the Elbe. The father hoped 
every thing from this son, but unhappily 
these hopes were frustrated. 

As Charles now felt his own end ap- 
proaching more and more near, he sent for 
his son Louis to come to him in the year 
813 to Aix-la-Chapelle, and there on a 
Sunday, when in the cathedral together, 
he reminded him of all the duties of a 
good monarch, and he then caused Louis 
to place the golden crown (which lay upon 
the altar) upon his head, and thus crown- 
ed, his venerable father presented him to 
the assembly as the future king of all the 
Franks. By this act Charles wished to 
show that his crown was independent of 
the papal chair, and the Franks were 
greatly pleased with this determination 
evinced by their prince at the close of his 
career. 



The venerable emperor, however, re- 
mained still active ; he continued to hold 
imperial diets and church convocations, 
and regulated all other affairs of the state. 

In January of the year 814 he was at- 
tacked by a fever, which was followed by 
pleurisy. Charles, who up to his latter 
days had never been ill, and was always 
I an enemy to medicine, wished to cure him- 
self by his usual remedy of fasting, but 
his body had now become too weak. 
About five o'clock on the morning of the 
eighth day of his illness, (the 28th of Jan- 
uary,) he felt the approach of death, and 
energetically raising his right hand, mark- 
ed upon his forehead, bosom, and even to 
the feet, the sign of the cross. He then 
stretched forth his arms once more, folded 
them over his bosom, closed his eyes, and 
murmuring softly and in broken tones, 
" Lord, into thy hands do I commit my 
soul," he breathed his last sigh in the sev- 
enty-second year of his age, and the forty- 
sixth of his reign. On the very day of 
his death the body of the deceased empe- 
ror was solemnly cleansed, laid out, and 
anointed, and conveyed amidst the sorrow 
and mourning of the whole nation, to the 
vault of the church built by himself. He 
was there clothed in all the imperial robes, 
with a golden gospel spread out on his 
knees, a piece of the original holy cross 
upon his head, and a pilgrim's golden 
scrip around his loins, and placed thus in 
an upright position upon a marble chair; 
when, filling the vault with frankincense, 
spices, balsam, and many costly articles, 
they closed and sealed it up. 

So much veneration for the emperor 
existed throughout all his dominions, and 
so much were all eyes directed upon him, 
that every thing which, during the last few 
years of his existence, had happened to 
him either wonderful or extraordinary, was 
considered as prophetic of his death. His 
biographer, Eginhard, mentions many such 
phenomena. During the three years pre- 
ceding his death, there were frequent 
eclipses of the sun and moon ; the arcade 
of columns, which Charles had caused to 
be erected between the minster and 
the imperial palace, sank by a sudden 
revolution of nature, upon Ascension Day, 
into the earth, and was destroyed to its 
very foundation. Besides which the Rhine 
bridge, near Mentz, which in the course 
of ten years he had built of wood with 



100 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



great ingenuity and art, so that it was ren- 
dered fit to last for ages, was entirely de- 
stroyed by fire in the short space of three 
hours. He himself in his last campaign 
against Godfrey, king of the Danes, upon 
marching forth one day before sunrise, 
beheld a fiery meteor fall suddenly from 
heaven, passing from the right to the left 
through the clear air. At this moment his 
horse plunged, and falling to the earth, 
overthrew him so violently that the clasp 
of his mantle broke, his sword-belt was 
torn asunder, so that he was lifted from 
the ground by his alarmed attendants with- 
out a mantle and without his sword. To 
which may be added a variety of other 
signs, equally alarming in their indication, 
but in which the great emperor was too 
wise to place any faith. 

In, order that we may completely com- 
prehend the extraordinary man whose his- 
tory thus calls forth our admiration, we 
necessarily desire to be acquainted with 
his outward form, wherein the mighty 
spirit was encased. We are anxious to 
know how the eye reflected the internal 
sentiments ; whether the brow and coun- 
tenance depicted dignity and repose, or 
whether they expressed the animated, im- 
petuous emotions of the mind ; and final- 
ly, whether the elevation and power of the 
spirit were equally displayed throughout 
the entire corporeal form. Eginhard, the 
friend of Charlemagne, and whom the lat- 
ter had brought up in his palace as his 
adopted son, has drawn up for us a beau- 
tiful and affectionate description of his 
noble fosterfather : 

" In person," he says, " the emperor 
was robust and strong, and of great height, 
for he measured seven of his own feet.* 
His head was round, his eyes large and 
animated ; his nose somewhat exceeded 
moderate proportions ; his gray hair was 
beautiful to behold, and his countenance 
joyous and cheerful, whence his figure 
derived peculiar dignity and charm. He 
had a firm step, and a perfect manly bear- 
ing. He practised riding and hunting in- 
cessantly, according to the customary 
habits of his nation, for scarcely a people 
existed upon earth that could rival the 
Franks in these arts. Besides this, he 

* A staff or lance of iron has been preserved, which 
is said to give the exact height of Charlemagne, and 
according to which he measured six feet three inches 
by the Rhenish measurement. 



was such a skilful swimmer, that none 
could justly be said to surpass him. 

" He enjoyed constant good health, with 
the exception of the last four years of his 
life, when he was frequently attacked by 
fever, which at last occasioned him to limp 
slightly on one foot. During these attacks, 
he continued nevertheless to follow his 
own counsel, rather than the advice of his 
doctors, with whom, in fact, he was sorely 
vexed, for they prohibited him from eating 
roasted meat, which he himself considered 
the most wholesome of all food. 

" He was exceedingly temperate in both 
eating and drinking, but especially so in 
the latter, for intoxication was his abhor- 
rence, in any person, and particularly in 
his own palace. His daily meal consist- 
ed of four dishes only, exclusive of the 
roasted joint, which his yagers or squires 
brought upon the spit, and which he pre- 
ferred and relished before every other 
dish. During his meals he listened with 
great pleasure to the lays of his minstrels 
on the lute, or to a reader, the subjects 
sung or read being always the histories 
and events of heroic men. He also took 
much delight in the books of St. Augus- 
tine, particularly in those on the divine 
government of God. 

" In summer it was his custom after din- 
ner, to enjoy a little fruit, and to drink 
once ; then to undress himself as at night, 
and thus repose for three or four hours. 
His nights were very restless, not merely 
by his awaking up several times, but like- 
wise by his getting up from his couch and 
walking about. During his toilet, not only 
were his friends admitted, but likewise, if 
his Count Palatine had to present to him 
any appeal, which could not be decided 
without his opinion and determination there- 
upon, he forthwith caused the disputants to 
be brought before him, and then investi- 
gated the affair and gave judgment at 
once. 

" His dress consisted of the national cos- 
tume, and was but little different from that 
of the common people. He wore, next his 
skin, a linen shirt, over which a garment 
with a silken cord, and long hose. His 
feet were enclosed in laced shoes, and, in 
winter, for the protection of his shoulders 
and chest, he wore a waistcoat of otter- 
skin. As upper garment, he wore a man- 
tle, and had always his sword girded on, 
the haft and defence of which were of gold 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



101 



and silver ; and at times he wore a sword 
inlaid with jewels, but only on particular 
festivals, or when he gave audience to for- 
eign ambassadors. His raiment likewise, 
on these occasions, was of golden cloth, 
and he wore a crown adorned with gold 
and precious stones. Foreign dress, even 
the most beautiful, he disliked and de- 
spised, and would never clothe himself in 
such : except when at Rome, where, firstly 
at the express wish of Pope Adrian, and 
secondly, at the request of Leo, his suc- 
cessor, he wore a dress with a long train, 
and a broad mantle, with shoes made ac- 
cording to the Roman fashion. 

" Charles possessed a style of rich and 
flowing eloquence, and whatever he wish- 
ed, was expressed by him in the most clear 
and concise manner. He did not content 
himself with his mother tongue alone, but 
applied himself industriously to the ac- 
quirement of the classical and foreign lan- 
guages generally. Of the former, he was 
so perfectly master of the Latin, that he 
spoke it equally as well as his native tongue ; 
and the Greek, although he did not speak 
it, he nevertheless perfectly well under- 
stood, and was so proficient in it, that he 
could himself have become its teacher. 
He practised the superior arts very zeal- 
ously, and was extremely liberal in the 
honors and rewards he conferred upon 
their professors. In learning grammar, 
he had the attendance of the venerable 
deacon, Peter of Pisa ; and in other sci- 
ences, his instructor was Albin, with the 
surname of Alcuin, who was a native of 
Britain, but of Saxon origin ; a very learned 
man, and Charles devoted much labor and 
time in acquiring from him a knowledge of 
astronomy. He also endeavored to attain 
the art of writing, and was even accus- 
tomed to have his tablets under his pillow 
in bed, so that when he had a leisure mo- 
ment he might practise his hand in the 
imitation of letters. In this, however, ow- 
ing to his commencing it at so late a pe- 
riod, he made but little progress. 

The minster at Aix-la-Chapelle, which 
is of extreme beauty, is a monument of 
his love for the arts, as also of his great 
piety, and which he caused after he had it 
built, to be ornamented with gold and sil- 
ver, together with windows, lattices, and 
gates of solid brass. He had all the pil- 
lars and marble stones used for its con- 
struction, brought from Rome and Raven- 



na, as he could not obtain them in any 
other quarter.* His piety displayed itself 
in the support of the poor, and in gifts and 
donations which he sent to distant lands 
across the sea, and wherever he heard 
Christians to be in want ; and thence it 
was that he sought the friendship of princes 
ruling in those distant countries, in order 
that some portion of nourishment might be 
dispensed to the Christians living under 
their dominion. It was thus he maintained 
a cordial friendship with Aaron, the king 
of the Persians, (ITaroun al Raschid, ca- 
liph of Bagdad,) who ruled over nearly the 
whole of the east, with the exception of 
India. When, therefore, Charles sent his 
envoys with rich offerings to the holy tomb 
of our Lord and Saviour, they were not 
only very kindly received by Aaron, but, 
on their return, he sent with them his own 
ambassador to accompany them to the court 
of Charles, and who conveyed from him 
the choicest of the shawls, spices, and other 
costly rarities of the east, as presents to 
the emperor, to whom be it mentioned, he 
had already, in proof of their good under- 
standing, sent some few years previously, 
the only elephant he then had in his pos- 
session." 

From another source we learn that this 
elephant, which was called Abulabaz, or 
the destroyer, by its monstrous and un- 
exampled size, amazed the whole world, 
and was Charles's especial favorite ; and 
that among the presents sent with it there 
was a costly tent, together with a clock 
made of brass with astonishing skill and 
ingenuity. This latter contained a hand 
or indicator, moved round, during twelve 
hours, by the power of water, together 
with an equal quantity of brass balls, 
which, when the hours were completed, 
dropped into a brass cup placed beneath, 
by their fall indicating the hour, upon 
which mounted knights, fully armed, ac- 
cording to the number of hours, galloped 
forth from twelve windows — a work as- 
suredly of great and extraordinary inge- 
nuity for that period. Charles, on his part, 
made presents in return to the Persian ru- 



* The church of the Virgin Mary and the imperial 
palace are, as far as we know, the first extensive build- 
ings founded by a German prince. Charles's structures 
are based upon the Roman style of North Italy and 
South France, whence he procured his architects." The 
palace in Aix-la-Chapelle has, with the exception of a 
few remaining stones, entirely disappeared, but St 
Mary's church still exists. 



102 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



ler, of Spanish horses, mules, and Frisian 
mantles, which in the east were very rare 
and expensive, and finally, were added to 
these a number of dogs for hunting the 
lion and tiger, unsurpassed for swiftness 
and ferocity. 

We have previously mentioned his 
friendly connection with the emperor in 
Constantinople, and his amicable relations 
with the princes of England and Scotland, 
by whom he was highly esteemed ; and 
thus the impression of his personal great- 
ness was reflected throughout the age in 
which he lived, as well in the descriptions 
given by those who were about him, as 
also in the veneration of distant nations. 
His own grandson, Nithard, who has de- 
scribed the disputes of the sons of Louis 
the Pious, says of him with great justice : 
" Charles, justly called by all nations the 
great emperor ; a man who by true wis- 
dom and virtue rises so high above the hu- 
man race of his own age, that while he 
appears to all equally awe-striking and 
amiable, is at the same time universally 
acknowledged to be wonderful and admi- 
rable." 

In the subsequent generations, still filled 
with veneration towards him, his figure 
became so irradiated by tradition and fic- 
tion, that its proportions appear gigantical- 
ly magnified. Thus, for instance, in a 
legend of Low Germany he is described 
as follows : " The emperor Charles was a 
handsome, tall, strong man, with power- 
ful arms and legs : his face was a span 
and a half long, and his beard a foot in 
length. His eyes, to those at whom he 
attentively looked, appeared so bright and 
searching, that the effect therefrom was to 
strike with awe and terror ; while his 
strength was so mighty, that with one 
hand he could raise a fully-armed man 
above his head." 

Another ancient Chronicle says of his 
expedition against Desiderius : " When the 
Longobardian king from his castle in 
Pavia observed the entire body of the 
Frankish army in full march against him, 
his eyes searched everywhere among the 
ranks to find the king. At length the ma- 
jestic monarch appeared to view, mounted 
on his war-horse, (which both in durability 
and color resembled iron itself,) with a 
brazen helmet on his head, his entire lofty 
figure encased in iron armor, and a shin- 
ing breast-plate spread over his chest. In 



his left hand he held his heavy iron spear, 
and his right grasped his massive sword ; 
and when at this moment Nosker, a noble, 
exiled by Charles, and who was standing 
near the king of the Longobardians, 
pointed to him, and said, ' Behold, O king, 
there is he whom thou hast sought,' Desi- 
derius almost fell to the ground in wonder 
and dread, faintly exclaiming, ' Away, 
away ! Let us descend and bury ourselves 
in the earth from the wrathful countenance 
of that terrible and mighty foe !' " 

As a testimony that the admiration ex- 
cited by true greatness extends far beyond 
the present and immediately succeeding 
periods, and maintains its estimation in all 
susceptible and glowing minds, even to the 
latest ages, we will here quote the opinion 
of a modern writer* upon the character of 
the great Charles : " The whole appear- 
ance and bearing of the emperor evince 
the true and original model of his energetic 
age — full of manly, yet cheerful virtue. 
Combined with the exuberance of power, 
which remodelled an entire world, were 
united mildness and placidity, and with all 
his dignity and elevation, we find consort- 
ed, simplicity, purity of mind, and a pro- 
found and noble fire of feeling. The 
mixture of serenity and childlike mildness 
in his deportment was the mystery where- 
by he filled all at the same time with ven- 
eration and love ; retaining in faithful 
adherence to him even those who had been 
severely provoked, so exquisitely shown by 
the act of the noble Frank, Isenbart, who, 
although deprived by Charles of all honors 
and possessions, became, nevertheless, the 
unexpected but sole saviour of his life 
when threatened with great danger. There 
lay in the fire of his piercing eye so much 
power, that a punishing glance prostrated 
the object, so that to him might be applied 
the words of scripture : ' The king when 
he sits upon the throne of his majesty, 
chases by a glance of his countenance 
every evil thing while in the thunder of 
his voice there was such force, that it 
struck to the earth whomsoever he ad- 
dressed in anger. On the other hand, 
again, we find that his countenance re- 
flected such unutterable pleasure and glad- 
ness, and his voice was so harmonious and 
of such delightful clearness, that a writer 
styles him the joyful king of the Germans. 

* M. Suvern : " Abhandlung iiber Karl der Grosse." 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



103 



assuring us that he was always so full of 
grace and gentleness, that he who came 
before his presence in sorrowful mood, was 
by a mere look and a few words so com- 
pletely changed, that he departed joyful 
and happy. In his countenance was re- 
flected the full expression of a tranquil 
and clear mind, and in all these outlines 
of his character he is the perfect ideal of 
a true German hero and prince, worthy to 
be called, what he really was, the father 
and creator of the Germanic age, which 
he brought upon the stage of history, after 
it had attained ripeness and perfection in 
the womb of humanity. It was not 
merely in his works and external cre- 
ations that he founded tne Germanic 
age, but its greatness and simplicity, 
its heroism in war and friendship in 
peace, were ingrafted in his profound soul 
entire !" 

We have already spoken of his friend- 
ship with Pope Adrian, founded on mutual 
esteem, and his paternal devotion to Ein- 
hard. But to none was he attached so 
affectionately as to Angilbert, or Engel- 
bert, a young man of noble family, who 
was his constant companion in all his 
travels and campaigns, and to whom he 
confided his most important affairs. En- 
gelbert was an excellent poet, and for 
some time appointed prime minister in 
Italy ; he then became Charles's private 
secretary, and likewise married his daugh- 
ter Bertha, from which marriage descend- 
ed the before-named historian, Nithard. 
Charles was a reverential son to his mother 
Bertran.de, a faithful brother to his only 
sister Gisla, and of his consorts he chiefly 
loved the second, Hildegarde, who bore 
him his three sons, besides three daughters. 
He caused his children to have the best 
education, and he even dedicated much of 
his own time to them with paternal watch- 
fulness. His sons learned not only all 
chivalric accomplishments, but studied also 
the sciences. The daughters were taught 
to work in wool, sewing, and spinning, ac- 
cording to the prevalent simple German 
custom. He never took his meals without 
his children ; they accompanied him in all 
his travels, his sons riding beside him, and 
his daughters following him. His heart 
was so attached to these, that he could 
never prevail upon himself to part with 
them. He superintended his domestic 
economy most carefully. To him even. 



the legislator of an extensive empire, it 
did not appear too trifling to overlook with 
prudent care his estates and farms, so that 
any father of a family might have learned 
from him how to regulate his household 
affairs. Some of his laws are still extant, 
and therein we find especially indicated, 
how many of every description of domes- 
tic animals, and how many peacocks and 
pheasants shall be reared and maintained 
for ornament on his farms ; as likewise 
how wine and beer were to be prepared, 
and how the cultivation of bees, fisheries, 
orchards, and plantations, was to be pur- 
sued. 

" If Charles's general greatness im- 
presses us with reverence and admira- 
tion," so says the modern historian of his 
life, " this participation in the inferior con- 
cerns of life, not smothered by higher 
cares, brings him more closely in connec- 
tion with us ; this especial care of the do- 
mestic hearth, so peculiar to the genuine 
German, wherein he has grown up as the 
plant in the earth which bears and nour- 
ishes it, while his active power strives out- 
ward into the world of deeds and works, 
and his bold mind soars towards heaven, 
as the plant shoots its blossom forth to- 
wards the sun." And in truth, Charles's 
mind was directed towards the light of 
truth ; he was animated with the love of 
the glorious and the beautiful, and planted 
both wherever he was able, and by all ths 
means in his power.* He had fDrmed 
with the wise Englishman, Alcuin, and 
other learned men a scientific society, and 
he maintained with them a regular corre- 
spondence, which was rendered more free 
and intellectual, inasmuch as a happy idea 
from Alcuin enabled it to be conducted 
without any interference with personal re- 
lations. The communications were not 
made in the ordinary names of the mem- 
bers, but in those of adoption, in which 
Charles himself bore the name of King 
David, his friend Engelbrrt that of Homer, 
Alcuin that of Horace, Eginhard that of 
Bezaleel, and the rest, other equally select 
names, whence the cheerful disposition of 
this union, breaking the restrictive chains 
of ordinary life, sufficiently displays itself. 

I * As regards the benefits produced by Charles's zeal 
I for education and science, we rind already that in the 
years 650 to 770, there were in Germany anu France 
■ some twenty-six writers, while in the years 770 to 850, 
there were already in Charles's kingdom more than one 
| hundred. 



104 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



Its immediate purpose, besides the cultiva- 
tion of both the ancient languages, may 
possibly have been to reanimate and draw 
forth from its obscurity the ancient Ger- 
man language and its poetry. Charles 
himself either sketched, or caused to be 
sketched, a German grammar, gave to the 
months and the seasons German names, 
and collected the aboriginal songs, wherein 
were recited the noble deeds and the wars 
of ancient heroes, (as formerly Lycurgus 
and Pisistratus collected the songs of Ho- 
mer.) But there is not a more affecting 
trait of his own love for the sciences extant 
than that already related, when in extreme 
age he endeavored carefully to accustom 
his once powerful hand, which had been 
used only to wield the sword, to the prac- 
tice of writing, and that even during the 
sleepless hours of the night. And how 
far he esteemed educated and scientific 
men is proved, besides the instances al- 
ready cited, by his example shown towards 
the Longobardian historian, Paul Diaco- 
nus. He was private secretary to King 
Desiderius, and after the latter was con- 
quered, the former participated in the 
subsequent revolt of the Lombards, upon 
which he was sentenced to have his hands 
chopped off. Charles, however, interfered 
and said, " If these hands are chopped off, 
who will, like him, be able to write us 
such charming histories V and according- 
ly he pardoned him. The learned Alcuin 
already mentioned — in possessing whom at 
his court Charles felt more pride than in 
having a kingdom — had been previously 
provost of the high school of York in Eng- 
land, where almost all the learned men of 
that period had received their education 
and had imbibed their zeal for the sciences, 
and which contained one of the few then 
existing libraries of the west of Europe. 
In 793 he was induced by the repeated 
entreaties of the king to go over to France, 
where he founded the celebrated school of 
Tours. Charles esteemed him so much 
that he called him his beloved instructor 
in Christ, and presented him as his friend 
to the grand imperial diet and church con- 
vocation at Frankfort. A nd Alcuin proved 
hirrself worthy of this honor, for when all, 
from fear or doubt, were silent, he alone 
candidly told the king the truth. The 
correspondence of Charles with Alcuin is 
worthy of high estimation, and of which, 
happily, we still possess a considerable 



portion. Charles, on his part, there ex- 
presses the greatest respect and friendship 
for Alcuin, and the latter is full of true 
affection, nay, at times, of inspiration to- 
wards his king and friend. Charles's 
wife and his sons and daughters received 
instruction from Alcuin, and he was styled 
by them all their master and father, he, 
on his part, calling them his sons and 
daughters. 

Combined with his anxiety for the af- 
fairs of the Church, Charles likewise, with 
proper foresight and penetration, felt deep 
interest for the instruction of the people ; 
thence, wherever it was possible, he found- 
ed schools and investigated their progress 
with great solicitude himself. It is related 
that he once entered the school which was 
established at his own court, and examined 
the studies of the boys. The skilful he 
placed on his right and the unskilful on his 
left, and then it was found that the latter 
consisted chiefly of the sons of noble fami- 
lies. Charles then turned to the industri- 
ous class, praised them much, and assured 
them of his particular regard ; the others 
he admonished and scolded severely, 
threatening them, notwithstanding their 
noble descent, to reduce them to the lowest 
rank in the school unless they speedily re- 
paired, by zealous industry, the negligence 
shown. 

The study of the Latin tongue was 
especially promoted by Charles for the 
sake of the church ; but, at the same time, 
he acknowledged the value of the Greek 
language, as he proved by founding in 
Osnaburg a Greek school. In a royal de- 
cree addressed to all monasteries, in which 
he exhorts them to apply themselves to the 
sciences, he says expressly, that he has 
been led to make this exhortation, because 
their communications are written in such 
bad Latin. Another important result 
arising from the scientific labors of Charles 
and his friends, was the establishment of 
libraries in the chief schools. Alcuin laid 
the foundation of such a one in the school 
at Tours, by sending scholars to York for 
the purpose of making copies from the books 
there, and thus " transplanting the flowers 
of Britain to Franconia." This example 
was soon followed, the desire to possess 
books awoke, the office of extracting from 
writings now became a favorite occupation 
and duty in the monasteries and schools, 
and indeed, we have to thank this in- 



PORTRAITURE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



105 



dustry of the copyists for what has been 
preserved to us from ancient times.* 

The sacred dignity of divine worship 
concerned him much ; he gave himself 
particular trouble to introduce a good 
psalmody, and caused for that purpose 
organ players and singers to come from 
Italy ; and at Soissons and Metz he in- 
stituted singing schools. Besides this, he 
ordered a number of good sermons by the 
Greek fathers to be translated into the 
Frankish tongue, and read to the people ;f 
and he made a general regulation, that 
sermons should be preached in the national 
language, for King Charles well knew that 
civil order reposed upon the religious and 
moral dignity of the people, and without 
which it can have no solid basis. He con- 
sidered church and state not as separated 
from, or inimical to each other, but con- 
ceived that they both had one great aim, 
that of the ennoblement and perfection of 
mankind. He, therefore, in his extensive 
empire, linked both these institutions still 
more closely together. 

Even under the earlier Frankish kings, 
the clergy formed an essential portion of 
the constitution of the kingdom. The 
bishops, as well as the dukes, participated 
in state affairs, and had a seat and a voice 
in the national assembly. Charles made 
this a fixed principle, and this raised the 
clerical body to rank as one of the orders of 
the state. The constitution had already now 
formed two of its chief orders, that of the 
clergy and nobility ; the civil order, as 
the third component, did not yet exist ;. 
later centuries brought it to perfection, and 
thereby completed the constitution of the 



* Alcuin took especial pains to form and establish 
classes tor the improvement and perfection of writing. 
In Tours, Fulda, and Treves, particular and distinct ( 
halls were appropriated for transcribers, provided with 
inscriptions, which impressed upon the mind the im- 
portant duties of a writer. In fact, the art of writing j 
in books and ancient documents appears, under | 
diaries, to have undergone a change, completely j 
sudden, in improvement. For, to the unsightly Mero- 
vingian style of italic character previously in use — 
even to the first years of Charles's reign— we find suc- 
ceeding as it were, with one spring, a fine and legible 
form of round hand, called the Carolingian minuskel, 
or neatly reduced writing. This style became the 
legitimate source whence we derived all our present 
forms, both in writing and printing, in German as well 
as Latin. In the coins of the year 7T4, we likewise 
rind displayed an improvement equally striking, thus 
showing that, even in minor objects, the great Charles 
operated efficaciously. 

f He directed Faulus Diaconus to prepare extracts 
from the fathers, in the form of a collection of homilies 
throughout the year. This collection, from the usual 
opening of the pieces, " post ilia," received, subse- 
quently, the name postille. 

14 



state. But it was important for that period, 
that the feudal nobility, which had already 
become too powerful, should receive a 
counterbalance in the clerical order, which 
: must necessarily become the preservation 
j of Christian cultivation throughout Europe, 
I and thereby unite Europe into one great 
j whole. Besides, Charles felt himself suffi- 
: ciently powerful to fear no misuse of such 
! spiritual influence in his realms. Although 
he increased the possessions and the con- 
sideration of the clergy, he yet maintained 
his imperial power so much above them, 
that his quick eye was everywhere feared, 
so much so, that one of his historians calls 
him the bishop of bishops. 

We frequently find in his decrees re- 
proaches made against the clergy, when 
they commenced exceeding the limits of 
their power, and many of his laws gen- 
erally allude to an ameliorated state of 
discipline among the ecclesiastical body, 
to a restraint being put to their worldliness, 
and commanding them to perform the du- 
ties of their office with zeal and activity. 
In fact, he may be regarded as the true 
reformer of the clergy, especially when 
we refer to the condition of that body 
under the Merovingians. Of the tithes 
which were to be paid to the church, he 
appointed for the bishops one fourth, for 
the inferior clergy one fourth, for the poor 
one fourth, and for the church itself one 
fourth, especially towards the building of 
fresh edifices. And as these taxes were al- 
together hateful alike both to the Franks and 
Saxons, he at once set the example himself of 
subscribing to them, by having them levied 
equally upon the royal estates. They were 
rendered less obnoxious and more mode- 
rate likewise by his subsequent decrees, 
that all church offices, such as baptisms, 
communions, and burials, should be per- 
formed gratuitously. 

With respect to the administration of the 
state, Charles dispensed with the power of 
the grand dukes as governors of entire 
provinces, and divided the latter into small- 
er districts, causing them to be ruled by 
counts, whose chief occupation was the 
superintendence of the judicial office ; but 
the dignity of count was not hereditary. 
The dukes, whom he himself appointed, 
were merely his lieutenant-generals in war 
and leaders of the a r Here ban of a prov- 
ince. Besides which he dispatched, as 
often as he thought it necessary, royal en- 



106 



LOUIS THE PIOUS— DIVISION OF HIS EMPIRE. 



voys (missi regii) into the provinces, who 
inspected their condition, and examined 
how they were governed, and were obliged 
to draw up written reports thereof. These 
envoys consisted generally of a bishop and 
a count, as the proceedings of the spiritual 
as well as temporal administrators were to 
be examined at the same time. The dis- 
trict of a Missus was called Missaticum. 
When any person believed he had ex- 
perienced an avoidance in law from the 
count, he could appeal to the Missus ; and 
again from this there was an appeal to 
the Comes palatii. The appointment of the 
judges in the courts was removed from the 
power of the counts by Charles, and trans- 
ferred to the Missus. 

He expressly and earnestly exhorted all 
his officials, and particularly the judges, 
to the fulfilment of their duties, as in fact 
the grand endeavor, shown throughout his 
entire government, had for its object the 
improvement of the administration of jus- 
tice, and especially the protection of the 
poorer classes and the common free peo- 
ple, against the pressure of the higher 
ranks. It seemed as if in the latter period 
of his reign he had more and more per- 
ceived the danger with which the com- 
mon freedom of his subjects w r as threat- 
ened by the feudal system. All adminis- 
tration of justice, however, was in vain. 
He was forced himself to attend in person, 
twice in the year, national assemblies or 
diets, the one in spring, called the May 
Field, [Campus Madius,) in which the king, 
with his estates, gave the decisions ; the 
other in autumn, composed of the most 
distinguished of his nobles and confidential 
friends, with whom he regulated the most 
urgent matters, and prepared those affairs 
to be settled at the ensuing Mav meeting. 
The regulations made at these diets, par- 
ticularly those passed in the Spring meet- 
ings, which, after their division into chap- 
ters, became known under the name of 
capitulars, produced for the entire king- 
dom a great combining power. 

The envoys, each in their division, called 
together the communities four times every 
year, who, besides attending to their own 
matters, had to approve and confirm the 
resolutions passed at the grand assemblies, 
if they concerned the interests of the peo- 
ple : so little power had the king and his 
nobles to affect or alter their rights. Thus 
by means of all these institutions, Charles, 



who was still greater as a legislator than 
a warrior, was enabled to keep in order 
without garrisons and a standing army, all 
the people subjected to obedience, as well 
as his whole extensive empire, although 
composed of such a variety of nations. 
He himself remained within the boundaries 
of the constitution, honored the laws, list- 
ened willingly to the voice of his people, 
and showed in every thing, but especially 
in this, his noble genius and magnanimity, 
and the dignified superiority of his nature. 



CHAPTER VI. 
814—918. 

Louis the Pious, 814-840— Division of the Empire 
among his b'ons, Louis, Lothaire, and Charles the 
Bald, 843— The German Sovereigns of the Race of 
the Carlovingians, 843-911— Louis, oi Ludwig, the 
German— Charles the Fat— Arnulf— Louis the Child— 
The later and concluding period of the Carlovingians 
— Conrad I. of Franconia, 911-918. 

After the race of the Carlovingians had 
produced consecutively four great men — a 
rare occurrence in history — its energy 
seemed to become exhausted. Louis the 
Pious did not resemble his ancestors. 
However, his personal appearance was by 
no means insignificant, for he is described 
as well made, with a prepossessing counte- 
nance, of a strong frame, and so well prac- 
; tised in archery and the wielding of the 
lance, that none about him equalled him. 
But he was weak in mind and will, and his 
by-name, "the Pious,'"' implies not only 
that he was religious, but principally that 
he was so easy tempered, that it required 
much to displease him. A ruler of this 
description was not adapted to hold in 
union the vast empire of his father : never- 
theless, the chief misfortunes of his whole 
life arose solely from his own sons. 

He had three sons by the first marriage, 
Lothaire, Pepin, and Louis ; and he very 
early divided his empire between these 
three, retaining for himself nothing but the 
title of emperor. He, however, soon after- 
wards espoused as second consort, Judith, 
of the family of the Guelfs, who bore to 
| him his fourth son, Charles, and was a 
j proud, ambitious woman, who would will- 
| ingly have transferred all to her own child. 
I Upon her persuasion Louis was induced to 
take a portion of the countries from his 



HIS ILL-TREATMENT— HIS DEATH. 



107 



other sons, and give it to Charles. Where- 
upon open war arose between the emperor 
and his children, who took their father 
twice prisoner. The last time it occurred 
was near Colmar, in Alsace, and because 
most of the nobles of Louis's suite, who had 
sworn allegiance to him, passed over to his 
sons, the place has retained the name of 
Liigenfeld, or the Field of Lies. The 
good-natured Louis, turning to those who 
remained still with him, said, "Go ye, 
also, to my sons ; I will not allow that even 
a single individual lose, on my account, 
life or limb." They wept and departed, 
and Louis fell again into the hands of his 
sons. Lothaire, who was the worst among 
them, had him conveyed to a cloister at 
Soissons in France, and urged him so in- 
cessantly, until he at last resolved to do 
public penance in the chapel. Lothaire's 
object in this was, that his father might 
thereby be made incompetent to take arms, 
for it was ordained by the canon law, that 
any one who had done penance was ren- 
dered incapable of bearing arms, and the 
Franks could not endure among them a 
king without a sword. 

The pious Louis, who was easily per- 
suaded that his own sins were the cause 
of all his misfortunes, absolutely allowed 
himself to be conducted into the chapel of 
the monastery, and after he had been di- 
vested of his sword and military accoutre- 
ments, he was clothed in a sack of pen- 
ance, and was forced to read a paper aloud, 
whereon his son and his accomplices had 
inscribed all his sins, thus : " That he had 
unworthily filled his office, frequently of- 
fended God, vexed the church, was a per- 
jurer, the originator of dissensions and 
turbulences, and, at last, had even wished 
to make war upon his sons." And while 
he made this confession, the clergy, con- 
sisting of the Archbishop Ebbo, of Rheims, 
whom Louis himself had raised from a 
servitor to an archbishop, and with him 
thirty bishops, spread out their hands over 
him, and chanted penitential psalms ; Lo- 
thaire himself sitting close by upon a throne, 
and feasting his eyes upon the degradation 
of his father, who was immediately after- 
wards led away in the garment of repent- 
ance, and immured within a solitary cell, 
where he was left to remain, without any 
consolation. 

This misusage of the emperor enraged 
his son, Louis of Bavaria, who was after- 



wards called Ludwig the German, and 
who was the best of the sons ; he confer- 
red with his brother Pepin, and they forced 
Lothaire to emancipate their father, who 
was formally absolved by the bishops, and 
received from their hands his sword and 
accoutrements back again. 

But his misfortunes had not made him 
wiser, for, on the contrary, he allowed 
himself to be immediately persuaded by 
Judith to prefer his son Charles before the 
rest, and to give him his most beautiful 
countries, causing him to be crowned King 
of Neustria. He treated his best son, 
Louis, the worst, who consequently, in his 
irritation, seized arms against his father, 
and the old king could nowhere find a tran- 
quil spot for his death-bed ; for, as he was 
proceeding to Worms, to hold a diet there 
against his son, and was just passing over 
the Rhine, near Mentz, he suddenly felt 
his quickly-approaching end. He remain- 
ed upon an island of the Rhine, near Ingel- 
heim, caused a tent to be there pitched for 
him, and sank down upon his death-bed. 
He pardoned his son before his death, in 
these words : " As he cannot come to me 
to offer satisfaction, I acquit myself thus 
towards him, and take God and all of you 
to witness, that I forgive him every thing. 
But it will be your office to remind him, 
that although I have so often pardoned 
him, he must not forget that he has brought 
the gray hairs of his father to the grave in 
bitter grief." Thus died, in the year 840, 
King Louis, who was of a kind disposition, 
but whose life was one continued scene of 
trouble and affliction, because he knew not 
how to govern his own house, much less 
his empire. 

The most celebrated acts of his life con- 
sist in the foundation of two religious insti- 
tutions ; viz., the monastery of Corvey, 
and the archbishopric of Hamburg. The 
first originated from the cloister of the 
same name, at Amiens in France. It was 
hither that Charlemagne caused many of 
the imprisoned Saxons to be brought, that 
they might be instructed in the Christian 
religion, and become thereby the future 
teachers of their fellow-countrymen in the 
same doctrines. Louis the Pious caused a 
religious colony of these Saxons to settle 
in their native country, on the Weser, and 
he commenced building the new monaste- 
ry as early as the year S15. It was com- 
pleted in 822, and the abby was enriched 



108 



LOTHAIRE, LOUIS, AND CHARLES THE BALD. 



with many crown endowments. It speedi- 
ly became the best school for education in 
that country. 

Louis founded the archbishopric of Ham- 
burg in 832, principally for the conversion 
of the heathens of the north. The first 
bishop was Ansgar, from the abbey of 
Corvey, one of the most zealous propaga- 
tors of the Christian religion, and who had 
already taught the doctrine in Denmark 
and Sweden. But Hamburg, unfortunate- 
ly, was destroyed by the Romans, in 845, 
on which account the archbishopric was 
transferred to Bremen. 

The brothers, who had not hesitated to 
take up arms against their own father, could 
much less remain united among themselves. 
In particular, Lothaire assumed, as em- 
peror, great privileges over his brothers. 
Louis and Charles, Pepin being alrea- 
dy dead, consequently armed themselves 
against him ; and as he would not agree 
to a treaty of peace, a battle was fought in 
841, near Fontenay, in France. It was 
very sanguinary ; forty thousand, accord- 
ing to others a hundred thousand, men were 
left on the field. Lothaire was conquered, 
and his great pretensions were thus dissi- 
pated, and in consequence, in the course 
of two years, an important treaty took 
place, which divided the great Frankish 
empire, and separated Germany forever 
from France. This is called the treaty of 
Verdun, concluded on the 11th of August, 
843. 

1. Louis received Germany as far as 
the Rhine ; and across the Rhine, Mentz, 
Spires, and Worms, for the sake of the cul- 
ture of the vine, (propter vini copiam.) as 
it is said in the original record. Thus were 
united all the countries wherein a pure Ger- 
man race, unmixed with the Romans, had 
remained, and the Germans may consider 
the treaty of Verdun as a great national ben- 
efit. For had that country remained united 
with France, and had the king made Paris, 
perhaps, the metropolis, or even changed 
about in the chief cities of that country, it 
is probable that, in the course of time, a 
ruinous mixture of the German and French 
languages, manners, modes of life, and 
idiosyncrasies of the two nations would 
have taken place. 

2. Lothaire retained the imperial dig- 
nity and Italy, and acquired, besides, a 
long narrow strip of land between Germa- 
ny and France, from the Alps as far as the 



Netherlands, namely, the country of Va- 
lais and Vaud in Switzerland, the south- 
east of France, as far as the Rhone ; and 
on the left bank of the Rhine, Alsace, and 
the districts of the Moselle, Meuse, and 
Scheldt. This long and narrow strip be- 
tween the two other brothers was probably 
apportioned to the emperor that he might be 
near them both, and that, according to the 
wish of the father and grandfather, the im- 
perial control might tend to preserve the 
unity of the whole. It likewise seemed 
that Italy and the ancient city of Rome, as 
well as ancient Austrasia, namely, the 
Rhenish districts, which Charlemagne had 
selected for his residence, with his capital, 
Aix-la-Chapelle, were not separable from 
the imperial dignity. But although Lo- 
thaire received beautiful and productive 
provinces, yet his portion was the weakest, 
for his empire on this side of the Alps had 
no natural frontiers, either in mountains or 
in a distinct national race. The inhabit- 
ants of his countries on the Rhone and 
down the Rhine were composed of very 
different tribes ; thence as there was no 
natural necessity for this division of coun- 
tries, it was merely produced by human 
caprice, consequently, there was no dura- 
bility in it. On the contrary, it became 
the source of great misfortune. After the 
emperor Lothaire, pursued as it were by the 
spirit of his injured father, against whom 
he had chiefly offended, had laid down the 
sceptre and retired into a convent, where 
he died in 862, his three sons took up arms 
in contest for the land, and divided it 
among themselves ; but neither of them 
transmitted it to his descendants. The 
countries of Burgundy, Alsace, and the 
province of Lorraine proper, which Lo- 
thaire II. had received, and which had from 
him received its name, were, after his early 
death, divided by his two uncles, Louis the 
German, and the French king, Charles ; 
so that the land to the east of the Meuse, 
with the cities of Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Liege, Metz, Treves, Cologne, Strasburg, 
Basle, &c, fell to Germany. But this di- 
vision did not terminate the dispute for the 
Lorraine inheritance, for it has remained 
through every century a bone of conten- 
tion between the Germans and the French, 
and many sanguinary wars have taken 
place in consequence. 

3. Charles the Bald received, lastly, the 
western division of the whole Frankish 



LOUIS, OR LUDWIG, THE GERMAN— THE NORMAN PIRATES. 



100 



kingdom, and which has continued to pre- 
serve its title. 

Louis the German, (840-876,) who was 
an energetic prince, of lofty stature and no- 
ble figure, with a fiery eye and a pene- 
trating mind, and who also possessed an 
active disposition for education and science, 
(which the schools of eloquence that he 
founded at Frankfort and Ratisbonne have 
proved,) had constantly to contend for the 
tranquillity of his realm; for the Slavonian 
tribes made incursions on the eastern fron- 
tiers, and the Normans on the north and 
northwest. These bold sailors, of ancient 
German origin, wild as their sea and its 
northern coasts, coming from the Norwegi- 
an, Swedish, and Danish waters, appeared 
with the rapidity of the wind, at the mouths 
of the rivers, and frequently advanced deep 
into the country. They ascended the Seine 
as far as Paris, flew along the Garonne to 
Toulouse, and sailed up the Rhine to Co- 
logne and Bonn. And it was not the banks 
merely of these rivers which suffered from 
their devastations, but they knew also how 
to convey their vessels many thousand paces 
across the country into other rivers, so that 
no place afforded security against them. 
So great was the terror of their name, that 
the mere report of their coming drove to 
flight all before them. Their numbers 
were generally small, for a fleet of the 
small ships of that period could not convey 
large armies ; but their courage, as well as 
their strength of body and their weapons, 
testified to their true northern origin ; while 
in wielding the powerful spear, no race 
equalled them. A few ships, manned with 
valiant men, formed frequently the equip- 
ment of their royal princes ; and as in an- 
cient Germany, a noble leader with his 
company, in bold excursions, acquired honor 
and booty, and with his suite, even contest- 
ed for the possession of a whole country; 
so, on the other hand, the squadron of the 
bold sea-hero, manned with warlike and 
pillage-seeking adventurers, was the source 
of his riches, forming often the moving ba- 
sis upon which he erected his kingdom. 
It was thus they founded similar kingdoms 
in Normandy, France, Sicily, and in Rus- 
sia. Louis the German succeeded in pro- 
tecting his kingdom against them, and 
against the Slavonians ; but not so his son, 
Louis the Fat, (876-887,) who, after the 
death of his brothers, Carloman and Louis, 
by the intervention of particular circum- 



stances, again united for a short time the 
three portions of the Frankish empire, fn 
Italy, Germany, and France. In France 
there was a minor king, Charles the Sim- 
ple, six years of age, for whom he was to 
have protected the country against the Nor- 
mans ; but not possessing the qualifications 
necessary, this he was not able to do, and 
thence he was forced twice to purchase 
peace from them at the price of many 
pounds of gold : the first time when they 
had advanced upon the Meuse as far as 
Hasloff, and the second time when, with 700 
vessels, they had ascended the Seine as far 
as Paris itself, and closely besieged that 
city. Such cowardly conduct, and the 
weakness of his whole government, brought 
him into contempt, and was the cause which 
produced his formal deposition, in a great 
and national assembly held at Tribur in 
the year 887. To his great good fortune, 
he died the following year. 

In Germany he was succeeded (887- 
899) by Arnulf, a son of his brother Carlo- 
man, consequently a grandson of Louis the 
German, a valiant and worthy king. He 
beat the Normans at Louvain, in the Neth- 
erlands, where they had erected a fortified 
camp, which victory made him very cele- 
brated, for those Normans formed the most 
valiant race of the north, and had never 
previously been known to fly before an 
enemy.* 

Arnulf now marched also into Italy, to 
bring that disunited country — where many 
pretenders contested for supremacy — again 
under German dominion. He advanced, 
in 896, as far as Rome ; but his army had 
been so much weakened by sickness and 
foul weather, that he dared not attempt to 
attack the strong walls of the city, and was 

* About this time, in the southeastern frontiers of 
Germany, a Slavonic prince, Zwentibolt, had establish- 
ed a considerable dominion in Moravia. In order to 
gain his friendship, Arnulf gave him the vacant Duchy 
of Bohemia as a fief, and chose him as godfather to his 
son, whom he named after him. But the Moravian 
prince became .unruly, and strove for independence ; 
and Arnulf soon saw himself entangled in a severe war 
against him. In order, therefore, to gain allies, he had 
recourse to the Magyars, who rose against Zwentibolt, 
and, falling upon Moravia, completely overthrew his 
dominion, and established themselves there instead, 
while the late ruler withdrew, and sought refuge in a 
monastery. Arnulf, in order to extend the power of his 
house, now took advantage of some favorable circum- 
stances presented in Lorraine, in order to procure for 
his son, Zwentibolt, the duchy of that country. In this 
he succeeded, after several encounters with the nobili- 
ty ; and in 895 his son took the title of king, but he held 
it but for a short time, being soon afterwards killed in 
a battle against his vassabs, immediately after the death 
of his father. 



110 



LOUIS THE CHILD— END 



OF THE CARLO VINGIANS. 



about to turn back. Upon this, the Ro- 
rffans hooted and insulted the Germans so 
grossly, that, without awaiting the word of 
command, they turned back, advanced, and 
storming the gates, filled the ditches, mount- 
ed the walls, and carried the city. The 
Roman people were obliged to swear fidelity 
to him. But they knew not how to observe 
the oath they took ; and as they had not 
been able to overcome the powerful Ger- 
mans by open force, they had recourse to 
poison ; thence Arnulf was, most probably, 
secretly drugged by them, for he returned 
ill to Germany, and died, after a long sick- 
ness, in the year 899, much too early for 
his kingdom, and mourned by all Germans ; 
for he was yet young, and Germany never 
more than at that moment required his 
powerful arm. 

A new savage tribe, in ferocity equal to 
the ancient Hunns, had now fixed them- 
selves in Hungary, and extended their in- 
cursions to Germany. They were properly 
called Madschari or Magyars, and be- 
longed to the Calmuc race of the Asiatic 
wanderers, but they were called Hunns, 
(also Hungarians, after the country they 
henceforward occupied,) because it was 
then customary to call all those tribes 
Hunns who were savage and terrible to 
behold, and who came from the east. They 
also, like the former Hunns, lived always 
on horseback, and suddenly appeared 
where they were not awaited. They un- 
expectedly attacked, and as suddenly fled, 
and in flying they always shot their arrows 
backward, and turned quickly round when 
all was considered safe. They shot their 
arrows from bows, formed of bone, with so 
much force and precision, that it was scarce- 
ly possible to avoid them ; but they were 
ignorant of the art of fighting at close 
quarters, or of besieging cities. They 
were small in stature, ugly in countenance, 
with deep-sunken eyes, of barbaric man- 
ners, and with a coarse and discordant lan- 
guage ; so that an ancient writer who 
lived at that period, says : " We must be 
astonished that Divine Providence should 
have given so delightful a country to be in- 
habited — not by such men, but by such 
monsters in human shape !" 

These terrific enemies desolated in an 
unheard-of manner the German countries, 
during the period when Arnulf's son, Louis 
the Child, who was still a minor, was called 
King of Germany, from the year 899-911. 



These were probably the most miserable 
years that Germany had ever witnessed. 
With almost every year these Hungarians 
suddenly precipitated themselves in masses 
upon one or other of the provinces, deso- 
lated it with fire and sword, and drove 
thousands of the inhabitants back with 
them as slaves, while the Germans, valiant 
as they were, knew not the mode of con- 
ducting such a war, and could not defend 
themselves ; besides which, they possessed 
as yet no walled towns wherein they might 
have sheltered their wives and children. 
Bavaria was first attacked by them, and 
made a prey to their devastations, and all 
the court and nobles cut to pieces. The 
following years the same happened to Sax- 
ony and Thuringia, and the two conclud- 
ing years Franconia and Swabia were in 
turn devastated. The words of Solomon 
may be applied to these horrors of Ger- 
many : " Wo to the country whose king is 
a child." But, fortunately for the salvation 
of his own and other countries, this child 
now died early in the year 911. 

After the race of the Carlovingians, which 
had commenced with so much lustre, be- 
came extinct in Germany, it still existed a 
short time longer, although but weak, and 
without any power or authority in France ; 
it soon, however, disappeared there also — 
like a torrent which at first springs forth 
majestically, and dashes down all before 
it, but at last dividing itself into various 
isolated arms, its power becomes reduced, 
and gradually absorbed by the sand. 

Meanwhile in Germany much had be- 
come changed that proved of great im- 
portance to futurity. Charles the Great, 
as we have seen, made the royal power su- 
perior to all other ; he did away with the 
great dukes' reigning over entire provinces, 
and substituted royal officials, with smaller 
circuits of government ; and had his suc- 
cessors followed his example in this, the 
system might have been established in Ger- 
many, as it was in France and other coun- 
tries — namely, that but one lord should 
rule with unlimited power throughout the 
whole empire, and no prince besides. But 
fate ordered it otherwise, and caused many 
rulers to spring up among us, which has 
given an impulse to the development and 
cultivation of the German mind, and has 
been only then not dangerous to the coun- 
try with respect to its exterior relations, 
when all who called themselves Germans 



GERMANY. 



Ill 



held together in love and unity, and in 
that disposition constituted a firm and solid 
German empire. 

The foundation of this polygarchy, or 
division of dominions, may be traced chiefly 
to the times subsequent to the treaty of Ver- 
dun. On almost all sides formidable ene- 
mies threatened the frontiers : the Hunga- 
rians, the Slavonians, the Venedians. and 
the Normans. The kings themselves were 
unfortunately too weak, and unable, like 
Charlemagne, to fly with assistance from 
one end of the realm to the other. They 
were therefore obliged to permit and au- 
thorize the German tribes, for the defence 
of the frontiers, to choose powerful chiefs 
raised among themselves, who continued to 
remain at the head of their troops, and led 
them against the enemy. The efforts made 
to establish a fresh foundation for the ducal 
power, become more and more visible in 
the last moiety of the ninth century, and 
very soon we find the royal Missi or Mar- 
graves, together with other proprietors of 
land, and influential men, raising them- 
selves to the ducal dignity. 

It lies in the nature of things, that the 
development of these relations could not 
be everywhere the same. We find often 
the governor of a province still called in 
the old records Graf, (Comes,) because he 
already possessed more of the ducal power 
than in another province was commanded 
by him who was ordinarily styled Dux. 
All research made into this subject is ex- 
tremely difficult, and opinions thereupon 
are even yet not united. Thus much is 
certain, that if we consider and acknow- 
ledge in general those governors as owners 
of the ducal power, who possessed an over- 
balancing influence in their provinces, and 
who represented the king himself in war, 
and in the highest courts of jurisdiction, 
we find that, at the end of the ninth and 
commencement of the tenth century, they 
again appear, and gradually become dukes 
of Saxony, Thuringia, Franconia, Bavaria, 
Swabia, and Lorraine. 

In Saxony, the Ludolphic race, as it ap- 
pears, acquired at a very early date a 
power which we may call ducal. Eckbert, 
related to the house of Charlemagne, was 
placed by the latter at the head of all the 
Saxons between the Rhine and Vistula, as 
count and chief of the heerbann ; his son 
Ludolph held also this rank, and possessed, 
in effect, already ducal power. His son 



Bruno, and, after his death, in 880, Otho, 
the father of King Henry, must be con- 
sidered in every sense as dukes. Saxony 
became, by degrees, the most powerful and 
extensive duchy, for it embraced, at the 
time of its greatest development, the coun- 
try from the Lower Rhine to the Oder, and 
from the North Sea and the Eider to the 
Fichtel mountains and the Wetterau. 

Thuringia had, it is true, counts also, 
who at times were called herzoge, (duces 
limitis Sorabici ;) but their power, owing 
to the frequent changes occurring among 
the owners, did not completely form itself 
into a ducal power. Burchard, whom we 
find mentioned as duke, fell in 908, against 
the Hungarians ; his power was transferred 
to Otho of Saxony, who already possessed 
a province giving him the title of count, 
(Gaugrafschaft,) in the northern part of 
Thuringia. King Henry retained Thu- 
ringia united with his duchy. 

In Franconia, which besides the ancient 
Frankish land on the Lower Rhine, com- 
prised likewise Hessia and the countries of 
the Central Rhine, the title of duke could 
not otherwise appear than much later, be- 
cause the country, as long as the kings 
continued of the Frankish family, was con- 
sidered kings' land ; still the administration 
of the country was performed by two pow- 
erful counts, and two families, the Baben- 
bergerians in the eastern, and the Conra- 
dinians at Worms, in the western part, 
divided the power, until they broke out into 
a deadly dispute and fight, in which the 
former were completely defeated. Count 
Conrad, soon afterwards King Conrad I., 
became, therefore, potentissimus comes in 
Franconia, and possessed in reality ducal 
power. Widukind styles him likewise 
Duke of the Franks, although he, as well 
as his brother Eberhard, is called by others 
also comes. It cannot, however, be doubted 
but that under Henry I. Eberhard possessed 
the ducal dignity. 

In Bavaria, Luitpold, who had to defend 
the eastern frontiers against the Slavonians 
and Hungarians, is styled dux in a diploma 
of King Louis, of the year 901, and his 
son Arnulf calls himself duke in the year 
908. 

In Swabia, where the defence of the 
frontiers was not so necessary, the ducal 
dignity appears to have connected itself 
gradually with the power of the royal mis- 
sus, and to have developed itself later. 



112 



THE DUKES HEREDITARY— THE FAUST-RECHT. 



Burchard, however, under Conrad I. ap- 
pears nevertheless as Duke of Swabia. 

In Lorraine, finally, it became more easy 
to the nobles of the land by means of its 
doubtful and critical position between 
France and Germany in the later Carlovin- 
gian period, to maintain a state of greater 
independence, and we thus find upon re- 
cord already in the year 901 a Duke Kebe- 
hart, and later, under King Henry, the 
Duke Gisilbrecht. 

The dukes were not, it is true, regarded 
as lords of their people and lands, but as 
ministers and representatives of their king, 
in whose name they regulated in peace the 
affairs of justice and order, and in war led 
the army of their race to battle. But soon 
becoming large landed proprietors, and 
being no longer under the surveillance of 
royal envoys, the dukes took advantage of 
the weakness of the kings, and by degrees 
arrogated to themselves an increase of 
power, and brought the lesser vassals un- 
der their dominion ; nay, they even gra- 
dually made their dignity, granted to them 
only as imperial crown officers, hereditary 
in their families, as well as the revenues 
of the crown lands, which they had only 
received as the salary for their service. 

Like the great dukes, the inferior im- 
perial officers, the counts, margraves, and 
others, established themselves more and 
more firmly in their dignities, and the es- 
tates attached thereto. The spiritual lords, 
archbishops, bishops, and abbots, were, 
like the temporal lords, members and vas- 
sals of the empire, and like them augment- 
ed their secular power and possessions ; 
and all these became by degrees from the 
mere deputies of royal authority, inde- 
pendent princes of the German nation. 

Besides this, in some individuals, the love 
of freedom and personal independence be- 
gan already, as early as this period, to 
degenerate often into license. He who 
thought himself offended by another, and 
conceived he possessed sufficient strength 
to revenge himself, did not seek the estab- 
lishment of his rights in the usual way, 
namely, through the judges of the land, 
but with arms and the strength of the fist. 
Thence that period wherein the appeal to 
the fist was so generally adopted, was call- 
ed the period of the fausi-recht, the fist or 
club law. It commenced, already, under 
the later Carlovingians, but it was long af- 
terwards that it reached its highest extent. 



The evil became necessarily great, for 
the manners of the nation were still rude. 
Arms and the chase remained their favor- 
ite occupations, and the sword and the fal- 
con were the greatest treasures of the Ger- 
man. He could calmly see all taken from 
him, says an author, but if his sword ana 
falcon came into any danger, he would not 
hesitate to save them even with a false 
oath. The hunting fetes were superb, and 
were included among the highest festivities 
of life. Ladies, from gorgeously orna- 
mented tents, beheld the destruction of the 
game. In the evening they feasted under 
tents in the forest, and the company, with 
their suites, returned amidst the music of 
the hunting horns. For the sake of the 
chase, the kings and nobles preferred re- 
maining at their country seats, and on this 
account for a long time despised dwelling 
in cities. 

During the later period of the Carlovin- 
gians, besides the wars within and beyond 
the land, which they so much desolated, 
what was greatly to be deplored was, that 
the germs of cultivation which Charle- 
magne, in his exertions for science, had 
planted in his schools for instruction, be- 
came again almost entirely destroyed. No 
period in the whole history of Germany is 
darker, more superstitious and ignorant, 
than that of Louis the German, to the end 
of the Carlovingian dynasty, and a short 
time beyond it — despite of the Germans 
being, from time immemorial, so suscepti- 
ble of cultivation, and by their serious ap- 
plication and profound meditation so well 
adapted for the acquirement of art and 
science. An example of this is to be found 
even in that dark age. In the days of Pe- 
pin and Charlemagne the first organs were 
brought to Germany from Greece, and 
Charles took every pains to introduce the 
Latin psalmody and church music among 
his subjects, At first he had but little suc- 
cess ; at least an Italian of that time com- 
plains that their natural rudeness was their 
great obstruction : " Great in body like 
mountains," says he, "their voice rolls 
forth like thunder, and cannot be modulated 
into gentler tones ; and when their barbaric 
throats endeavor gently to produce the soft 
transitions and flexibilities of the music, the 
hard tones pour forth their volume in a rat- 
tling sound, like a coach rolling over the 
stones, so that the feelings of the hearer, 
which should be gently moved, are, on the 



NEGLECT OF THE LANGUAGE— DECREASE OF FREEMEN. 



113 



contrary, completely startled and terrified." 
Thus was pronounced originally a criticism 
upon their disposition and qualification for 
harmony. And yet by industry and exer- 
cise they advanced so far in a short time, 
that Pope John VIII., who lived about the 
year 870, besought Anthony, bishop of Frei- 
singen, to send him a good organ from Ger- 
many, and with it a person who was equally 
well able to play upon as to make it. 

In this century a pupil of Rhabanus 
Maurus, the monk Otfried of Weissenburg, 
gave a very remarkable example of his 
love for his mother-tongue, by translating 
the gospel into German verse, in order that 
the people might be enabled to read it. 
Charlemagne had, indeed, commenced to 
improve and cultivate the German lan- 
guage, but after him no one thought fur- 
ther about it. Otfried now zealously en- 
deavored to make it a written language, 
although it was very difficult to express by 
letters its hard and strange sounds. He 
strongly and justly contended against those 
who, indifferent towards their native-tongue, 
preferred learning, with excessive labor, 
and using the languages of the Latins and 
Greeks. " They call the German lan- 
guage," he says, " boorish, and yet do not 
endeavor by their writings or study to make 
it more perfect. They carefully avoid 
writing badly in Latin and Greek, and yet 
do not care for doing so in their own lan- 
guage ; they are ashamed to offend against 
good taste by even a letter in those lan- 
guages, but in their own tongue it happens 
with every word. Truly a singular fact 
this, that such great and learned men do 
all this for the honor of foreign languages, 
and yet cannot even write their own !" 

The condition of the common freemen 
was the saddest of all in these times, and 
they, consequently, decreased so much that 
they scarcely formed a distinct order in the 
nation. Much earlier, already when the 
feudal system gradually developed itself, 
and elevated the vassals above all those 
who cultivated their own inheritance, their 
numbers had decreased considerably, but 
the worst time came after Charlemagne. 

Charles knew well that the strength of a 
nation consists in the great preponderance 
of freemen, and that it is upon their cour- 
age and their animated love for their coun- 
try that must depend the general weal and 
its security from all danger; he therefore 
applied great care and vigilance to the res- 
15 



toration of the arriere ban, which had also 
by the influence of the feudal system fallen 
into disuse. In this, however, he attained 
his aim but partially, because his wars, far 
from being real national wars, for the de- 
fence of the country, were only conquering 
excursions in distant countries. These 
were very oppressive to the common man, 
who, from the day that the army stepped 
upon the land of the enemy, was obliged to 
provide himself, at his own expense, for 
three months with provisions, as well as 
with clothes and arms. Many, therefore, 
endeavored to avoid the duties of this ser- 
vile military service. They gave them- 
selves up both in body and possessions to 
the service or guardianship of the church, 
or to the patronage of a noble, either as 
arriere or under vassals, because, as such, 
they were not bound to yield so much ser- 
vice as to the king in the arriere ban, or 
even as bondmen, and as such no longer 
belonging to the class of freemen. They 
were called the Lidi (Leute, people) of the 
seigneur, and remained, it is true, the pos- 
sessors of their own inheritance, which they 
themselves cultivated, but they were sub- 
ject to pay tax, and were held in soccagey. 
and could neither quit the land nor sell it; 
but with their children and descendants 
they were bound to the soil, and were the 
property of their lord. This was severe; 
but they were at the same time exempted 
from doing any military service in distant 
expeditions ; for, as bondsmen, they were 
not considered worthy of bearing arms, but 
remained all their lives in tranquillity with 
their families. At the most they were only 
obligated, under the most urgent circum- 
stances, to repair to a short distance, within 
the immediate vicinity of their territory, 
there to fight, on foot, with stick or club ; 
the "lance and sword being forbidden to 
them. Had they rightly considered that 
men who are not allowed to bear arms,, 
also speedily lose both courage and power, 
and if they are not absolutely called slaves, 
soon adopt slavish sentiments, they would,, 
no doubt, much rather have remained poor 
and oppressed, but still freemen and war- 
riors ; but, alas ! in necessity the nearest 
and most immediate aid appears the best to 
him who suffers, and the eye loses the power 
of perceiving the distant consequences. 

Besides the oppressive service of the ar- 
riere ban, which brought many freemen 
into slavery, there were other causes which. 



114 



OTHO THE ILLUSTRIOUS— HENRY OF SAXONY — EBERHARD. 



contributed to decrease their numbers, 
among which may be classed the terrific 
incursions of the A van, the Normans, the 
Slavonians, and Hungarians, in which thou- 
sands of them were killed or carried off as 
slaves ; and later, the disorders and oppres- 
sions of the fausi-recht, or club-lav/, which 
likewise obliged many of the poor freemen 
to give themselves up to the service of some 
neighboring powerful noble, to secure them- 
selves from the robberies of those who made 
a trade of pillage. Besides, in those times 
of disorder, when laying up magazines of 
provisions was not thought of, countries 
were often visited with desolating famine 
and pestilence ; in such necessities many 
freemen, that they might not die of starva- 
tion, gave themselves up, with their chil- 
dren and property, to nobles or spiritual 
foundations for bread. And, lastly, many 
became servitors to cloisters and ecclesias- 
tical establishments ; and from piety, or for 
the salvation of their souls, they gave their 
all to the altar of God. For the church 
already, at this period, possessed and main- 
tained the privileges, by which an individ- 
ual might give to it his whole possessions, 
and thus entirely pass by the just inherit- 
•ors. Thence, from all these causes, it 
happened that, at the end of this period, 
not only the ancient pride and courage, but 
also the majority of the freemen — accord- 
ingly the independence of the Germans- 
had disappeared, and scarcely any but no- 
blemen and their feudatories remained, thus 
threatening the country with the sad pros- 
pect of decay and ruin. But whenever 
necessity has been great, God has always 
sent to the German nation unexpected aid 
and support. Accordingly, at this moment, 
it was precisely the devastation spread every- 
where by the Hungarians which laid the 
foundation for the renewed elevation of the 
common freemen to a civic state, and re- 
established later the condition of the peas- 
ant. 

After the death of Louis the Child, the 
principal German branches assembled, and 
looked about them for the most worthy 
among their princes to be their king. The 
election fell upon Otho the Illustrious. Duke 
of Saxony and Thuringia. who was related, 
on the maternal side, to the Carlovingians, 
and by the power of his house, as well as 
by age and wisdom, was held in great es- 
teem by all. On the paternal side, he de- 
scended from Count Eckbert, whom Charle- 



magne had placed in Saxony against the 
Normans, in 810. Otho, however, refused 
the crown, because the cares of the empire 
were too great for his age, and advised 
rather that Conrad, the Duke of the Franks, 
(according to some writers, he was onlv a 
; count,) be made king. For this act, Otho 
'merits the greater praise, as Conrad was 
: truly worthy to rule as king, and the race 
of the Franks still continued the most es- 
j teemed among the German nations ; for 
' hitherto it was from that race that the king 
had commanded over the whole of Ger- 
I many. Otho, therefore, wisely considered 
I it better that the rule of the empire should 
I remain with them, and, in so doing, entirely 
I dismissed from his mind the enmity which 
! always had, and still partially existed be- 
tween the Saxons and the Franks. 

Conrad was accordingly elected king on 
the 8lh of November, 911, at Pforzheim. 
He is described as being a man of great 
merit, both at home and abroad ; valiant 
and prudent, kind and liberal. His first 
care was to elevate, from its sunken state, 
| the royal authority, for upon it depended the 
I order of the whole empire. But the confu- 
sion was too great, and Conrad's reign too 
I short, to render his efforts completely suc- 
j cessful. The Lothringians, or Lorrainers, 
I who only, since the time of Louis the Ger- 
j man, had belonged to Germany, were not 
contented with his election, and separated 
themselves, nor could Conrad bring them 
back again to the empire. After the death 
of Otho the Illustrious, he had to contend 
with his son, Henry of Saxony ; for, mis- 
I guided by the advice of Hatto, Archbishop 
I of Mentz, he wished to deprive Henry of 
some great fiefs which he owned, besides 
his dukedom of Saxony, in order that no 
| prince of the empire should be too powerful ; 
! probably these were the northern districts 
of Thuringia, which Otho had already pos- 
I sessed ; but Henry was valiantly defended 
i by his Saxons. He completely defeated 
the king's brother, Eberhard, who had ad- 
vanced against him with an army, near 
Eresburg, (now Stadberg,) so that he retain- 
| ed the fiefs in the subsequent treaty, which 
terminated the war ; nay, he even appears 
to have conquered also the southern portion 
of Thuringia, and to have maintained the 
ducal dignity over the whole of Thuringia. 

Conrad confirmed Count Burkhard in 
Swabia, after some contest, as Duke of the 
Allemanni. Arnulf of Bavaria, however, 



CONRAD'S DEATH — HENRY I. 



115 



who also revolted, and so far forgot himself 
as to call in the Hungarians to his assistance, 
was condemned to death by the princes of 
the empire as a traitor to the country, and 
was obliged to take refuge among the Hun- 
garians. 

Thus, by energetic measures and timely 
concessions, the general tranquillity and im- 
perial dignity were re-established, and the 
unity of Germany maintained. But Con- 
rad well felt how difficult the task was for 
him, and that the power of the Frankish 
dukes alone was not sufficient to curb the 
over-powerful nobles. It also required 
greater strength to protect the empire 
against the Slavonians and Hungarians, 
who still repeated, without ceasing, their 
incursions. At the same time, perhaps, he 
did not perceive in his brother, Eberhard, 
who pretended to possess the greatest claim 
to the crown, the proper qualities of a king ; 
while, on the other hand, his earlier and 
now conciliated opponent, Henry of Saxony, 
was, in all respects, irreproachable, endow- 
ed with great energy of mind and body, and, 
by his power and influence, ranked at the 
head of all the German princes. When, 
therefore, Conrad lay sick of a wound at 
Limburg, on the Lahn, which he had re- 
ceived in his last expedition against the 



Hungarians, and felt death approaching, 
he thought of the example which Otho 
the Illustrious had given at his election, 
and forgetting all jealousy, and with his 
thoughts directed only for the weal of his 
country, he called his brother, Eberhard, 
to his bedside, and thus addressed him; 
" We command, it is true, great means, my 
dear Eberhard ; we can collect great ar- 
mies, and know how to lead them. We are 
not wanting in fortified cities and defences, 
nor in any of the attributes of royal dignity. 
Yet greater power, influence, and wisdom, 
dwell with Henry, and upon him alone de- 
pends the welfare of the empire. Take, 
therefore, these jewels, this lance and 
sword, together with the chain and crown 
of the ancient kings, and carry them to 
Henry the Saxon. Be at peace with him, 
that you may have him for your constant 
strong ally. Announce to him that Con- 
rad, on his death-bed, has chosen and re* 
commended him as king, in preference to 
all the other princes." He died in Decem- 
ber, 913. 

Eberhard did what his brother had com- 
manded, and was the first who did fealty to 
King Henry. A kingdom wherein such 
sentiments were found, might truly and 
without danger remain electoral. 



FOURTH PERIOD. 

FEOJI HENRY I. TO EUDOLPHUS OF HAPSBUEG. 



919—1273. 

The tenth century is by no means rich in historical ! proportionate merit here and there. She treats upon 
works : the later years ratiier fugitively. 

1. The chronicle of Regino. already mentioned in the 4. Widukind, usually called Wittekind, a monk of 
preceding epoch, was continued by another writer as | Corvey, who died about the year 1000, wrote a history 
far as the year 967, abridged, but mostly careful and ; of the Faxons, (Rerum Saxinocaram, libri iii.,) as far 
exact, and altogether well written. j as 973. As the first liistorian of his time, he presents 

2. Luitprand of Pavia, private secretary to King Be- I his record of the events in a form equally agreeable 
ranger II. of Italy, afterwards in the service of King I and happy, devoted to the house of Saxony, but still 
Otho L, and finally bishop of Cremona, wrote the his- I with a desire after truth; and the second part of his 
tory of his time not without spirit, and, especially m his ! work is of invaluable mprit. The first portion is, in 
history of Italy, very instructive, although partial and ' part, based upon the legends and traditions of the peo- 
enthusiastic. His style is far-fetched and bombastic, i pie. 

showing much of the courtier, and a great love for an- j 5. Among the chronicles on the history of Germany, 
ecdote and illustration in his narrative. This history especiallv the relations of the Lotharingians, Flodoaid 
goes from c. 886-948, and a supplement from 961 -914. j of Rheims is particularly important, who wrote a histo- 
lle wrote also, in another distinct work, an account of j ry from 919 to 966. 

his embassy to the court of the emperor Nicephorus. * 6. Richer, a monk of St. Remy, near Rheims, studi- 

3. Horoswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, wrote a poem, j ed medicine, and was a pupil of the celebrated Ges- 
" De Gestis Ottonuni Panegyris," from 919-964 ; astlie ] bert; and encouraged by his master to write history, 
title indicates, a poem in praise of Otlio the Great, ac- he composed, in the years 995 to 998, his " Historiarum, 
cordingiy not always faithful to truth, and, of course, | libros iv.," from 888-995, which he dedicated to Ges- 
partial or one-sided ; nevertheless, not without some j bert. His liistory is, for France, partial, and he often 



116 



HENRY I. — RUDOLPHUS 



OF HAPSBURG, 919-1273. 



adapts the events to the advantage of that country. 
Nevertheless, amidst the dearth of historical source m 
his time, he is certainly of great value. His narrative 
is based upon a close study of the ancients. The mid- 
dle ages being only taken up by Ekkehard, Richer was 
quite lost sight of, until Pertz discovered in Bamberg 
the only autographic document still existing by him, 
which has been published in the " Monumenta." 

7. Detached and extremely interesting communica- 
tions are given to us in the biographies of Bruno, arch- 
bishop of Cologne, the brother of Otho I. ; of Udalrich, 
bishop of Augsburg ; and other ecclesiastics of that 
time. 

In the eleventh century, we find more important and 
a greater number of historians, who, in their descrip- 
tions, distinguish themselves especially : 

1. The Life of Queen Matilda, written by command 
of king Henry II., by an unknown author, between the 
years 1002 and 1014 ; agreeably written, and not unim- 
portant as regards the history of Henry I. 

2. Ditmar, or Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg, who 
died in 1018, wrote a history of the German kings from 
876-1018. His narrative is confused, his language ob- 
scure, being neither pure nor agreeable, and his de- 
scription in the first books not impartial. Nevertheless, 
he is of great importance to us, rich in information of 
the most varied nature, and forms our principal source 
for the history of Otho III. and Henry II. He was a 
friend and relation of the Saxon emperors. 

3. Besides the last-mentioned writer, we find the best 
detailed and correct information respecting the end of 
the tenth and commencement of the eleventh century 
in the " Annales Quedlinburgensis," to 1025. 

4. The Life of Henry II. by Adelbold, bishop of 
Utrecht, is incomplete, and nearly all borrowed from 
Ditmar, but well written. The Vitse" of both the 
bishops of Hildesheim, Bern ward and Godehard, are, 
as regards the history of Saxony, of great consequence ; 
the Meinwercs of Paderborn merit being mentioned 
likewise. 

5. Wippo, chaplain to the emperor Conrad II., whose 
life he has written in a pompous style, " Vita Conradi 
Saliei." He was a man of science and letters, and of 
a remarkable mind. 

6. Hermannus Contractus, (the lame,) of the family 
of the counts of Vehringen, and a Benedictine monk of 
Reichenau, who died in 1054. He wrote a chronicle 
from 1000-1054, continued to 1100 by Berthold and Ber- 
nold, of Constance. 

7. Adam of Bremen, (born at Meissen, and canon 
and rector of the college of Bremen,) who died in 1076. 
He wrote a good ecclesiastical history of the North, 
from the middle of the eighth century to 1076 ; impor- 
tant for the history of North Germany, especially of the 
time of Henry IV. 

8. Bruno of Corvey, (de Belle Saxonico,) a passionate 
adversary of Henry IV., and who exaggerates and dis- 
figures much ; yet he is important and indispensable 
for the history of the war. 

9. Lambert of Aschaftenburg, a monk of Hersfeld, 
wrote a chronicle from the earlier times to 1077. A 
work of great genius, full of spirit, well written, and an 
important source for the period in which he lived ; he 
is especially the best historian of the middle ages. 

10. Marianus Scotus, who died in 1086 ; a monk of 
Fulda and Mentz, who wrote a chronicle to 1083, which 
was continued by Dodechin to 1200. 

11. Sigbert, a monk of Gemblours, (Sigeb. Gembla- 
censis,) who died in 1112, wrote a chronicle ; learned, 
written with great industry, and rich in information, 
but which is nevertheless confused and not altogether 
authentic. His work has been continued by several 
writers, and in the subsequent middle ages much re- 
sorted to. 

12. Ekkehardus Uraugiensis wrote a chronicle to 
1126, likewise very learned, carefully written, of great 
value in the particular history of his own times, and 
more impartial than most of the historians of that pe- 
riod, who all wrote for or against the emperors and 
popes. There are several continuations of this work, of 
which the most known is that by the abbot of Ursperg 
(Chron. Ursperg) to 1229. 

13. The letters of the popes and other distinguished 
men, collected by an ecclesiastic, Ulrich of Bamberg, 
in the twelfth century, are extremely valuable. 

14. It is likewise very interesting, in order to catch 
the spirit of those times when the dispute between 



Henry and Gregory excited the pens of various distin- 
guished men to write in defence of both those parties, 
to know the various controversial productions which 
appeared on this subject, with the different opinions 
therein contained. The partisans of the pope had their 
central point in the monasteries of £t. Blaise, Schaff- 
hausen, and Hirschau ; while, however, many learned 
and estimable men, of irreproachable character, wrote 
against the pope and in favor of the emperor. We can- 
not here give the names of these opposite writers, but 
their character will be found fully drawn in Stenzel's 
excellent work on the history of Germany under the 
Frankish emperors.* 

15. The Biography of Benno, bishop of Osnaburg, a 
friend of Henry IV. by Norbert, abbot of the Convent 
of Iburg, which was built by Benno, contains impor- 
tant information. 

16. The historians of the Crusades are more especial- 
ly numerous , the importance of the subject, the uni- 
versal interest taken therein, the peculiar nature of the 
expedition in a foreign country and at such a distance, 
together with the surprising and wonderful deeds per- 
formed, excited many, and particularly those who were 
present, to give their records of the scenes witnessed, 
for the perusal of those left behind at the time, and 
their successors. The majority of the chronicles have 
been collected by Bongars, under the title : " Gesta 
Dei per Francos, Hanoviee, 1611, fol." 

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the impetus 
given by the Crusades produced its influence, and op- 
erated beneficially upon the historians. They became 
more particular in the selection and arrangement of 
the subject-matter, thus showing a commencement in 
the art of historical writing. Among the most distin- 
guished writers are : 

1. Otho, bishop of Freisingen, who died in 1158, son 
of the Margrave Leopold of Austria, a philosopher, of 
independent feeling, and full of eloquence. He wrote 
a universal history to the year 1J52, well continued as 
far as 1209, by Otho of Saihte Blaise ; and the life of the 
emperor Frederic I. to 1156, which was continued as far 
as 1160 by Radewich, canon of Freisingen ; both works 
equally interesting and learned, and written with in- 
telligence and discernment. 

2. The History of Frederic I. receives important elu- 
cidations from the Chronicles of Vincenz of Prague, 
1140-1167 ; the History of Lodi, 1153-1178, by Otho and 
Acerbus Morena; the History of Romuald, archbishop 
of Salerno, to 1168 ; the Poem of Giinther: Ligurinus 
and the book of the so-called Sire Raul of Milan : " de 
Rebus gestis Frederici in Italia." 

3. The Chronicle of the Slavi, by Helmold, an eccle- 
siastic of Lubeck, to 1170, and by Arnold to 1209 ; im- 
portant for the history of Henry the Lion and the house 
of the Guelphs. 

4. Valuable information is given upon the same sub- 
ject by Gerhard, provost of Stederbuch, in his Chroni- 
cles of the Monastery, and by the Monk of Weingar- 
ten in his book " de Guelfis." and his Chronicles. 

5. The so-called " Annalista Saxo" and " Chrona- 
graphus Saxo," mostly compilations, but the former for 
the eleventh and the latter for the twelfth centuries, in 
the detail, are both very interesting. 

Nearly all the bishoprics, churches, and monasteries 
of Germany, now received their appointed historians, 
who we find touch more or less upon general matters, 
and are often more important than the universal chron- 
icles selected for general circulation. Such are for in- 
stance : 

6. Albert von Stade, whose chronicle goes as far as 
1256, and is continued by a stranger to 1324— also a com- 
pilation. 

7. Gotfried von Viterbo to 1186 ; the monk Alberieh, 
Joh. Vitoduranus, &c. 

8. A collection of letters by celebrated men of that 
period is very important, especially those of Pope Inno- 
cent III. and Petrus de Vinea, chancellor of the empe- 
ror Frederic II., and who died in 1249. 

9. The most complete collection of letters to and from 
the popes, of the transactions of their ambassadors and 
other similar documents, has been preserved in the ar- 
chives of the Vatican in Rome, which, as may be easi- 
ly conceived, are of the highest importance for the his- 
tory of this period, but it is extremely difficult to gain 

* Geschichte Deutschlands unter den Friinkischen Kaisers 
1827-1828. 



HENRY I.— PRODUCES INTERNAL TRANQUILLITY. 



117 



access to them. A great part of them, however, has 
been transcribed in Rome by Pertz, and already the 
commencement of their publication has been made in 
the fourth volume of the " Monumenta Germanise 
Historica." 

10. A work of very great importance for the history 
of the emperor Frederic II., is the History of England, 
by Matthieu-Paris, who, together with the events of 
the English nation from 1066-1259, treats also occasion- 
ally upon the affairs of the other nations of Europe. So 
likewise various Italian historians, of whom we need 
only here refer especially to Richard de Saint Germane 
and Nicolas de Jamsilla, (both in the Collection of Mu- 
ratori.) 

1 1. All the great writers who form the source of his- 
tory have been brought together in the great Col- 
lections of Duchesne, Bouquet, (for France,) Muratori, 
(for Italy,) Schard, Reuber, Urstisius, Pistorius, Fre- 
her, Goldast, Schilter, Meibom, Leibnitz, Ekkard, &c, 
(for Germ any.. % 

12. Equally important as were for the history of the 
preceding epoch the collection of the ancient laws of 
the Franks and the nations subjected to them, are like- 
wise, for the history of the middle ages, (although 
much abridged,) the collections of the later laws, known 
under the names of the Sachsenspiegel, or Mirror of 
Saxony, the Schwabenspiegel, or Mirror of Swabia, 
and Kaiserrecht, or the Imperial Law. 



CHAPTER VII. 



919—1024. 



Henry I., 919-936— His Wars— The Hungarians— The 
Slavonians— New Institutions— Otho I., 936-973— The 
Hungarians— Battle of the Lechfeld — The Western 
Empire renewed 962— Greece— Otho II., 973-983— 
Italy— Otho III., 983— 1003— His Religious Devotion— 
His partiality for Roman and Grecian Manners and 
Customs— Henry II., 1003-1024— Italy— Pavia— Bam- 
berg— His Death, 1024— End of the Saxon Dynasty. 

The accounts we possess respecting the 
election of Henry vary much, and are here 
and there very erroneous. If we follow — 
as is but just — the statements of the most 
ancient writers, Widukind and Ditmar, we 
shall find that the princes and elders of the 
Franks, yielding to the counsel of Conrad 
their king, given on his death-bed, assem- 
bled together at the summons of their duke, 
Eberhard, at Fritzlar, in the beginning of 
the year 919, and there, in the presence of 
the two nations, the Franks and the Saxons, 
elected Henry for their sovereign. The 
whole assembly with uplifted hands pro- 
claimed and saluted with loud shouts their 
chosen king. Thus the choice was more 
properly made by the nobles of Franconia, 
while the Saxons naturally accepted the 
election made of their own duke. As yet, 
however, it could not be known what meas- 
ures might be adopted by the other nations, 
and we shall soon learn in what way Hen- 
ry speedily brought the Swabians and Bava- 
rians to acknowledge his sovereignty. 

Subsequent authorities relate that the en- 
voys dispatched to offer the crown to Henry, 



met him on his estates of the Hartz Moun- 
tains, among his falcons, occupied in catch- 
ing birds, whence he derived the by-name 
of the Fowler. It is possible that this 
tradition may have been preserved among 
the people, still the aforesaid earlier writers 
make no mention of it, while it is only in 
the middle of the eleventh century that we 
for the first time meet in the chronicles and 
other historical works, with this by-name 
Henricus auceps. 

Henry's reign began, it is true, with some 
internal agitations, but these were soon 
quelled, for the anxious wish both of Otho 
the Illustrious and King Conrad became 
now fulfilled, and the Franks and the Sax- 
ons lived accordingly in harmony together. 
Duke Burkhard of Swabia, and Duke Ar- 
nulf of Bavaria, who had returned from 
the Hungarians, refused him homage ; 
but he speedily brought them by the power 
of his arms and the gentler force of peace- 
ful and friendly persuasion, back to their 
duty. Thus, from the year 921, the whole 
of Germany obeyed Henry, and no internal 
war disturbed the peace of his empire, al- 
though it was only after several battles that 
he conquered Lorraine, which had still 
wavered between France and Germany. 
Soon afterwards he strengthened his union 
with that country by giving his daughter 
Gerberga in marriage to its duke, Giselbert, 
and during seven centuries that beautiful 
land remained united with Germany. 

Henry could now occupy himself with 
his foreign enemies, the Slavonians and 
Hungarians. The latter thought they could 
still continue their old system of destruction 
in the German countries, but they now 
found an opponent who arrested their prog- 
ress. At first, indeed, Henry was obliged 
to yield to their furious attacks, (in 924,) and 
they advanced into the very heart of Sax- 
ony. He was, however, fortunate enough, 
in a sally he made from the fortified Castle 
of Werle, or Werlaon,* to capture one of 
their most distinguished princes ; for his 
ransom and Henry's promise of a tribute 
the Hungarians concluded a truce for nine 
years, and engaged during that time not to 
attack Germany. They probably purposed 
after that to make doubly good the lost 

* The position of Werle (called by Widukind, Wer- 
laon) has been variously discussed ; endeavors having 
been made to trace it in Westphalia, Brunswick, Hil- 
desheim, and other districts ; but most probably it was 
in the palatinate of the same name, near Goslar, as 
appears in the " Mirror of the Saxons." 



118 



THE HUNGARIANS 



AND SLAVONIANS. 



time, but Henry profited so well by those 
nine years that when they did return they 
found a very different country to contend 
with. 

He now commenced suppressing with 
much severity and justice internal turbu- 
lence and depredation, so that the greater 
zeal might be excited against foreign ene- 
mies. For under the reign of the last 
Carlovingians, as we have already seen, the 
spirit for war and rapine was cherish- 
ed everywhere, even among the nobles. 
Henry pursued and punished these robbers 
wherever they were taken ; but he pardoned 
those in whom he found the better spirit to 
exist, and gave them arms and land on the 
eastern frontiers of the empire, in order 
that they might thus have a fair opportunity 
for the exercise of their passion for war 
against his enemies. Merseburg, which 
served as one of the quarters for such a 
troop, thus became a sort of bulwark or 
protecting wall against the Slavonians, un- 
til Henry himself advanced farther into the 
country of that nation. 

He then exercised his German soldiers, 
who until then only knew how to contend 
on foot, in the art of fighting on horseback, 
so that they might be better enabled to re- 
sist the hordes of mounted Hungarians ; 
and as the Germans were always willing to 
learn, and were likewise skilful in the ac- 
quirement of the art of arms generally, 
they were speedily made perfect in the cav- 
alry evolutions. He practised them to 
attack in close ranks ; to await the first ar- 
row of the enemy, and to receive it on the 
shield, and then suddenly to dash upon 
them before they had time to discharge the 
second. Combined with this reform in the 
cavalry exercise, he likewise introduced a 
more strict discipline ; the eldest brother in 
every family, as it appears, was forced to 
do duty as a horse soldier, and all capable 
of bearing arms were obliged at the gen- 
eral summons (according to the ancient 
law, which he renewed) to join the ranks. 

Finally, as he well saw that the enemy 
could still do much mischief, even if they 
were put to flight — for, like a flash of light- 
ning, they appeared now here, now there, 
pillaging and murdering, and then vanished 
before they could be overtaken — he in this 
interval converted, with great industry, a 
number of unemployed buildings into forti- 
fied castles, placed at certain distances from 
each other, so that the inhabitants of the 



surrounding country, upon the first intelli- 
gence of the enemy's approach, might take 
refuge there with their property. The 
Hungarians knew nothing of besieging 
cities, and if they made but little booty in 
their incursions they did not very soon ap- 
pear again. Henry's hereditary lands — 
as in fact generally the north of Germany — 
were very poor in those larger settlements 
which might be compared with towns ; in 
those parts the custom of living in isolated 
localities was preserved later than else- 
where. Accordingly, as Widukind relates, 
all were busily occupied, day and night, 
with the construction of these burghs, and 
every one, without distinction of rank or 
other claims to independence, was forced to 
join in this grand work. Henry built these 
fortified castles and cities chiefly in his 
hereditary lands, Saxony and Thuringia, 
and among others Goslar, Duderstadt, Nord- 
hausen, Quedlinburg, Merseburg, and Meis- 
sen are named. But that he might also have 
inhabitants and garrisons in these places, 
he ordered that of all the men who were 
bound to do service in war, every ninth 
man should dwell in the city, and these 
were obliged to occupy themselves with 
the building of houses, which might serve 
as places of refuge, upon the attacks of the 
enemy, and the others were bound to supply 
them yearly with the third portion of their 
produce, in order that they might have 
wherewith to live, and preserve the rest 
for all in time of danger. 

When Henry had passed some years in 
making these preparations he resolved to ex- 
ercise his warriors, by subduing the neighbors 
of the Germans in the east and north, who, 
although not so dangerous as the Hungari- 
ans, were still not less disposed to be hostile. 

He attacked and beat the Slavonians (the 
Hevellers on the Havel) in the Marches of 
Brandenburg, and conquered their city 
Brennaburg, (Brandenburg.) which he be- 
sieged in the most severe winter, so severe 
that his army encamped on the ice of the 
river Havel. He then subjected the Dale- 
minziens or Dalmatians, who inhabited the 
banks of the Elbe, from Meissen to Bohe- 
mia. He also undertook an expedition 
against the Bohemians, besieged Duke 
Wenzeslaus in Prague, the capital, and 
forced him to yield obedience. From this 
time the kings of Germany have continued 
to demand fealty from the dukes of Bohemia. 

These events took place in all probability* 



THE MARGRAVIATES— THE HUNGARIANS— BATTLE OF MERSEBURG. 110 



in the years 928 and 929. But in this lat- 
ter rear a Slavonic race, the Redarians, 
encouraged no doubt by the absence of the 
king when on his Bohemian expedition, 
united with their neighboring tribes, and 
suddenly revolted, and it was necessary to 
summon together all the Saxons, in one 
entire mass, to advance against them. The 
king's generals laid siege to the town of 
Lukini, (Lenzen.) near the Elbe. A great 
army of the Slavonians advanced to its 
relief, and a grand battle was fought, in 
which thev were completely annihilated. 
Widukind" states their loss "at 200,000 ; 
even if this number is exaggerated, it is 
quite certain that this victory of the Saxons 
produced the lasting subjection of the Sla- 
vonians. 

No doubt it was in order to guaranty 
these new conquests against the Slavonians, 
that Henry extended the already existing 
defences on the Slavonian frontiers, and 
thence were formed gradually the Margra- 
viate of Nordsachsen. (the present Altmark.) 
and the Margraviate Meissen, on the Elbe, 
where he founded the same-named city and 
fortification. Credit may not be given to 
him, it is true, for the complete establish- 
ment of both these margraviates, because 
that occurs in the time of the Ottonians : 
nevertheless they owe to him their founda- j 
tion. Neither Is it proved that in order to 
promulgate Christianity among the Slavo- 
nians, he had already founded bishoprics, 
the turbulence of the times may have pre- 
vented him during the rest of his reign 
from doing so ; but his son Otho completed 
afterwards what his father projected, by I 
introducing ecclesiastical institutions there. 

Meantime the nine years' truce with the | 
Hungarians having expired, they sent an 
embassy to Germany to demand the ancient 
tribute which that country had disgracefully 
been obliged to pay them. But Henry, to 
show them the contempt in which the Ger- 
mans now held them, delivered to the am- 
bassadors this time, in the form of a tri- 
bute, a mangy dog, deprived of its tail and 
ears, that being a very ancient symbol of 
the most utter contempt. At this the Hun- 
garians were roused to fury, and prepared 
themselves to take bitter revenge for it ; but 
King Henry now addressed his people thus : 
" You know from what dangers our 
formerly-desolated kingdom is now free, for 
it was torn to pieces by internal dissensions, 
and external wars. But now, by the pro- 



tection of God, by our efforts, and by your 
valor, one enemy, the Slavonians, being 
brought to subjection, nothing remains for 
us but to raise ourselves just as unitedly, 
and in one mass against the common enemy, 
the savage Avari, (thus he styled the Hun- 
garians.) Hitherto we have been obliged 
to give up all our possessions to enrich them, 
and now to satisfy them further we must 
plunder our churches, for we have nothing 
else to give them. Choose now yourselves ; 
will you admit that I shall take away what 
is appointed for the service of God to pur- 
chase our peace from the enemies of that 
God, or will you, as it beseems Germans, 
firmly confide that He will save us, who in 
truth is our Lord and Saviour V On this 
the people raised their hands and voices to 
heaven, and swore to fight. 

The Hungarians now advanced in two 
strong divisions. The first attacked Thu- 
ringia and devastated the country, to the 
Weser districts, .as far as it was not de- 
fended by its fortified towns. But an army, 
formed of the Saxons and Thuringians, at- 
tacked this division, defeated it, destroyed 
its leaders, and pursuing it through the 
whole of Thuringia, annihilated it com- 
pletely. 

The other division of the Hungarians 
which had remained stationary in the east- 
ern districts, received the tidings of the 
overthrow of their brethren at the moment 
they were laying siege to the seat of 
Henry's sister, married to Wido of Thu- 
ringia. What place this was, we have 
unfortunately not been able to learn. Some 
have thought it to be Merseburg, which 
Liutprand names as the enemy's place of 
encampment; others again pronounce it to 
be Wittenberg. The king, as Widukind 
relates, encamped near Riade, the situa- 
tion of which it is equally impossible to 
determine. Still it is extremely probable 
that the battle took place in the vicinity of 
the Saale. not far from Merseburg, in the 
Hassgau. 

The enemy abandoned their camp, and 
according to their custom, lighted large 
fires as a signal to all the rest of their 
troops, dispersed around in plundering, to 
collect together. The following morning 
Henry advanced with his army, and ex- 
horted his troops in the most glowing lan- 
guage on that day to take ample revenge 
for the wrongs of their country and their 
relations and friends slain, or carried off 



120 THE HUNGARIANS DEFEATED— THE DANES— THEIR SUBJECTION. 



as slaves. Thus he marched through the 
ranks of his warriors, bearing in his hand 
the holy lance,* preceded by the banner of 
the army waving before him, which was 
consecrated as the angel's bannei', it being 
decorated with the figure of the archangel 
Michael. Thence the German warriors 
felt within them the full confidence of vic- 
tory, and awaited the signal for battle with 
impatience. The king, however, who al- 
ready perceived by the motions of the 
enemy that they would not make a stand, 
sent forward a portion of the Thuringian 
militia, or Landwehr, with a few lightly- 
armed horsemen, in order that the enemy 
might pursue these almost unarmed troops, 
and then be seduced onward to attack his 
main body. And this took place ; but 
they so speedily turned their backs upon 
viewing the well-armed ranks of the Ger- 
mans, that it scarcely became a regular 
battle. They were pursued, and the greater 
part were either hewn down or taken pris- 
oners ; the camp of the enemy, with all 
the treasures stolen, was captured, and 
what to the feelings was most of all affect- 
ing and delightful was, that the prisoners 
whom the Hungarians had already forced 
along as slaves, now saw themselves so 
providentially freed from bondage. Henry 
then fell down on his knees, together with 
his whole army, and thanked God for the 
victory gained. The tribute which he had 
hitherto been forced to pay over to the 
enemy he now devoted to the service of the 
church, as well as to charitable gifts which 
he made to the poor ; and the king himself, 
says Widukind, was henceforward called 
by his inspired warriors, " The father of 
his country," their " sovereign lord," and 
their "emperor;" while the fame of his 
great virtue and valor extended over the 
whole country. 

This action took place in the year 933, 
in the neighborhood of Merseburg, and 
was what was usually styled the Merse- 
burger engagement, or the battle of the 
Hassgau. In remembrance of the event, 
Henry, as is related by Liutprand, had a 
painting of the battle drawn in the dining 
hall of his palace in Merseburg, which re- 



* This holy lance was handed to Henry by Rudol- 
phus of Burgundy, as a present : it was furnished with 
a cross, formed of nails, with which, as was believed, 
the hands and feet of our Saviour had been fixed when 
crucified. King Henry and his successors held this 
sacred weapon in high veneration, and always used it 
on important occasions. 



presented the triumphant scene with nearly 
all the truth and animation of life itself. 

The year 934 presented to King Henry 
another opportunity by which to gain great 
glory, by an expedition against the Danes, 
who were ravaging and laying waste the 
coasts of Friesland and Saxony. He 
marched into their own country, at the 
head of his army, forced their king, Gorm, 
(usually surnamed the old,) to conclude a 
peace, established at Silesia, on the fron- 
tiers of the empire, a fortified barrier, and 
! founded there a margraviate, wherein he 
j left a colony of Saxons, He also sue- 
! ceeded in converting one of the members 
| of the royal family — probably Knud, the 
j son of Gorm, but, according to others, his 
second son, Harold — to Christianity. Thus 
\ was re-established by Henry I. the Mar- 
j graviate Schlei and Trenne, which had 
| previously served as a bulwark for the im- 
I perial frontiers, and which the Danes had 
again possessed and destroyed. This good 
prince therefore had now the happiness to 
behold, when on the eve of his glorious 
life, these enemies of the north who, during 
an entire century, had spread terror through- 
out the countries of Europe, retire before 
him, and, confining themselves within the 
limits of their own territory, acknowledge 
his power.* 

At home, in his own domestic circle, 
King Henry exercised the virtues and du- 
ties of an excellent husband and a good 
father. His queen, the pious and gentle 
Matilda, was the model of wives ; for, pos- 
sessing great influence over the king, she 
availed herself thereof, wherever it was 
possible, to obtain his grace and pardon for 
the guilty ; and his kind and noble heart 
was always sadly pained when the stern 
command of public justice forced him to 
refuse her appeals for mercy. By her he 
had five children, Otho, Gerberga, Haduin, 
and subsequently Henry and Bruno. By 
his first wife, Hathberga, (who, having 
originally been destined for a convent, was 
never looked upon as his lawful wife, and 
soon left him,) he had a son, called Tanc- 
mar, but who was not acknowledged as a 
legitimate child. 

He gave Otho, his eldest son and suc- 
cessor, in marriage to Edgetha, daughter 



* This piece of land, between Schlei and Eider, re- 
mained thenceforward united with Germany for nearly 
a century, until the emperor, Conrad II., resigned it to 
King Knud. 



DEATH OF HENRY I.— HIS NEW INSTITUTIONS. 



121 



of Edward, king of England ; and by that 
act, set the first example which the kings 
of the Saxon dynasty followed so frequent- 
ly afterwards, of seeking to unite them- 
selves with all the other royal houses of 
Europe. This forms a distinguished fea- 
ture in this noble race. 

Towards the end of his life, according 
to Widukind, after having so gloriously 
succeeded in his devoted object, of produ- 
cing for his country peace internally, and 
from all other nations respect externally, 
Henry had it in contemplation to proceed 
to Italy, in order to reunite that country 
with the empire of Germany. Whether 
or not this statement rests upon any good 
foundation, is not known ; but the execu- 
tion of this design, if really intended, 
was suddenly interrupted by sickness, he 
b?ing attacked with a fit of apoplexy while 
staying at Bothfeld, in the autumn of 

935, from which he suffered a long and 
severe illness. When he did recover suf- 
ficiently, he felt the necessity of at once 
attending to the means of securing the 
tranquillity of his empire, and he accord- 
ingly convoked an assembly of the nobles 
at Erfurt. He had long perceived in his 
eldest son Otho, all that energy and great- 
ness of mind so suitable and necessary for 
a sovereign ; but the mother was more in 
favor of Henry, the second son, because he 
was more mild than his passionate brother ; 
besides which, she held him to possess a 
greater right to the succession of the crown,, 
because he was the first-born son after his 
father had been invested with the imperial 
dignity. The will of the father, however, 
determined all the nobles to recognise Otho 
as successor. 

More easy now in his mind, Henry left 
Erfurt and proceeded to Memleben. There 
be experienced a second attack of apoplexy, 
and, after having taken an affecting, but 
resigned farewell of his amiable wife, he 
died on Sunday the 2d of July, in the year 

936, at the age of sixty, in the presence of 
his sons and different princes of the em- 
pire. His remains were buried in the 
church of St. Peter, before the altar, in 
Quedlinburg, the city he had himself 
founded. 

Henry had reigned only eighteen years, 
and yet during that time he had not only 
raised the empire from a fallen state, but 
had elevated it to the highest degree of 
power and command. He was strong and 
16 



mighty against his enemies, and towards 
his friends and subjects, kind, just, and 
mild. He is represented as having been of 
a handsome, chivalric form, skilful and 
bold as a hunter, and so adroit in all the 
exercises of the body and warlike arms, 
that he was the terror of his adversaries. 
He was extremely bland and affable in his 
manner, but still preserved so well his dig- 
nity that he kept every one within the 
bounds of respect. 

Henry may, with justice, be styled one 
of the greatest of all German princes ; for 
that which proves the greatness of a king 
is not so much the actions by which he as- 
tonishes the world, but the works he leaves 
behind him, and which bear in themselves 
the living germ of a new epoch. 

Unfortunately, the most ancient and au. 

thentic writers in reference to King Henry 

are very imperfect and unsatisfactory, so 

much so, that it is impossible to place entire 

confidence in the subsequent statements. 

Still it is already much when we find at 

least, that all the writers of the middle ages 

. . . 
agree in looking upon him as the institutor 

of chivalry and the ennobling reformer of 
the nobility, as well as being the founder of 
cities and citizenship, and, with one word, 
of all the noble institutions which became 
developed after him. This testimony proves 
that his works have had the greatest influ- 
ence, and, accordingly, that his memory, 
as it has been, should continue to be honored 
among mankind. But even if we retain 
only what is clearly proved in history, 
enough will remain to establish his claims 
to glory and honor. 

Henry became a still greater benefactor 
to Germany by founding, in the construc- 
tion of cities, new municipalities. For al- 
though the immediate object of these strong 
places was to protect the country against 
the pillaging hordes of the Hungarians, it 
was one only secondary, inasmuch as they 
were far more important as the cradle of a 
new condition of life. The order of com- 
mon freemen towards the end of the Carlo- 
vingian period was, as already stated, very 
much reduced or nearly extinct. The 
German people were upon the high road of 
becoming, like those other nations where 
there are but two classes, lords and slaves ; 
two conditions between which that pride 
and energy given by freedom are never re- 
covered. Already the country itself was 
chiefly cultivated by mere mercenaries, 



122 THE JEWS— FOUNDATION OF CI' 



TIES — PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 



and industrial employments as well as trade 
were almost entirely in the hands of the 
Jews. The nobles considered these occu- 
pations beneath their dignity ; nay, they 
were very often dependent on the Jews, who 
had accumulated immense riches, because 
in their necessity they were forced to bor- 
row money from them. As early as in the 
last period of the Roman empire the laws 
had already commenced to favor the Israel- 
ites, and by Honorius among others, they 
were entirely freed from all military ser- 
vice. Their chief dwelling-places were 
the cities on the Rhine and the Danube, 
which originated in the time of the Romans, 
(Cologne, Coblentz, Treves, Mentz, Worms, 
Spire, Strasburg, Basle, Constance, Augs- 
burg, Ratisbonne, Passau, &c.,) and in 
these cities they lived in such great num- 
bers, that they prevented all competition 
and obstructed all increase of trade and 
industry. 

But King Henry now built, as we have 
seen, a number of cities in Saxony and 
Thuringia, and placed in them inhabitants 
from the country, to serve not merely, as 
has been supposed, during the time of war, 
but as constant dwelling-places ; he also 
found means to overcome the ancient re- 
pugnance felt by the Saxons to living in 
towns. He promised to those who dwelt in 
them the security of justice ; and it is not 
improbable that each town received its own 
count, who, in time of war was the leader, 
and in peace was the immediate judge and 
president, although in gradation he may 
have ranked under the count of the gau or 
district in which the town lay. 

Afterwards he ordered, as is expressly 
stated by Widukind, that all councils, as- 
semblies, and festivals of the inhabitants of 
the neighboring districts, should be held and 
celebrated in the cities : and that all trade- 
fairs in their turn, followed and joined in 
these regulations, and that industry and 
traffic found in the cities their central point 
of union, is to be inferred as a natural and 
important result. Whatever had been for- 
merly executed in isolated dwellings, by 
the family or serfs, soon became, under the 
new order of things, worked and finished in 
quantities, and in a superior style, by the 
artisans and mechanics of the cities. And 
as the master and his men, in turns, pre- 
pared only one, to each allotted part of the 
work, wherein each was skilled and had 
been exercised from youth upward, such a 



division of labor proved, as it always must, 
the foundation of all civilization among the 
people ; and thence Henry was again the 
founder of industry, moral cultivation, and 
the development of the civil order of life. 

And with the same motives that had 
caused him to give to chivalry a nobler aim 
and a more illustrious title for the exercise 
of arms, so did Henry now seek to intro- 
duce the practice of arms for the inhabit- 
ants of the cities, so that they might be 
skilled in the defence of their walls, and 
thus become a defensive and honorable 
body of the state. By this he succeeded in 
attracting inhabitants for his fortified places, 
in such great numbers, that as these, in 
their original state, soon became too nar- 
row to hold them, the new-comers, as they 
arrived, built themselves houses around the 
fortified place, so that, another city, as it 
were, was speedily completed, which was 
subsequently surrounded with strong walls, 
likewise as a defence against the attacks of 
the enemy. 

By what, however, has just been said, it 
is not meant to convey that these institu- 
tions of King Henry had at once changed 
the whole course of existing customs and 
manners in Northern Germany, and sub- 
stituted an extensive and independent order 
of civil institutions ; on the contrary, owing 
to the ever-repugnant feelings of the Sax- 
ons against a confined life in towns, as is 
shown in subsequent times, this new order 
of things progressed but slowly. Yet he 
had laid the foundation, the commencement 
was made, he gave it an impetus, and more 
could not be demanded from him. His 
merit lies therein, that he perceived and 
acknowledged the necessary reforms re- 
quired by the march of events, and he pro- 
j moted their progress ; but it was the course 
of human development which was to com- 
bine and complete, in an extended form, 
what was merely begun by him. This 
course, however, is not measured by years, 
but by centuries, and thus we shall find, 
that it is only in the subsequent period of 
the middle ages that the result of the great 
Henry's noble designs are made manifest 
in the flourishing state of the existence of 
the cities. 

Already, before the death of Henry, the 
princes had promised him to recognise his 
son Otho as his successor to the empire ; 
and this recognition was now confirmed in 
a great assembly at Aix-la-Chapelle, where 



OTHO I. — HIS ENERGY AND BOLDNESS. 



123 



Otho was solemnly crowned. Two of the! 
great archbishops on the Rhine contended ; 
for the honor of the coronation. He of. 
Cologne claimed it from Aix-la-Chapelle 
"being in his diocese; and the other, of 
Treves, because his archbishopric was the I 
most ancient. However, it was at last con- 1 
eluded that neither of them, but that Hilde- 
bert, Archbishop of Mentz, should per- 
form the ceremony. Giselbrecht, Duke of 
Lorraine, in whose duchy Aix-la-Chapelle 
lay, was charged, as high chamberlain, 
with the office of providing for the lodging 
and entertainment of the strangers, of whom 
a vast number attended. Eberhard, Duke 
of Franconia, as high steward, supplied the 
tables and the viands ; Duke Herman of 
Swabia acted as high-seneschal, and Ar- 
nulf, Duke of Bavaria, as high-marshal, 
provided for the horses and the camp. 

When the people were assembled in the 
grand cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, the 
archbishop led the young king forward by 
the hand, and spoke thus to the multitude : 
" Behold- I here present to you the king, 
Otho, elected by God, proposed by King 
Henry, and nominated by all the princes ! 
If this choice be acceptable to you, you will 
signify it by raising your right hand to- 
wards heaven !" 

The whole multitude then held up their 
hands and hailed the new king with loud 
and joyful acclamations. The archbishop 
then stepped with him to the altar, where- 
on the imperial insignia lay — the sword 
and belt, the imperial mantle, the armlets 
and the staff, together with the sceptre and 
the crown. The sword he handed to him 
with these words : " Take this sword, des- 
tined to repulse all the enemies of Christ, 
and to confirm, with most lasting power, the 
peace of all Christians;" and he handed 
to his majesty the other articles, with a 
similar address. He then placed the crown 
upon his head and led him to the throne, 
which was erected between two marble co- 
lumns, where Otho continued to sit until 
the solemn ceremony was concluded. All 
eyes were turned with astonishment to the 
young king, whose countenance filled every 
one with veneration. His lofty, princely 
form, his broad manly chest, his large 
sparkling eyes, and beautiful flaxen hair, 
which flowed down to his shoulders in long 
locks — all seemed to announce him as be- 
ing born to rule. The days of festival and 
ceremony having ended, Otho commenced 



his new reign with vigorous power, and it 
was speedily shown that outward appear- 
ances had not deceived. 

But Otho did not gain over the hearts of 
men that same mild power which Henry 
his father had obtained. He has often been 
called a lion, from his proud and terrific 
look and manner, and because like the lion 
he cast all enemies down before him, when- 
ever and however numerous in force they 
appeared against him, whether at home or 
abroad. He was a great and powerful mon- 
arch, and was soon considered the first 
prince in Christendom. He had placed 
upon his head the imperial crown of Char- 
lemagne, and even rendered the Germanic 
empire and its name so celebrated among 
all nations, that none could venture to claim 
comparison with it. Such powerful results 
cannot be accomplished by a man of ordi- 
nary mind, and who lives only for tran- 
quillity and peace, but by him alone, to 
whom, like Otho, the fame of his nation 
stands ever before his eyes as an elevated 
glory-beaming image ; and if even the haUgh- 
tiness of his soul raised many enemies 
against him, and even if in his wrath, with 
which his manly breast was often excited, 
he acted with harshness towards his adver- 
saries, still in his noble dignity of mind, he 
may be compared with the lion, inasmuch 
as he pitied and spared many times those 
weaker enemies who besought his mercy 
and pardon. Anger and severity indeed 
never carried him beyond the limits of jus- 
tice, for with him the law ever maintained 
its influence and authority. 

Our country, which before these two 
great kings, Henry and Otho, was rapidly 
approaching its own ruin, being rent by 
internal anarchy, and surrounded exter- 
nally by enemies who, in their contempt, 
according to their caprice, laid it desolate 
wherever they could, now rose again sud- 
denly, and became as it' were a new-born 
empire. Not only were the enemies struck 
to the ground, but even new countries 
were acquired, and all other nations which 
had previously mocked, now bent low be- 
fore us. In the time of peace, when no 
danger threatens, and justice and order 
hold predominance everywhere, a nation 
may rejoice in a king who sits upon the 
throne of his fathers, intent upon continu- 
ing that state of peace ; but when the 
world is violently agitated, and personal 
freedom and independence are in danger, 



124 



HENRY OF BAVARIA— THE DANES— ITATY. 



or when a nation has become completely 
enervated by a long peace, and is thus 
rendered indifferent to honor and glory, 
then a king is required bold and proud as 
King Otho the First. His royal patriotic 
father had commenced the work, and he, 
the son, felt himself in possession of the 
power to perform its completion. 

It is true that at the commencement of 
his reign many princes rose against him, 
as for instance : the Franks under Eber- 
hard, and the Lothringians or Lorrainers 
under Giselbrecht, who still could not for- 
get that a Saxon possessed the royal dig- 
nity ; Tankmar, his step-brother, and even 
his own younger brother Henry, the moth- 
er's favorite, who considered he had a 
greater right to the crown than Otho, be- 
cause he was born when his father was 
already a king, while Otho, on the con- 
trary, was born while he was a duke. 
But the Franks and Lothringians were re- 
duced by arms to tranquillity, after the 
dukes Eberhard and Giselbrecht were both 
slain ; Tankmar was also killed in the 
contest ; and Henry, who had been allied 
with them, repaired to Frankfurt, and at 
the Christmas festival, in 942, during mass 
in the night, cast himself at the feet of his 
brother, and received full pardon, although 
he had three times risen against him, and 
had even joined in a conspiracy to take 
his life. Nay, in 945, he was presented 
by Otho with the vacant duchy of Bava- 
ria, and thenceforward they remained true 
friends until their death. 

The king now turned his attention to- 
wards his external enemies. With his 
northeastern neighbors, the Slavonians, he 
had long and sanguinary wars, but he 
made them tributary as far as the Oder, 
and in order to confirm Christianity among 
them, he erected the bishoprics of Hasel- 
berg, Brandenberg, and Meissen, and sub- 
jected them later to the archbishopric of 
Magdeburg, which he had established in 
the year 988. The dukes of Bohemia and 
Poland were obliged to acknowledge his 
authority, and by the foundation of the 
bishopric of Posen he sought to extend the 
mild doctrines of Christianity to those dis- 
tant countries. He drove back the Danes, 
who had shortly before desolated the Mar- 
graviate of Sleswig, founded by his father, 
as far as the point of Jutland ; and an arm 
of the sea on this coast derived from him 
the name of the Otho-Sound, because he 



fixed his lance there in the ground, as a 
token of his arrival. Harold caused him- 
self as well as his consort Gunelda and his 
son Sveno to be baptized, and bishoprics 
were erected in Sleswig, Ripen, and Aar- 
huus. Otho felt within himself that he 
was appointed to perform the part of a 
Christian German king, the same as 
Charles the Great ; he spread Christianity 
around with a national feeling for its cul- 
tivation, b}^ planting in the conquered 
countries German colonies. 

Meanwhile, in Italy, circumstances had 
occurred which attracted the eyes of Otho 
to that country, longing as he did to per- 
form great deeds there. Ever since the 
extinction of the Carlovingian branch nu- 
merous pretenders to its dominion had 
started up, scattering disorder and destruc- 
tion throughout that beautiful land, in ad- 
dition to which bands of plundering stran- 
gers had either taken up their quarters or 
made continual incursions throughout the 
Country. Here and there the Saracens 
were found regularly housed among the 
rocks of the seacoast, while the hordes of 
the Hungarians or Magyars frequently 
overran the rich and fertile plains of Up- 
per Italy. In the south of Italy, the do- 
minion of the Greek emperors still main- 
tained itself, and extended almost to Rome, 
and whose mercenaries, consisting of many 
nations, were a scourge to the land. 

In Upper Italy^ the native princes atone 
moment, and the kings of Burgundy in the 
next, took possession of the reins of gov- 
ernment, and to a certain extent assumed 
the imperial title. Lothaire, the last king 
of the Burgundian race, died in the year 
950, and the Margrave, Berengar of Ivrea, 
took forcible possession of the authority. 
In order to fix himself more securely in 
the government, he tried to force the young 
and beautiful widow of Lothaire, the Prin- 
cess Adelaide, to marry his son Adelbert. 
But this she steadily and firmly refused, 
and was imprisoned by the king ; but with 
the assistance of an ecclesiastic she es- 
caped, and took refuge at the court of 
Adelhard, Bishop of Reggio. This event 
gave occasion for Otho to interfere with 
his influence, in order to adjust this sad 
state of confusion in that part of Italy, and 
especially as he was appealed to by many 
nobles of that land, as also by the perse- 
cuted Adelaide herself. Accordingly in 
951 he crossed the Alps with a well-ap- 



INTERNAL REVOLTS— THE HUNGARIANS. 



125 



pointed army, besieged and took possession 
of Pavia, and as his first wife Edigatha 
had died in the year 946, he concluded by 
giving his hand to the beautiful Adelaide, 
whom he had thus so chivalrously deliv- 
ered from her base persecutor. In the 
course of the following year he became 
reconciled with Berengar at Augsburg, 
and gave him Lombardy as a fief under 
German dominion. Verona and Aquis- 
legia, however, he yielded to Henry of 
Bavaria. 

These events, however, produced shortly 
afterwards great disputes in Germany. 
Otho was affectionately attached to his 
queen, Adelaide, and his brother Henry 
of Bavaria, and they both acquired great 
influence with him. Ludolf, Otho's son 
by his former marriage, felt himself, per- 
haps not unjustly, to be neglected, and was 
afraid he would be excluded from succes- 
sion to the throne by the children his father 
might have by Adelaide. He was joined 
by Otho's son-in-law, Conrad, Duke of 
Lorraine, Frederic, Archbishop of Mentz, 
the Palatine Arnulf of Bavaria, and seve- 
ral other nobles, induced especially, as it 
would seem, by hatred to Henry of Bava- 
ria, whose deceitful character had embit- 
tered them against him. It was only with 
the greatest trouble and difficulty that 
Otho was enabled, in the course of the 
years 953 and 954, to suppress the revolt. 
Obstinate and severe battles were fought 
in Saxony, Lorraine, Franconia, and Ba- 
varia ; and it was in vain that Otho be- 
sieged his adversaries in Mentz, as well 
as afterwards in Ratisbonne. Even the 
Hungarians renewed their destructive at- 
tacks, and were supported in them by the 
revolutionary forces ; they pursued their 
incursions through Bavaria, Franconia, 
Lorraine, a part of France, and finally 
returned through Burgundy and Italy. 
But it was just these very devastations, 
committed by this arch-enemy of the em- 
pire, which at last put an end to the revo- 
lutionary war. Punished by their con- 
sciences, Conrad and the Archbishop of 
Mentz returned to their allegiance and 
humbled themselves before the king, by 
whom they were pardoned and received 
again into favor ; and although in his ob- 
stinacy Ludolf for a lime continued the 
contest, he nevertheless in the end, after 
the Palatine Arnulf had been killed before 
Ratisbonne, likewise yielded submission to 



his father, whose kindled wrath had been 
softened down by the intercession of the 
princes. Ludolf and Conrad, however, 
were not granted the restoration of their 
lost dukedoms, that of Lorraine being 
given to Otho's faithful brother Bruno, 
who had likewise been already appointed 
to the archbishopric of Cologne, whlfe 
Burchard, Henry of Bavaria's son-in-law, 
was raised to the dukedom of Swabia. 

Thus internal peace was happily re- 
stored, when in the year 955, the Hunga- 
rians in still greater force again invaded Ba- 
varia, and besieged Augsburg. Udalrich. the 
bishop of that city, defended it heroically, 
until the king advanced to its assistance 
and encamped along the river Lech. His 
army was divided into eight battalions, of 
which the first three consisted of Bavarians ; 
the fourth of the Franks under Conrad ; the 
fifth of the elite troops of warriors, selected 
from the entire army, at the head of which 
noble division Otho himself commanded ; 
the sixth and seventh were composed of the 
Swabians, and the eighth consisted of a 
[ thousand picked Bohemian horsemen in 
J charge of the military stores and baggage, 
as from this side no attack was anticipated. 
Scarcely had the Hungarians, however, 
caught a glimpse of the army, when, with 
their usual rapidity, they spread out their 
innumerable hordes of cavalry, swam across 
the Lech, and attacked the camp behind the 
army ; throwing the Bohemians and the 
Swabians into such disorder that the bag- 
gage became lost. The valiant Conrad, 
however, with his Franks, hastened to their 
assistance and restored order. The deci- 
sive battle was fixed to take place on the 
following dav, it being the dav of St. 
Lawrence. The whole army prepared it- 
self for the contest by prayer ; the king re- 
ceived the holy sacrament, and he and the 
entire army swore to remain true to each 
other unto death. Otho then raised the 
holy lance, the banner of the angel which 
had led to victory at Merseburg, waving 
also now in front ; the king himself gave 
the signal for attack, and was the first to 
fall upon the enemy. He himself, with his 
chosen troop, and Conrad, who felt anxious 
to recover by splendid deeds the good name 
he had lost in his rebellion, decided the 
battle. Thus a great and glonous victory 
was gained ; the enemy's troops completely 
defeated, and put to flight, nearly all being 
destroyed or made prisoners, and three of 



126 THE SLAVONIANS— ITALY— THE WESTERN EMPIRE RENEWED. 



their leaders hung up like chiefs of robbers. 
Their own writer, Keza, assures us that out 
of both their large armies, consisting of 
60,000 men, only seven stragglers returned 
— with their ears shorn. 

But the victory of the Germans was 
dearly purchased. Many brave leaders 
fell ; and the heroic Conrad, who, during 
the great heat, had loosened his armor to 
cool himself a little, was mortally wounded 
in the neck by a stray arrow, and died — 
thus repaying with his blood the debt he 
owed to his country. The Hungarians, 
however, after the battle, did not venture 
to appear again in Germany, and the whole 
of that beautiful country along the Danube, 
the subsequent Margraviate of Austria, was 
torn from them, and by degrees repopu- 
lated with Germans, so that eventually it 
flourished gloriously. 

Otho gained in the same year, a victory 
not less important over the Slavonians, who, 
in conjunction with numerous discontented 
Saxons, renewed their attacks constantly. 
The Margrave Gero, one of the most im- 
portant men under the reign of Otho I., and 
who had for many years continued to pro- 
tect the eastern frontiers against the Slavo- 
nians, now, together with the valiant Her- 
mann Bilburg, opposed them with great vigor 
and success, until the king himself was en- 
abled to advance to their aid ; and in a battle 
fought on the 16th of October, and which 
has been compared with that of Augsburg, 
he completely conquered them. The brave 
Hermann Bilburg was subsequently created 
a duke of Saxony by Otho, although, as it 
appears, without having attained the gov- 
ernment of the entire country, and the full 
power of the other dukes. 

Meanwhile, Berengar, the ungrateful 
King of Italy, to whom Otho had shown 
great kindness, again rebelled against him, 
and cruelly persecuted all who held with 
the King of Germany ; and in their trouble 
they entreated assistance from Otho. He 
first sent his son, Ludolf, with an army 
across the Alps ; its force was indeed but 
small, but the valiant son of Otho pressed 
the traitor so closely, that he must have 
been destroyed, if Ludolf had not suddenly 
died in the bloom of youth, and, as it is sup- 
posed, by poison, in the year 957. Some 
few years elapsed, when in the year 961, 
King Otho himself, invited by the pope, 
John XII., the Archbishop of Milan, and 
others, accompanied by Adelaide, his queen. 



marched himself a second time into Italy, 
after he had caused his son Otho, yet an 
infant, to be elected and crowned king. 
Berengar concealed himself among his 
castles, while his son Adelbert took refuge 
in Corsica ; but Otho proceeded direct to 
Rome. During his progress towards the 
capital, the gates of every town were thrown 
open before the mighty King of the Ger- 
mans, and everywhere the inhabitants were 
struck with amazement and admiration, 
when they beheld the powerful and lofty 
figures of the northern strangers. 

Otho considered it worthy of his own 
glory, as well as of the dignity of the 
German nation, to replace upon his head, 
on the 2d of February, 962, the Roman 
imperial crown, which Charlemagne had 
transferred to the Germans, thereby testi- 
fying to the whole world, that strength and 
power were with that people, and that 
their monarch was the first of all Chris- 
tian rulers. It was under his protection 
and support, that the church and its spir- 
itual head, the pope, were to exercise their 
influence over the people ; and in him, the 
emperor, every enemy of order and justice 
would find a stern and implacable judge. 
Thus had, likewise, Charles the Great 
founded anew the imperial dignity, and 
thus it was renewed by Otho I. It is true, 
the condition of Europe had changed since 
Charles's time ; then almost all the Chris- 
tian nations were under his dominion ; 
while there were various independent kings 
who were not subject to him, the German 
king. Yet not one of them all could com- 
pare himself with him ; the imperial 
crown had ever been justly regarded as 
belonging to the Germans, and the ances- 
tors of Otho had none of them given up 
their claim to it. Otho was especially the 
protector of the Christian faith towards the 
north and east ; he ruled in Burgundy ; 
his authority was the ruling one in France, 
where his brother, Bruno, of Lorraine, 
acted as arbitrator and judge, and as which 
he was acknowledged by all ; and now, 
having subjected Italy, to him alone be- 
longed the dignity of Emperor of the 
Western Christendom. 

Many have spoken against the renewal 
of the empire, and have particularly cen- 
sured King Otho, that he cast this great 
burden upon Germany. The union of the 
two countries was the source of the great- 
est misfortune to Germany, which sacri- 



THE EMPERORS AND THE POPES — THE CHURCH. 



127 



ficed so many men for the foreign ally, 
while at home it was itself entirely neg- 
lected by its own hereditary rulers. But 
what God had prepared as a great transi- 
tion in the fate of a nation, and what a 
number of excellent men in former times 
acknowledged as necessary and good, can- 
not be rejected by the judgment of later 
descendants. It has been the same with 
the papacy ; many have expended their 
gall against it, as having only contributed 
to the diffusion of darkness, superstition, 
and spiritual slavery. But those who 
thus express themselves, mix in their cen- 
sure all ages, and are unable to transport 
themselves into those wherein the imperial 
throne and the papal chair were necessary 
links in the great chain of historical de- 
velopment. 

It is not difficult for the unprejudiced 
and candid mind to perceive the grand 
idea which served as the foundation of 
both. In those times when rude force ex- 
ercised its dominion, the emperor, with the 
scales of justice in his hand, presided as 
judge between Christian nations, and ex- 
erted himself for the peace of the world 
externally ; while, on his part, the pope 
guided the empire of internal peace, piety, 
and virtue. As the condition of life was 
yet rude, and civil institutions still so im- 
perfect, that the state could not of itself 
undertake to superintend mental cultiva- 
tion ; therefore, the church and schools, 
the clergy and teachers, necessarily stood 
under the supremacy of the head of the 
church, whose care it was that the truth 
and gentleness of the divine word should 
illumine all Christian nations, and unite 
them into one empire of faith. 

With respect to the danger which might 
threaten — viz. : that, in the first place, the 
one of these two powers might bring under 
its dominion the body by means of the 
sword, and thence require what was un- 
just ; and that, in the second place, the 
other would so bind the conscience, that it 
might force it not to put faith in truth 
itself, but merely in the word as given — a 
sufficient protection was provided, in either 
case, inasmuch as the said power, both of 
the emperor and the pope, was less an ex- 
ternal than an internal power, founded 
solely upon the veneration of nations. 
Such an authority can never be lastingly 
misused without destroying itself. 

It is true that not all emperors have 



truly seized the idea of their dignity, or 
else, perhaps, such great obstructions stood 
in their way that they could not execute 
it ; and thus, also, the popes not having 
always retained themselves within the 
limits of those rights which were accorded 
to them alone in the dominion of the 
church, both powers, which should have 
worked in unity together, and the one have 
made the other perfect, have, in their en- 
mity, at last destroyed each other. But — 
and this is the chief point — the grand idea 
itself must above all things be well dis- 
tinguished from its execution. The more 
glorious it is, the greater is its contradic- 
tion to the fallibility of human nature, and 
the low bias of many ages ; and the ill 
success of its accomplishment cannot de- 
tract from its own dignity or from the 
greatness of those who have contended for it. 

With respect to the sacrifice of men in 
the Italian expedition, it depends upon the 
question, whether the object to be obtained 
was great and important or not. If it was 
so, the sacrifice must not be taken into 
consideration, if battle and war may be 
allowed for a high and necessary purpose. 
And the emperors who, with noble-minded 
dispositions and intentions, made this sacri- 
fice for the idea of an empire, and the 
honor of their nation, are not, therefore, to 
be blamed. 

The noble pride, however, felt by the 
Germans in the thought, that they and 
their rulers should be the central point 
of Christianity ; the conviction of their 
strength, made manifest by the daring 
courage of the small forces, composed of 
their countrymen, in venturing across the 
Alps, and who, when reaching their desti- 
nation, by the superiority of their nature 
gave laws to a numerous and populous na- 
tion ; these recollections of the ancient 
glory of our nation, still existing in us the 
later descendants — all this is the reward 
for the sacrifice made. 

Other advantages, becoming more and 
more immediately manifest, arising from 
the union of Germany with Italy, will be 
shown in the course of our history. We 
only mention in advance the great influ- 
ence which the example of the free Italian 
cities, and, in particular, the flourishing 
state of commerce there, had upon the rise 
and successful progress of German towns, 
an advantage the importance of which can- 
not be too highly estimated. 



128 



OTHO'S RIGHTS AS PROTECTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



Otho speedily exercised his right of pro- 
tectorship over the church, and his office 
of superior Christian ruler, against the 
same pope who had crowned him. John 
XII. had recalled from Corsica the son of 
Berengar, for the purpose of placing him 
in opposition against the emperor ; and, in 
addition to this, was charged by the Ro- 
man people, and the clergy, with the most 
serious crimes. John sprang from a very 
corrupt race, and had become pope as early 
as in his eighteenth year. Otho hereupon 
convoked a council, consisting of forty 
bishops and seventeen cardinals, and as 
John, upon the emperor's citation, refused 
to appear, before these assembled fathers, 
he was deposed from his dignity, and Leo 
VIII. chosen instead. The Roman people, 
as well as the clergy, now swore to elect 
no pope in future without the consent of 
the emperor. The popes from this time 
again called the emperor their lord, and in 
acknowledgment of his supremacy, placed 
his name upon their coins, and marked the 
years of his reign upon their bulls. 

But the Romans soon forgot their oath, 
drove away Pope Leo, and recalled the 
deposed John, after whose death, which 
speedily followed, they elected another 
pope, Benedict, in opposition. The pa- 
tience of the emperor was now exhausted, 
and he exercised a heavy punishment 
upon the perjured Romans. He returned 
again with his army, laid waste the coun- 
try around Rome, surrounded and besieged 
the city, and forced the inhabitants to sur- 
render and open the gates, and to give up 
the pope, Benedict, into his hands. He 
then convoked a large assembly of the 
bishops and clergy, and in their presence 
Benedict was divested of his insignia, and 
at once banished, while Leo was replaced 
upon the throne. 

Meantime Berengar, with his wife, Wil- 
la, had been taken prisoners by the emper- 
or's generals, and were conveyed to Bam- 
berg, where after their imprisonment they 
shortly died. The emperor himself, after 
he had thus established his dominion, re- 
turned in the beginning of the year, 965, 
to Germany, and celebrated at Cologne, 
with his beloved brother Bruno, his mother, 
his son Otho, and nephews, together with a 
numerous assemblage of the nobles of his 
empire, the joyful event of his return 
among them after a long and trying time 
of absence. 



i But already in the following year, 966, 
! his presence was again required in Italy 
| through the disturbances caused by Adel- 
j bert, the son of Berengar, and the revolt of 
I the Romans against their pope. His ap- 
j pearance, however, once more produced 
j order and peace ; and he was now enabled 
j to turn his attention to Lower Italy, where 
| the emperor of Greece still had his gover- 
| nor, and then to Sicily, whence the Sara- 
i cens threatened entire Italy. It was now 
I Otho's wish to form an alliance with the 
family of the Greek emperor, in order, 
thereby, to open a prospect for his own 
house upon Lower Italy, as well as to be- 
come enabled to ward off more effectually 
the inroads of the unbelievers. 

He sent for his son Otho from Germany, 
and had him crowned as future emperor 
by the pope, and then dispatched an em- 
bassy to Constantinople, for the purpose of 
demanding Theophania, the daughter of the 
emperor, in marriage for his son. Con- 
nected with this embassy, Luitprand, whom 
Otho had made bishop of Cremona, relates 
a singular circumstance, although, from 
his hatred of the Greeks, with evident ex- 
aggeration : " We arrived here," he says, 
"in June, and were immediately supplied 
with a guard of honor, so that we could 
not go anywhere without an escort. On 
the second day of our arrival we proceeded 
on horseback to the audience. The em- 
peror Nicephorus is a short, stout man, so 
brown that, in a forest, he would strike us 
with terror. He said, ' he lamented that 
our lord and ruler had showed the daring 
boldness to assume and appropriate Rome 
to himself, and to destroy two such honor- 
able men as Berengar and Adelbert, and 
then to carry fire and sword even into 
Grecian countries :' he added, ' that he 
knew we had counselled our lord to it.' 
We replied : ' Our lord, the emperor, has 
delivered Rome from tyranny and sinners, 
which he has come from the end of the 
earth into Italy to accomplish, while others 
have remained indolently sleeping upon 
their thrones, and deemed such great con- 
fusion and anarchy beneath their dignity 
to notice. Besides which,' we added, ' we 
have among us those brave and loyal 
knights, who are always ready and pre- 
pared to maintain, by single combat at 
arms, the justice and virtue of our master. 
Yet we have come here with views and in- 
tentions of peace, and for the purpose of 



OTHO'S SON'S MARRIAGE WITH A GRECIAN PRINCESS. 



129 



demanding the Princess Theophania in 
marriage for Otho, our prince, and eldest 
son of our lord and emperor.' To which 
the emperor observed : 'It is now time to 
go to the procession. We will attend to 
this matter at a more convenient moment.' 
The grand procession, wherein the king 
appeared, attired in a long mantle, escort- 
ed by soldiers or city volunteers, without 
halberds, passed along slowly amid the ac- 
clamations of the people. 

" When at table, he wished to censure 
our mode of warfare, saying our arms 
were much too heavy, while the Germans 
appeared to be only valiant when they 
were drunk ; and that the true Romans 
were only now to be found in Constantino- 
ple. When he said this, he made a sign 
to me with his hand that I should be silent. 
At another time he spoke of the affairs of 
the church, and asked, mockingly, whether 
any council had ever been convoked in 
Saxony ? I replied, ' that where there was 
most sickness, there was most need of the 
greatest number of doctors ; that all here- 
sies had originated with the Greeks, and 
therefore church councils were more ne- 
cessary to be held among them. Never- 
theless I knew of one council being assem- 
bled in Saxony, where it had been pro- 
nounced that it was more glorious to fight 
with the sword in hand than with the 
pen.' 

" The emperor is surrounded with flat- 
terers and sycophants ; the whole city floats 
in sensuality, and even on holy days of 
festival there are plays performed. Their 
power reposes not in their own strength, 
but is dependent upon the mercenary forces 
of Amalfi, and upon Venetian and Russian 
sailors. I believe firmly that four hun- 
dred Germans in open field would put the 
whole Greek army completely to flight." 

Nicephorus would not consent to the 
marriage, and Otho, as emperor, now 
sought to extend his dominion over the 
whole of Lower Italy, which was divided 
among the Greeks, Saracens, and native 
princes. The history of these expeditions 
is not clearly given ; but altogether it ap- 
pears the imperial arms were victorious, 
although it was not possible to gain any 
durable advantage in that difficult country. 
In December, 969, the emperor Nicepho- 
rus was murdered in a revolt, when his 
successor very willingly formed an alli- 
ance with the emperor of Germany. The 
17 



Princess Theophania was crowned in Rome 
in the year 972, by the pope, John XIII., 
and united to the young prince, Otho. The 
emperor himself now returned to Germany, 
after an absence of six years, in order that 
he might enjoy some little peace at the 
close of a life so rich in striking events. 

The great influence which Otho had 
acquired throughout the entire western 
world, was satisfactorily proved to the 
German nation during the last few months 
of his life. Having gone to Quedlinburg 
to visit the grave of his mother, Matilda, 
he was there waited upon by the rulers of 
the Poles and Bohemians, the chiefs Mjesko 
and Boleslas, in order to receive his opin- 
ion and judgment in their affairs ; and these 
were immediately followed by the ambas- 
sadors of the Romans, Beneventanians. 
Greeks, Bulgarians, Slavonians, Danes, 
and Hungarians, and the whole completed 
by an embassy from the Saracens in Af- 
rica, which arrived shortly afterwards at 
Merseburg. 

Just at this time, however, he was very 
much affected by the death of his faithful 
friend, Herman, duke of Saxony, who died 
in Quedlinburg on the 27th of March, 973. 
Grieved at the loss of that good man, says 
Widukind, he wandered solitary and de- 
jected among the graves of those he had 
held so dear. Alas, how many of these 
had already preceded him in their depart- 
ure from this life, reminding him of his 
own past career, so troubled, so eventful, 
but yet in many respects so glorious ! 

When on the 6th of May he arrived at 
his castle in Memleben, where his father 
had died, he felt himself extremely weak. 
Nevertheless he attended service in the 
chapel on the following morning, gave his 
usual alms to the poor, and then reposed 
again. At midday he again appeared, and 
at the appointed time he took his meal at 
dinner with cheerfulness and enjoyment, 
upon which he attended the evening ser- 
vice. It was then he suddenly felt over- 
come with a burning fever, and he was 
assisted to a chair by the princes in attend- 
ance. But his head sunk ; he felt his 
approaching end, and indicating his wishes 
by signs, he was immediately assisted in 
the solemn service of the holy communion.. 
Just after he had received it, and when the 
holy ceremony was over, as Widukind 
states, he ended his mortal career, and 
without a sigh tranquilly breathed his last, 



130 



OTHO II.— HAROLD OF DENMARK— LORRAINE— PARIS. 



on the 7th of May, 973, aged sixty-one 
years, and in the thirty-eighth of his reign. 

His body was conveyed to Magdeburg, 
his favorite city, and being deposited in a 
marble coffin, was placed as he had wished, 
on the side of his beloved Edgitha, in the 
church of St. Maurice. 

Otho II. j who, in the eighteenth year of 
his age, now succeeded to the throne, very 
soon had reason to find that the task which 
had thus early devolved upon his shoulders, 
of maintaining, in all its supremacy, the 
powerful empire of his father, extending, 
as it did, from the boundaries of the Da- 
nish country to nearly the extensive points 
of Lower Italy, was not a little arduous 
and difficult. For in ths north and east, 
the Danes and Slavonians continued still 
unwilling subjects or neighbors ; in the 
west, the French rulers were jealous ri- 
vals ; in the south of Italy, the Greeks and 
Arabs were anxiously watching for an op- 
portunity to extend their power ; while, in 
the interior of Germany itself, many par- ! 
ties stood in a condition of direct hostility 
towards each other. 

In this critical position, the necessary 
strength and energy of body was certainly 
not wanting in the young monarch, as was 
sufficiently shown by his figure, which, 
although rather short, was, nevertheless, 
strong and firmly knit together, while his 
healthy constitution was indicated by the 
florid, ruddy hue of his cheeks, and which, 
in fact, procured for him the by-name of 
Otho the Florid, or Red. But wisdom 
and forethought were not as yet at his com- 
mand ; and it was for him a misfortune that, 
even as a child, he had been designated as 
the sovereign ; for he thus became proud 
and violent, extreme and unequal in his 
conduct ; while mildness and severity were 
with him in constant interchange, and his 
liberality at times bordered upon extrava- 
gance itself. Had time, however, enabled 
him to moderate these strong passions of 
youth, and thus, by the experience of in- 
creased years, ripened and brought to 
perfection' his nobler qualities, he might 
then have been included in the list of the 
most distinguished rulers of our country. 
But fate ordained otherwise ; and he was 
struck down, in the bloom of manhood, at 
the age of twenty-eight years. 

The very first years of his reign were 
already fully occupied with the different 
disputes and dissensions in the empire, but 



more especially with that produced by his 
cousin Henry, the second duke of Bavaria, 
or the Turbulent, who had revolted against 
the young emperor, but who, however, was 
taken prisoner, and deprived of his duchy ; 
as likewise by the rising of Harold of Den- 
mark against Otho, who was forced to 
march against him, and completely sub- 
dued him. 

Soon afterwards, France made an at- 
tempt to acquire the Lorraine dominion, 
which, by the division of Verdun, was 
fixed in the centre between Germany and 
France, but had now become united with 
Germany. The king, Lothaire, secretly 
collected his army, and while Otho, com- 
pletely unprepared, was holding a court on 
the occasion of the feast of St. John, in 
978, in the ancient imperial palatinate at 
Aix-la-Chapelle, he suddenly advanced, 
and, by forced marches, without even an- 
nouncing hostilities, hastened on to that 
city, in order to take the emperor prisoner. 
I Fortunately, Otho received intelligence of 
the enemy's approach in time to enable 
him to quit the place on the day before his 
arrival. Lothaire took possession of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, and plundered it, while at the 
same time he commanded the eagle, erected 
in the grand square of Charles the Great, 
to be turned towards the west, in sign that 
Lorraine now belonged to France. But 
Otho forthwith held a diet of the princes 
and nobles at Dortmund, represented to 
them, with the most impressive eloquence, 
the faithlessness of the French king, and 
summoned them to march against the pre- 
sumptuous enemy. They all unanimously 
promised their assistance, forgetting every 
internal dispute, for it now concerned the 
honor of the country. 

Accordingly, on the 1st of October, 978, 
a considerable army marched into France, 
and without meeting with much opposition, 
advanced, by Rheims and Soissons, as far 
as Paris. Here, on the right bank of the 
Seine, around the Montmartre, the Ger- 
mans encamped, and their mounted troops 
Scoured the whole of the country around, 
committing devastation everywhere. The 
city itself was garrisoned by the duke, 
Hugo Capet ; the Seine divided the two 
armies, but the French did not venture out 
to give battle. Otho, however, could not 
succeed in taking the city, which was 
strongly fortified ; and as winter now ad- 
I vanced — it being the end of November — 



ITALY— THE GREEKS AN D ARABS— OTHO'S DEFEAT. 



131 



and sickness very generally prevailed 
among the troops, he commenced a re- 
treat. This expedition was one of the first 
undertaken by the Germans against Paris; 
the treacherous attack of the French king 
was now punished, nor did he venture to 
make another. In the treaty of peace sub- 
sequently concluded, Lorraine was secured 
to Germany forever. 

In the year 980, Otho set out on his first 
expedition to Italy, from which, however, 
as it turned out, he was never to return. 
He was in hopes of being able to conquer 
the possessions in Lower Italy, which the 
Greek emperors still maintained, and to 
which Otho, by his marriage with Theo- 
phania, laid claim. The Greeks, how- 
ever, called to their aid the Arabs, both of 
Africa and Sicily. At first, Otho gained 
some advantages, and, after a siege of 
nearly two months, he made himself mas- 
ter of Salerno. He then took Bari and 
Taranto, in Apulia, and pressed forward, 
in the spring of 982, to the mountains of 
Calabria. He beat the combined army of 
the Greeks and Arabs, first at Rossano, 
where they had waited for him in a strong 
position, and then overthrowing them at 
Coterna, pursued them as far as Squillace, 
where another decisive battle was fought 
on the 13th of July, 982. The imperial 
troops rushed with the greatest impetuosity 
upon the ranks of the Greeks, who held 
out bravely until mid-day, when they fell 
back upon Squillace. The successful 
troops, abandoning themselves now too 
eagerly to their elated hopes of victory and 
pillage, felt so secure, that they laid aside 
their arms, and marched leisurely and con- 
fidently along the banks of the river Co- 
race. But here they were suddenly fallen 
upon by an ambuscade of the Arabs, hith- 
erto concealed behind the rocks, and were 
speedily surrounded on every side by in- 
numerable hordes of these swift warriors. 
The scattered troops were completely over- 
powered, and either cut to pieces or made 
prisoners by the enemy ; and only a very 
small number of that army, but a short 
time before so triumphant, were enabled to 
save themselves. The emperor himself, 
as it were, by a miracle, escaped by plun- 
ging into the sea, mounted as he was on 
his trusty steed, and swimming towards a 
Greek vessel. The crew received him on 
board, not knowing the high rank of the im- 
perial fugitive, yet hoping to receive a hand- 



some ransom from him as a distinguished 
knight, for which they held him to be. 
By means of a slave on board, who had 
recognised, but not betrayed him, he saved 
himself a second time, near Rossano, by 
springing from this ship, and swimming on 
shore ; and, after safely reaching land, he 
entered that city, and there joined his 
queen. 

In this disastrous scene, many German 
and Italian princes and nobles perished, 
among whom were Udo, duke of Franco- 
nia, the margraves Berthold and Giinther, 
Henry, bishop of Augsburg, (who had 
likewise fought in the ranks,) together 
with numerous others ; and all the con- 
quered portions of the country in Lower 
Italy fell again into the hands of the 
enemy. 

Full of sorrow and vexation, the empe- 
ror proceeded to Upper Italy, in order to 
collect another army. He held a grand 
assembly in Verona, consisting of both 
German and Italian princes and nobles, 
and his mother, together with his queen 
and infant son, Otho, then only three years 
old, were likewise present ; he succeeded 
in having the latter at once elected by all 
the princes as his successor. It was, at 
the same time, determined that the child 
should be taken back to Germany, under 
the charge of Willigis, archbishop of Mentz, 
and be crowned on the following Christ- 
mas, (983,) in the ancient imperial city of 
Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The emperor himself, however, after he 
had regulated the affairs of Upper Italy, 
repaired to Rome. There he arranged to 
have his chancellor, Peter of Pa via, elected 
as pope, (John XIV. ;) and this was his last 
public act. Overwhelmed with the im- 
portant plans he nourished in his heart for 
his next campaign in Lower Italy, as well 
as with the excitement produced upon his 
impatient and nervous mind, by the sad 
reverses of the previous year, and the mul- 
tifarious cares of his government, he was, 
in a few days, attacked by a raging fever, 
of which he died, in the presence of his 
queen, the pope, and several of his faithful 
adherents, on the 7th of December, 983, 
in the 28th year of his age. He was 
buried in the church of St. Peter, in Rome. 
The news of his death reached Aix-la- 
Chapelle the day after the coronation of his 
infant son had been celebrated in the as- 
sembly of all the princes. 



132 OTHO III.— HENRY THE TURBULENT— ATTEMPTED REVOLT. 



The very tender age of the new sover- 
eign, Otho III., would have been a great 
misfortune for Germany, had not his moth- 
er, Queen Theophania, a woman of ex- 
traordinary genius, been enabled to under- 
take, during his minority, the direction and 
control of the affairs of the imperial gov- 
ernment with adequate spirit and energy, 
and if, likewise, among the greater portion 
of the German princes there had not ex- 
isted a faithful adherence towards the 
imperial house, and a general desire for 
peace and order. For immediately after 
the death of Otho II., Henry, the deposed 
duke of Bavaria, after having been set at 
liberty by Poppo, bishop of Utrecht, into 
whose custody he had been given, came 
forward again with his pretensions, and 
even demanded, as nearest relation, to have 
the sole guardianship of the young king. 
The archbishop of Cologne, Warin, under 
whose protection the infant had been placed, 
actually delivered him up to Henry, who 
held him under his control during a whole 
year. The queen-mother, Theophania, 
who, according to her deceased husband's 
will, was to have the guardianship of the 
child, was still in Italy ; and when she 
returned, Henry had already so strength- 
ened his party, that he contemplated taking 
possession of the government himself. He 
had lost no time in forming a league with 
those nobles who were devoted to his in- 
terests, and had already agreed with them 
under what conditions they should give their 
assistance and support towards raising him to 
the throne. At the Same time, the French 
king, Lothaire, availing himself of the dis- 
union in Germany, had again stretched out 
his hand to grasp the Lorraine country, and 
had got possession of the important town 
and fortress of Verdun. 

The Slavonians on the northern and 
eastern frontiers who, during the years that 
Otho II. was in Italy, had, by their united 
strength, almost entirely shaken off the 
German dominion, re -established pagan- 
ism, and made many successful depreda- 
tory incursions in the various German pos- 
sessions, now, together with the dukes of 
Poland and Bohemia on their part, promised 
the rebel, Henry of Bavaria, their assistance 
in his revolutionary plans. Thus the con- 
dition of the Germanic empire had at this 
moment become entirely critical. 

But the alliance of Henry with the bar- 
barians only served to bring back to their 



proper recollection all those nobles of Sax- 
ony and Thuringia who had hitherto formed 
the majority of the renegade's partisans, 
and they turned from him and joined the 
ranks of the legitimate party, headed by 
the Dukes Conrad of Swabia, Bernard of 
Saxony, and the newly created duke of 
Bavaria, (recently elected by Otho II.,) 
Henry the younger, of the house of Baben- 
berg ; the whole of whom, with Willigis, 
archbishop of Mentz, had still maintained 
their fidelity towards the young monarch 
and his royal mother. In Lorraine, also, 
a party rose up to defend the cause of 
Otho, the heart and soul of which was the 
distinguished ecclesiastic, Gerbert, the most 
learned man of his time ; possessing a 
knowledge of all the sciences, but, more 
especially, so profoundly read in natural 
philosophy, that he was regarded as a 
magician. At the same time he possessed 
great powers of mind, with the necessary 
energetic and penetrating capacity for ac- 
tion in all political matters ; and in his 
office of tutor to the young emperor, to 
which he was appointed subsequently, he 
continued to assist him with his valuable 
counsel until his death. 

Thence, by means of this combined oper- 
ation on the part of all his faithful friends 
and stanch adherents of the imperial house, 
Henry the Turbulent was forced, at a 
grand diet held at Rora,* in the month of 
June, 984, to surrender into the hands of 
the queen-mother and grandmother, who 
were both present, the infant emperor. In 
the same year, also, the desired union of 
peace and friendship between Henry and 
the guardians was completely restored and 
firmly established at the diet of Worms ; 
Henry and his friends swearing fealty to 
the sovereign, and which he continued to 
hold sacred from that day ; nay, through 
leading subsequently a life of peace, piety, 
and charity, he earned for himself the by- 
name of the peaceful, instead of the tur- 
bulent Henry. In the following year he 
received again his long wished-for duchy 
of Bavaria, in return for resigning which, 
Henry the younger was indemnified with 
the duchy of Carinthia, which had become 
again separated from Bavaria, together 
with the Veronian marches. Other nobles 
were bound to the new government by 
presents and gifts of land. The margra- 

* The exact site of this place cannot be traced. 



ITALY— OTHO III. CROWNED AT ROME. 



133 



viates, erected to oppose the Slavonians 
and Hungarians, were fortified anew, and 
supplied with faithful guards; the dukes 
Micislas of Poland and Boleslas of Bohe- 
mia returned to their allegiance, and thus, 
by wisdom, prudence, and firmness, both 
the empresses restored once more the order 
and tranquillity of the German empire inter- 
nally, and again promoted and established 
its influential claims for respect externally. 

In the year 987, after the death of Lo- 
thaire, France likewise concluded a treaty 
of peace, and his son and successor, Louis 
V., surrendered to Germany the bishopric 
of Verdun. He was the last of the race 
of the Carlovingians on the throne of 
France ; and, after his death, in the same 
year, the house of the Capetingians fol- 
lowed in the person of Hugo Capet, his 
successor. 

In Rome, after the Empress Theophania 
had returned to Germany, great disturb- 
ances broke out, and the patrician Crescen- 
tius, especially, exercised the greatest ty- 
ranny in the city. The empress, however, 
having beheld Germany tranquillized, and 
the dominion of her son established, re- 
turned in 988 to Rome, and with her innate 
power and wisdom, caused the authority of 
Crescentius to be checked and restricted 
within its proper limits. Unhappily, this 
distinguished woman died too soon for the 
times she lived in, her death taking place 
already in the year 991, at Nimwegen. 

The education of the young emperor, 
now eleven years old, henceforward de- 
volved more especially upon Bernward, of 
Hildesheim, a most excellent, and, for his 
time, a very learned man, into whose hands 
Queen Theophania had already confided 
her son. He treated the boy with mild- 
ness, but at the same time with firmness, 
and gained his entire good-will and confi- 
dence. Bernward's position became one 
of very great and decided importance, in 
connection with the relations of the govern- 
ment subsequently, particularly after he 
was appointed, in the year 993, bishop of 
Hildesheim ; for in the northern frontiers 
of the empire there was continually fresh 
cause, even from year to year, for conten- 
tion with the Slavonians or Normans, either 
by warding off their attacks at home, or in 
order to punish them, by sending expedi- 
tions into their own land. 

When the youthful monarch had attained 
his sixteenth year, his grandmother, Queen 



Adelaide, expressed a desire to behold the 
head of her grandson decorated likewise 
with the imperial crown. Accordingly, in 
February, 996, he commenced his first Ro- 
man expedition, and all the nations of the 
Germans, Saxons, Franks, Bavarians, Swa- 
bians, and Lorrainians, yielded on this oc- 
casion military service, and joined in the 
ranks of the multitudinous train. He was 
crowned emperor on Ascension-day, the 
21st of May in that year, by Gregory V., 
the first pope of German origin who had, as 
yet, presided on the papal chair, and who 
exerted himself with great perseverance to 
bring into order the confused state of the 
Roman relations. The patrician, Crescen- 
tius, was pardoned for the turbulent pro- 
ceedings he had hitherto pursued ; but 
scarcely had the emperor returned to Ger- 
many, when the ungrateful Roman again 
revolted, and banished Pope Gregory from 
the capital. Otho was forced, therefore, to 
march an army into Italy a second time in 
the year 997, and conducting the pope back 
again to Rome, he besieged Crescentius in 
the fortress of Engelsburg, which he took 
by storm, and the traitor was forthwith be- 
headed on the battlements of the burg, in 
view of the whole army and people. 

Pope Gregory died in the year 999, and 
Otho caused his esteemed instructor and 
counsellor, Gerbert, to be elected to the 
papal chair, who adopted the title of Syl- 
vester II. 

Otho, who always felt a great preference 
for Rome and Italy generally, would fain 
have wished to remain longer there, but he 
was not able to bear the enervating effects 
of that hot climate. Altogether, he did not 
enjoy the strongest constitution, and his 
health was not always in the best condi- 
tion ; besides which, during the period be- 
tween youth and manhood, he evinced a 
very marked expression of sadness and 
melancholy, and which often exercised 
upon his mind such an influence, that, com- 
pletely overcome, he resorted to the most 
severe self-inflicted punishments and penal- 
ties. Thus he now made a pilgrimage to 
Monte Gargano, in Apulia, and sojourned 
for a considerable time in the monastery of 
St. Michael, undergoing the most severe 
exercise of expiatory penance. Thence he 
visited the holy abbot, Nilus, near Garta, 
who, with his monks, lived there in wretch- 
ed cells, and in the most secluded state of 
| strict devotion and humility. Here, like- 



134 



OTHO'S PARTIALITY FOR ITALY AND THE ITALIANS. 



wise, Otho joined in the exercise of prayer, 
and severe and rigid repentance. After- 
wards, we again find him following the same 
course of extreme self-punishment in Ra- 
venna, for whole days together ; and at one 
time he is said to have passed whole weeks 
with the hermits in the caves around, fast- 
ing and praying. 

It was these Italian monks, and espe- 
cially Nil us the holy, a venerable man, 
ninety years of age, who had succeeded in 
producing within the prince this melancho- 
ly view of life, and filled him with such 
continual desires to indulge in gloomy fits 
of abstinence and penitential sacrifices. 
He w r as particularly intimate with Adal- 
bert, the apostle of the Prussians, who, af- 
ter the period of the first Roman campaign, 
had become his constant companion, not 
quitting the imperial apartments either by 
night or day, and who, partly by the wish 
of Otho, proceeded to the north, in order to 
preach the holy gospel to the pagan Prus- 
sians, where he died a martyr's death, in 
the year 999. When the religious emperor 
returned, in the following year, to Germany, 
he was urged, by his affection towards this 
friend, to visit his grave in Gnesen. As 
soon as he came in view of the town, he 
dismounted from his steed, and continued 
the rest of his pilgrimage to the sacred spot 
barefooted. Deeply affected, he poured 
forth his devotions over the tomb of his 
much-lamented friend, and in recollection 
of the scene, he raised the bishopric of 
Gnesen, on the spot, into an archbishopric, 
placing under its authority the bishoprics 
of Breslaw, Cracovie, and Colberg, pro- 
moting Adalbert's brother, Gaudentius, to 
the sacred office. 

Combined with the emotions originating 
in Christian humility and worldly sacrifice, 
we find, however, likewise excited within 
Otho's soul, (which appears to have been 
subjected to sensations of the most varied 
nature,) a high aspiring desire and aim, 
and, especially, an elevated idea of the su- 
premacy of the imperial dignity. As the 
son of a Roman-Germanic emperor and the 
grandson of a Greek emperor ; already 
chosen as reigning king from the first mo- 
ment of self-consciousness, and, likewise, 
almost immediately afterwards decorated 
with the imperial crown ; educated by the 
most learned and accomplished men of his 
time — a Gerbert, a Bernward, a Meinwerk, 
(of Paderborn,) and by the Calabrian Greek, 



John of Placentia — he held himself in high 
respect, and far beyond the Germans, who, 
in his opinion, were still uncouth and sav- 
age. He tried to persuade them to lay 
aside their Saxon barbarism, and exhorted 
them to imitate and adopt the more refined 
and elegant manners of the Greeks, and he 
even introduced the customs and usages of 
the latter ; among the rest, which he himself 
, adopted, that of dining alone from a table 
more elevated than the others, and to ar- 
! range the different places of honor accord- 
ing to rank and distinction. His tutor, Ger- 
! bert, had himself formed a high idea of the 
I imperial dignity, which he had taken great 
| pains to instil in the youthful mind of his 
| pupil. " Thou art our Csesar, Imperator, 
and Augustus," he wrote to him, " and de- 
scended from the noblest blood of the 
Greeks ; thou art superior to them all in 
power and dominion," &c. Otho had in- 
| deed contemplated the restoration of the 
j Roman empire, in its entire dominion, and 
I no doubt he would have carried his inten- 
I tions into effect, by making Rome the cen- 
tral point and the imperial seat of govern- 
ment, had he only been able to endure the 
climate. 

He regarded the founder of the Germanic- 
Roman empire, the great Charles, as his 
model, and when, in the year 1000, he vis- 
ited Aix-la-Chapelle, he felt a desire to ele- 
vate his mind by the contemplation of his 
ancestor's earthly remains. Accordingly 
he caused the vault to be unclosed, and 
descended its steps, accompanied by two 
bishops. He found the embalmed body 
still in the position it was placed, sitting in 
the marble chair, covered with the impe- 
rial robes, together with the sceptre and 
shield. Otho bent his knee in prayer, then 
took the golden cross from the breast of the 
emperor, and placed it upon his own. Af- 
ter which, before leaving, he had the body 
covered with fresh raiment, and then again 
solemnly closed the vault.* 

Otho's strong predilection for Italy drew 
him once more into that country. Rome 
and the Romans appeared to him in all the 
splendor of their ancient dominion of the 
world ; but they ill-returned the preference 
he showed for them. While he was so- 
journing in Rome, in the spring of the year 
1001; the Romans revolted against him be- 

* The emperor, Frederick I., caused the vault to be 
unclosed again in the year 1165, and had the body de- 
posited in a superb tomb. 



HIS DEATH— HENRY II., OR THE HOLY — HIS PIETY. 



135 



cause he had exercised his lenity towards 
the Tiburtinians, who, as in ancient times, 
still remained their hated enemies ; they 
kept him a close prisoner in his own palace 
during three days, so that he could obtain 
neither food nor drink. Then it was that 
the emperor experienced that German fideli- 
ty and rude virtue were still better than the 
smooth but slippery words and more ac- 
complished manners of his favorite Italians. 
Bernward, the bishop of Hildesheim, placed 
himself, with the sacred royal lance, under 
the portico of the palace, and, as his biog- 
rapher states, thundered against it most 
dreadfully ; and thus, through the bishop's 
resolution and the aid of his faithful adhe- 
rents, the emperor was at length rescued 
from the Romans. Nevertheless, he looked 
over their bad conduct, and peace was 
resumed for a short time longer, but they 
soon again broke out against him. He then 
prepared at once to punish this false and 
treacherous people ; but his spirits were 
now broken, and he weakened and reduced 
his body still more by nocturnal watchings 
and praying, often fasting, too, the entire 
week, with the single exception of the 
Thursday. He was attacked by a severe 
and inflammatory disease, (according to 
Dietmar, the small-pox,) and died on the 
23d of January, 1002, at Paterno, in the 
twenty-second year of his age. The body 
was placed under the charge and protection 
of the few German princes and nobles who 
had accompanied the emperor, and they 
lost no time in conveying it away from that 
hateful country into their native land. In 
the course of its march, however, the fune- 
ral procession was frequently attacked by 
the Italians, who were eager to get posses- 
sion of the corpse, and it was only by the 
united efforts of the brave and valiant band 
of noble warriors that formed its escort, 
that the enemy was successfully repulsed, 
and that, at length, after great difficulty, it 
arrived safely at its destination in Aix-la- 
Chapelle. 

Thus all the male descendants of Otho 
the Great, his two sons, Ludolf and Otho 
II., and his two grandsons, Otho III. and 
Otho the son of Ludolf, died in Italy in the 
bloom of their youth ; while of the imperial 
Saxon family, the great-grandson of Henry 
I., Duke Henry of Bavaria alone remain- 
ed. The Germans were not at all inclined 
towards the Bavarian race ; but Henry, 
who had, by means of his generous gifts, 



already enlisted the clergy on his side, and 
had, likewise, in his possession the crown 
jewels and insignia, succeeded by degrees 
in gaining over one by one the individual 
German states, so that, without a general 
electoral assembly taking place, each trans- 
ferred to him the royal authority with the 
sacred lance. 

Henry II. has received the title of saint 
from his strict and pious life, as also from 
his liberality towards the clergy, already 
mentioned. The latter had acquired ex- 
tensive possessions under the Saxon empe- 
rors, who were all very generous towards 
them, and thence many of the leading mem- 
bers became powerful princes of the em- 
pire. Like Charlemagne, the kings saw 
with pleasure their increase of power, in 
order that they might use it as a counter- 
poise to that of the temporal lords, and at 
this period too, the spiritual power held 
chiefly with the kings. Otho I. had al- 
ready begun to unite the lordships with the 
bishoprics, and Henry II. transferred to 
many churches two, even three lordships, 
and to that of Gandersheim he even made 
over seven. The partiality and attachment 
shown by the emperor towards the clergy 
was, no doubt, taken advantage of by many ; 
still among that body there were likewise 
at this period many men who were perfect- 
ly sensible of the peculiar dignity of their 
calling, and zealously sought the spiritual 
welfare of their community, as well as the 
progress of the human mind in the arts and 
sciences, and all true cultivation ; of which 
the tenth century, especially, presents us 
with several illustrious instances. Bishop 
Bernward, of Hildesheim, who, in the ur- 
gent danger of the emperor, Otho III., in 
Rome, displayed so much resolution, was 
a man of great intellectual mind, and nour- 
ished the most profound feeling for all that 
was good and beautiful. During his many 
voyages, chiefly in Italy, he took young 
persons with him for the purpose of exer- 
cising their taste in the observation of works 
of art, and in their imitation. He caused 
the pavements and churches to be deco- 
rated with mosaic embellishment, and costly 
vessels of a beautiful form to be cast in 
metal, with which he was furnished by the 
mines of gold and silver in the Hartz, dis- 
covered under the emperor Otho I. Thus 
did Bernward nobly exert himself for his 
diocese, and the school of Hildesheim was 
one of the most celebrated of that period. 



133 



PAVIA— HENRY CROWNED — HENRY'S DEATH. 



When in Italy, the Emperor Henry re- 
ceived a second by-name — that of HufTe- 
holz, or the lame. For fresh disturbances 
having arisen there after the death of Otho 
III., and the Italians having made a mar- 
grave, Ardovine, their king, Henry, in or- 
der to restore order, advanced thither in 
the year 1004, put Ardovine to flight, and 
caused himself to be crowned, with the 
iron crown, at Pavia. Out of regard for 
the city, and in order to show his confi- 
dence towards the citizens, he retained 
merely a small body-guard, and caused 
the rest of the army to remain outside the 
city in the camp. The capricious and in- 
constant disposition of the Italians imme- 
diately became manifest. They rose in 
revolt, stormed the palace of the emperor, 
and threatened his life. It was then, in 
springing from a window, that he lamed 
his foot. His companions, although but 
few, fought like valiant men, and success- 
fully resisted the attacks of the enemy 
until the Germans beyond the city, hear- 
ing the tumult within, stormed the walls, 
and after severe fighting, broke through, 
paved their way to the palace and saved 
the king. The battle still continued most 
furiously in the streets and houses, whence 
the inhabitants hurled forth stones and 
other missiles upon the troops, who set fire 
to the whole city, and which destruction 
continued until the king put a stop to the 
fury of his soldiers, and saved the rest of 
the inhabitants. It was in this battle that 
the queen's brother, Giselbert, a valiant 
youth, being killed by the Lombards, a 
brave knight, Wolfram, his companion in 
arms, rushed upon the enemy, struck one 
of them such a powerful blow with his 
sword that, passing through the helmet, it 
separated his head and neck down to the 
shoulders ; and having thus revenged the 
death of his noble friend, he returned, un- 
wounded, back to his comrades. 

This conduct of the Pavians produced 
great disgust upon the open-hearted and 
honest feelings of the king, and as nothing 
could induce him to remain longer in 
Italy, he returned to Germany as speedily 
as possible. 

Here, also, many disturbances arose 
during his reign, for the emperor, who, 
with his good and pious qualities, was 
much too weak to hold the reins of his 
government, could not possibly maintain 
his authority. In particular the neighbor- 



| ing Polish duke, Boleslas, an ambitious, 
turbulent man, who had conquered and 
partially retained Bohemia and Silesia, 
gave him much trouble. For these coun- 
tries, however, the usurper swore alle- 
giance to the German emperor, but beyond 
this he maintained himself independently, 
and made himself feared on the other side 
even by the Russians and the Greek em- 
peror. 

Henry visited Italy a second time in 
1013, and re-established the pope, Bene- 
dict VIII., in the papal chair; he swore to 
protect him faithfully, and was by him 
crowned emperor. Returning to Germany, 
he was especially occupied with founding 
the bishopric of Bamberg, his favorite seat, 
which he richly endowed, and had deter- 
mined it should serve as a monument of 
his own piety as well as of that of his em- 
press, Cunegunde. In fhe year 1020 he 
was much gratified by a journey which 
Pope Benedict made to Germany, who 
visited him in Bamberg, and consecrated 
his holy foundation. 

The object of the pope's presence in 
Germany was more especially to induce 
the emperor to undertake another expedi- 
tion to Italy, in order to prevent the Greeks, 
who threatened Rome from Lower Italy, 
from attacking and taking possession of 
that capital. 

And Henry, who at once perceived the 
danger to which the church of Southern 
Italy was exposed of being robbed by the 
Greeks of its central point of operation, 
marched forth, for the third time, in the 
year 1021, for that country, drove the 
Greeks easily back to the most extreme 
points of their possessions in Lower Italy, 
conquered Benevento, Salerno, and Naples, 
and was everywhere greeted and hailed as 
king. But as he never liked to remain long 
in that country he returned to Germany in 
1022, and devoted himself to the exercise 
of devotional and peaceful works. 

Henry died in the year 1024, aged fifty- 
two, at his fortress, Grone, in the Leingau, 
(near Gottingen,) which had often been the 
seat of the Saxon emperors. His body was 
conveyed to Bamberg and there interred. 
Subsequently, 122 years after lis death, 
he was added to the calendar of saints by 
Pope Eugene III. With him the house of 
Saxony became extinct, which, like that 
of the Carlovingians, had commenced 
powerfully but ended weakly. Germany 



THE FRANCONIAN 



HOUSE— CONRAD II. 



137 



now required once again a vigorous and 
great-minded ruler, in order to save it 
from internal dissolution, as well as to pre- 
serve it from losing its dignity among the 
other nations; for, during the minority of 
Otho III. and under Henry II., the impe- 
rial vassals had committed many usurpa- 
tions based upon the imperial prerogatives. 
The sons of the nobles, endowed with im- 
perial feods, retained them as if by right 
of inheritance, and many disputes were 
settled only by an appeal to the sword, 
without any regard being paid to the em- 
peror's supreme judicial power. These 
wars devastated in particular the south of 
Germany. 

Meanwhile the Christian countries 
wherein, together with the dominion of the 
church, a regard for the imperial dignity 
was disseminated, were now become con- 
siderably increased in number. Towards 
the year 1000 Christianity became still 
more deeply rooted in Hungary, Poland, 
Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SALIC OR FRANCONIAN HOUSE, 1024-1125, 
TO LOTHAIRE THE SAXON 1137. 

Assemblage of the Ducal States— The Election— Con- 
rad II., 1024-1039— Re-establishes Internal Peace- 
Italy— Canute, King of England and Denmark- 
Burgundy— Ernest, Duke of Swabia— The Faust- 
Recht— Conrad's Death, 1039— Henry III., 1039-1056 
—The Popes — Henry's zeal for the Church — His 
Death, 1056— Henry IV., 1056-1106— His Minority— 
The Archbishops— Albert of Bremen— Henry and the 
Saxons — Their Hostility — Henry's Revenge — Pope 
Gregory VII.— His Ambition— The Right of Investi- 
ture — Rupture with the Emperor — Henry excommu- 
nicated — The Emperor a Fugitive — The rival Empe- 
rors and Popes— Rudolphus of Swabia and Pope 
Clement III.— Henry's Death, 1106— Henry V. 1106- 
1125— Rome— Pope Pascal II.— The Investiture Con- 
test—Sanguinary Battle — Henry crowned Emperor — 
His Death, 1125— The First Crusade, 1096-1099— Lo- 
thaire the Saxon, 1125-1137. 

The Germanic states, each under its 
duke, assembled for the election of a new 
emperor, upon the vast plains along both 
banks of the Rhine, between Mentz and 
Worms, near Oppenheim. There were 
eight dukes ; Conrad the Younger, who 
exercised the ducal power in Franconia in 
the name of the king — Franconia being 
still regarded as the king's country — Fre- 
derick of Upper Lorraine, Gozelo of Lower 
Lorraine, Bernard of Saxony, (of Herman 
18 



Billung's race,) Henry of Bavaria, Adal- 
bert of Carinthia, (the new duchy, separated 
under Otho II. from Bavaria, and which 
contained the passes into Italy,) young 
Ernest of Swabia, and Othelric or Ulric, 
of Bohemia. The Saxons, the eastern 
Franks, the Bavarians, and Swabians, to- 
gether with the Bohemians, encamped them- 
selves on this side of the Rhine ; the 
Rhenish Franks, and those of Lower and 
Upper Lorraine on the other side. Thus 
a splendid and numerous assembly or diet 
of electors was here reflected in the waves 
of the great German stream. 

The voices, after long deliberation, in- 
clined in favor of the Frankish race, from 
which two Conrads, surpassing all the rest 
in virtue and consideration, presented them- 
selves — Conrad the Elder or the Sa- 
lian, and Conrad the Younger, the duke. 
They were kinsmen, being sons of two 
brothers, and descended from Conrad the 
Wise, the husband of the daughter of Otho 
L, who fell in the battle with the Hunga- 
rians on the Lech ; both were worthy of 
their ancestors, and upon the female side 
related to the Saxon imperial branch. The 
choice balanced between them ; the elder 
Conrad then advanced to the side of the 
younger one, and thus addressed him : 
" Do not let us allow our friendship and in- 
terest to be disturbed by the contest. If we 
dispute together the princes may elect a 
third, and posterity will then say we were 
both unworthy of the crown. Methinks 
that whether the election fall upon either 
you or me, we shall still both be honored, 
I in you and you in me. If the crown be 
awarded to you, I will be the first to do 
homage to you ; vow, therefore, my friend 
and brother, to do the same by me." To 
this the younger prince agreed, and forth- 
with made the vow likewise. 

When the election commenced, and the 
archbishop, Aribo of Mentz, was first to 
give his vote, he named Conrad the Elder ; 
the archbishops and bishops followed. 
Among the temporal princes, the duke of 
the Franks was the first in rotation, and the 
younger Conrad arose, and with a loud 
voice gave his vote to his cousin, Conrad 
the Elder, who seized him by the hand, and 
placed him beside him. The remaining 
princes followed on the same side, and the 
people shouted their applause. Frederic 
of Lorraine and the archbishop of Cologne 
alone were discontented, and quitted the 



138 



INTERNAL PEACE 



I— ITALY— ERNEST. 



assembly ; but when they beheld the una- 
nimity of all the others, and that the 
younger Conrad had at once acceded to the 
choice made, they became reconciled, and 
returning, rendered homage with the rest 
of the princes. 

The new king was now conducted to 
Mentz, to be there solemnly anointed and 
crowned. On the road to the church, the 
procession was stopped by the number of 
petitioners, who prayed for justice. The 
bishops became impatient, but Conrad 
listened tranquilly to their prayers and 
said, " To exercise justice, whether it be 
convenient to me or not, is my first duty." 
These words were heard with joy by all 
around ; thence great hopes were formed 
of the new king, and Conrad did not disap- 
point them. He commenced his reign by 
visiting all parts of Germany ; he prac- 
tised justice, restored order, and showed so 
much strict judgment, combined with mercy, 
that all united in one opinion, that no king 
since Charlemagne had so well merited to 
occupy his seat upon the imperial throne. 
Robbers he punished so severely, that 
now there was more general security 
than had been known for a long period, 
while commerce flourished once again. He 
secured for himself and his race the voice 
of the people, by promoting the develop- 
ment of the municipal institutions by every 
possible means. 

Thus did he govern his kingdom inter- 
nally. In his foreign relations, he labored 
equally for the dignity and greatness of 
Germany. Shortly after the commence- 
ment of his reign, he advanced into Italy, 
where in Milan he was crowned king of 
Italy, and subsequently in Rome, emperor. 
The festival was rendered more august 
by the presence of two kings, Rudolphus 
of Burgundy, and the great Canute, king 
of England and Denmark. With the 
latter, Conrad formed a strict friendship ; 
he united his son, Henry, with his daughter, 
Kunihilda, and regulated also with him the 
limits between Germany and Denmark, so 
that the river Eider, between Holstein and 
Silesia, became the boundary of both coun- 
tries. He thus gave up, it is true, the 
margraviate of Silesia ; but the country 
was difficult to defend, and Conrad was the 
gainer in other respects. Henry II. had al- 
ready concluded an hereditary alliance with 
King Rudolphus of Burgundy, so that after 
his death Burgundy should fall to Germany. 



Conrad renewed the treaty, and after the 
death of Rudolphus he took actual posses- 
sion of that country, although a portion of 
the Burgundians had called forward Count 
Odo, of Champagne, whom, however, Con- 
rad drove back, and was forthwith recog- 
nised as king. This kingdom comprised 
the beautiful districts of the southeast of 
France, which were afterwards called 
Provence, Dauphiny, Franche-Comte, and 
Lyons, together with Savoy, and a portion 
of Switzerland, thus placing Germany, by 
means of the important sea-ports of Mar- 
seilles and Toulon, in connection with the 
Mediterranean : an important acquisition, 
which, however, afterwards, in the times of 
weaker emperors, became neglected, and 
fell into the hands of the French. 

Conrad, however, was forced to experi- 
ence, that this very acquisition of Burgun- 
dy became a subject of dissension in his own 
family, and thence a source of vexation to 
himself. His step-son, Ernest, duke of 
Swabia, (the son of his queen, Gisella, by 
her former husband Herman, duke of 
Swabia,) considered he possessed the first 
right to the crown of Burgundy, because 
his mother was the niece of Rudolphus, 
king of Burgundy. Dissatisfied with Con- 
rad's conduct, in getting this territory an- 
nexed to the German empire, he deserted 
him in the Italian campaign, excited dissen- 
sion against him in Germany, and was in 
hopes, by the aid of his friends, to invade 
and conquer Burgundy. Conrad, however, 
hastened back, disappointed him in his ef- 
forts, and as Ernest could not succeed in 
gaining over the Swabian vassals to his 
purpose, he was forced to surrender at dis- 
cretion, and his step-father sent him a pris- 
oner to the strong castle of Giebichenstein, 
in Thuringia. After an imprisonment of 
three years, he set him at liberty, and of- 
fered to restore him to his duchy, if he 
would deliver up to him his friend and 
principal accomplice, Count Werner, of 
Kyburg. This, however, Ernest hesitated 
and finally refused to do, and he was ac- 
cordingly deposed ; and at a diet of the 
princes and nobles of the empire, he was 
banished the country, together with all his 
partisans. He fled for refuge to his cousin, 
Count Odo, of Champagne, accompanied by 
Count Werner, and a few faithful friends ; 
but soon afterwards returned, while his fa- 
ther was on an expedition against the Hun- 
garians, concealed himself among the cav- 



DEATH OF ERNEST— CONRAD'S DEATH— HENRY III. 



139 



erns of the Black Forest, and once more 
endeavored to gain adherents in Swabia. 
But the bishop of Constance, as administra- 
tor of the duchy for Gisella's second son 
Herman, (yet a minor,) to whom Conrad 
had transferred it, sent Count Mangold, of 
Vehringen, against him, when both armies 
met, (1030,) and fought a severe battle, 
until both Ernest and Werner, together 
with Mangold, were killed. The adven- 
tures of Duke Ernest became the subject 
of many heroic lays and legends ; and the 
most wonderful deeds performed by his 
army were connected with his name, and 
eventually, collected together by later poets, 
formed one entire work. Meantime, the 
campaign undertaken by the emperor 
against the Hungarians proved triumphant, 
and he obliged Stephen, their king, to sign 
a favorable treaty of peace. He forced, 
also, to their former obedience the Slavo- 
nian and Vandalian tribes, who were still 
seated on the Oder, and northward on the 
Elbe ; and Hamburg, which they had de- 
stroyed, raised itself by degrees from its 
ruins. 

The emperor was also a zealous promo- 
ter of the institution whereby the church 
sought to set some limits to the rude force 
of the faust-recht — namely, that of the 
Peace of God. From Wednesday evening 
at sunset until sunrise on Monday morning, 
all feuds were to cease, no sword be raised, 
and universal security protect the affairs of 
life. He who should transgress against 
the peace of God, (treuga or treva Dei,) 
was to be punished with the heaviest ban. 
Odilo, of Clugny, is named as the origina- 
tor of this institution, and the clergy of 
Burgundy and the Low Countries, where 
the most sanguinary feuds prevailed, with 
the consent of Conrad, first united them- 
selves, in the year 1033, for this purpose. 

Conrad returned sickly from his second 
expedition into Italy, wherein disease re- 
duced his army; and his own stepson, 
Herman of Swabia, and Kunihilda, the 
young consort of his son Henry, the daugh- 
ter of the Danish king, both died there. 
He himself never thoroughly recovered, 
and died at Utrecht, in 1039. His biogra- 
pher, Wippo, thus speaks of him: — "I 
should expose myself to the charge of flat- 
tery, were I to relate how generous, how 
steadfast, how undaunted, how severe to- 
wards the bad, how good towards the vir- 
tuous, how firm against the enemy, and 



how unwearied and urgent in affairs he 
was, when the welfare of the empire de- 
manded it." 

His consort, Gisella, one of the most no- 
ble of German women, and who loved him 
most tenderly, refused every consolation, 
and mourned her husband in the convent of 
Kaufungen, near Cassel, until her death. 
The corpse of the emperor was brought to 
Spires, and deposited in the noble cathedral 
which he himself had founded. 

This emperor had evidently formed the 
idea, which may be called the fundamental 
idea of the whole Salic imperial race — 
namely, to raise the imperial power of 
Germany to the most unlimited extent, to 
restrict the dominion of the princes within 
narrow bounds ; and, in order to complete 
this, he endeavored to gain, by every favor, 
the assistance of the inferior vassals, who 
had almost become slaves to them. To 
this tended an important law, (constitutio 
de feudis,) which Conrad made in the year 
1037, on his second expedition to Italy, for 
that country, and which was soon after- 
wards transferred to Germany, namely — 
that feudal estates, which had belonged to 
the father, should not be taken capriciously 
from the sons, but only in criminal cases, 
decided by tribunals composed of their co- 
vassals. Thereby he prepared for the 
lesser vassals the full right of property ; so 
that from them there must necessarily 
have arisen a distinct, free order, for the 
support of the emperor against the greater 
vassals. These, on the contrary, and par- 
ticularly the dukes, he sought to bring 
back to their old condition of mere imperial 
functionaries; and even gave the duchies 
of Swabia, Bavaria, and Franconia, to his 
son Henry, who seemed fully adapted to 
carry still farther his great and extensive 
plan. Had success attended it, Germany 
would have become earlier what France 
became later, an undivided, powerful em- 
pire. But the Salic race was stayed in its 
mid-career, partly by its own fault, and 
partly by the rapid rising of the papal chair, 
whose authority developed itself with as- 
tonishing energy, and whose victory over 
his grandson, Henry IV., the powerful 
Conrad certainly had not anticipated. 

Conrad's son, Henry, or the black, whom 
the Germans had chosen during his father's 
life, was twenty-two years of age ; but the 
hopes formed of him were great, and they 
proved not unfounded. Like his father, 



140 



ITALY— THE GERM. 



AN POPES— LEO IX. 



he was of a high mind and a determined 
will, obstinate and firm, and at the same 
time eloquent and well-informed, for the 
prudent Gisella had early induced him to 
cultivate his mind as much as possible by 
reading, although at that time books were 
very scarce. No emperor since Charle- 
magne maintained more vigorously the im- 
perial dignity in Italy, Germany, and the 
neighboring lands, or ruled more power- 
fully within the limits of his extensive em- 
pire. What served to increase his great 
fame was, that he so humbled the wild 
Hungarians, who a hundred years before 
were the terror of Germany, that the Hun- 
garian nobility, after a lost battle, took the 
oath of allegiance to him in the city of 
Stuhlweissen, in the year 1044, and that 
Peter, their king, re-established by Henry, 
received the country as a feud from him, 
by means of a golden lance. It is true this 
was no durable subjection ; still the act of 
itself is suniciently glorious for Henry, 
while thereby he gained a portion of 
Hungary, from Kahlenburg to Leitha, 
which he united with the marches of Aus- 
tria. 

The king then, in 1046, turned his at- 
tention towards Italy, to settle the great 
disorders existing there. There three popes 
held their sway at once : Benedict IX., 
Sylvester III., and Gregory IV. Henry, 
in order to be wholly impartial, convoked 
a council at Sutri. Here they were all 
three deposed, as irregularly elected; and 
then, in Rome, at the desire of the collec- 
tive clergy and nobility, Henry, who, fol- 
lowing the example of Charlemagne, had 
received the dignity of patrician for him- 
self and successors, made a German, Suid- 
ger, bishop of Bamberg, pope, who took 
the name of Clement II. ; and at the 
Christmas festival, 1046, he crowned Hen- 
ry emperor. Subsequently, Henry gave 
the Romans three- successive popes, for 
they were obliged to promise him, as they 
had done to Otho, to acknowledge no pope 
without the imperial sanction. 

After these, the papal chair was filled 
by two more German popes, and these six 
pontiffs from Germany : Clement II., Dama- 
sus II., Leo IX., Victor II., Stephen X., 
and Nicholas II., who succeeded each other 
in very quick, but uninterrupted rotation, 
labored with one concurring mind for the 
good of the church, and raised it again 
from the ruinous state into which it had 



been thrown, through dissension in Rome 
itself, the immoral conduct practised by 
many of the clergy, and the purchase of 
spiritual offices for money. Thus they 
paved the way for the plans of that spir- 
itual dominion of the world, which Hilde- 
brand, or Pope Gregory VII., afterwards 
succeeded in executing. In our subsequent 
history of this celebrated pope, we shall 
allude farther to this question. Here, 
however, we must at once say, for the hon- 
or of these German pontiffs, that by their 
efforts, influenced by a noble and firm 
mind, and true zeal towards promoting the 
purity and dignity of the church, they must 
be classed as the precursors in the reforms 
eventually introduced. Leo. IX. (formerly 
Bruno, bishop of Toul, and a relation of 
the emperor Henry III.) was especially 
to be esteemed as a man of the most elevat- 
ed moral virtue and true nobleness of mind. 
His humility was so great, that after he was 
elected pope, he left his bishopric of Toul 
for Rome on foot, and with the pilgrim's staff 
in hand, he journeyed all the distance thus 
lowly, accompanied by Hildebrand, then 
chaplain to the deposed pope, Gregory VI., 
in whom Leo had already recognised a man 
of extraordinary genius. 

His zeal for the purification of the church 
urged him forthwith to operate against the 
prevailing system of Simonism, or the pur- 
chasing of spiritual offices with money, and 
the immoral life led by the clergy. He 
presided at three councils which were con- 
voked for this purpose, in Rome, Rheims, 
and Mentz ; and he succeeded in bringing 
to bear, within a year, the most important 
reforms. He then travelled from the one 
country of Christendom to the other, wher- 
ever his presence was most necessary, in 
order to promote and establish personally 
the purification of the church. He died in 
the year 1054, too soon for the great work 
he had in hand ; but his successors con- 
tinued to complete what he had commenced 
according to his grand plan. 

Meantime, in Germany, Henry ruled as 
a wise and powerful sovereign. He aban- 
doned, certainly, to other princes, the 
duchies which he himself formerly possess- 
ed, but only to such as were rulers of very 
limited power, and who received, it is true, 
the name but not the ancient prerogative 
of duke, as viz. : Bavaria to Henry of the 
house of Luxemburg, and, after him, to 
Conrad, of the Palatinate ; Carinthia to 



HENRY'S PERSONAL COURAGE— HIS DEATH. 



141 



Guelf, son of Guelf, the Swabian count ; 
Swabia itself to Otho, count palatine, on 
the Rhine. In Swabia, the Guelfic house 
was very powerful, and would therefore 
willingly have possessed the duchy ; but 
it was precisely for that reason, that Henry 
placed Count Guelf in Carinthia, in order 
that the duke might not possess great here- 
ditary lands in the country. Thus he acted 
as he pleased with the imperial dignities, 
while he favored the inheritance of the 
smaller fiefs. Upper Lorraine passed 
through him to Count Albert, of Longwy, 
an ancestor of the present Austrian house. 

It was about this time that Henry gave 
a striking proof of his personal courage, 
for at an interview which took place be- 
tween him and King Henry of France, 
near Mentz, in the year 1056, a dispute 
arose between them, and the latter king 
charged him with a breach of his word. 
As it beseemed, Henry replied only by 
casting his gauntlet down before the king, 
who, however, during the following night, 
retired within his frontiers. Nothing could 
be more pleasing to the Germans than 
this chivalrous bearing of their emperor. 

Henry now returned to Saxony, where 
his favorite seat Goslar lay, in the Hartz, 
and which he raised to a considerable 
city. We must not wonder that a king of 
the Frankish race should fix his seat in 
Saxony, considering that he did so on ac- 
count of its rich mines, which existed 
close to this said Goslar, in the Hartz. 
Mines, in those times, were the exclusive 
property of the emperor. In Goslar, 
Henry built a fortress, a palace, churches, 
and ramparts round the town, and he 
obliged the Saxons of the surrounding 
country to render excessive service. This 
increased the ill-will they felt at seeing an 
imperial fortress thus suddenly created in 
their country ; and although under so se- 
vere and powerful an enemy, they could 
not give utterance to their thoughts, it 
nevertheless produced the more bitter fruits 
for his son. Henry died suddenly, in the 
year 1056, at Bothfeld, near Blankenburg, 
at the foot of the Hartz, (whither he had 
gone to hunt,) in the prime of life, be ; ing 
only thirty-seven years old, and in the 
midst of great plans which he formed for 
the future. 

This emperor was strictly and bigotedly 
pious, notwithstanding his strong mind and 
sternness of will. He never placed his 



crown upon his head without having pre- 
viously confessed, and received from his 
confessor permission to wear it. He like- 
wise subjected himself to the expiatory 
penalties and punishments of the church, 
and often submitted his body to be scourg- 
ed by his priests. Thus the rude and 
barbarous manners of those times held in 
no contempt corporeal chastisement — as 
practised among them to curb the violence 
of passion — even when inflicted upon the 
body by the sufferer's own lash. 

Henry III. may, nevertheless, be named 
among those emperors who have proved 
the cultivation of their own mind, by their 
love for the sciences, by their predilection 
in favor of distinguished men, and by their 
promotion of intellectual perfection gene- 
rally. Ever since he had received the 
poem addressed to him in Latin by Wippo, 
(the biographer of his father.) in which he 
encouraged him to have the children of the 
secular nobles educated in the sciences, 
he continued to evince the greatest inter- 
est in the erection of schools. Those of 
Liege, Lobbes, Gemblours, Fulda, Pader- 
born, St. Gallen, Reichenau, &e. 3 flour- 
ished especially under his reign ; and it 
was in the two last-mentioned schools that 
Herman le Contracte, one of the most 
learned men of that time, received his 
education. This extraordinary philoso- 
pher was, from his childhood, such a crip- 
ple, that he could only be conveyed from 
one place to another in a portable chair. 
He wrote also with the greatest difficulty, 
and stammered so painfully to hear, that 
his pupils required a long time before they 
could understand him ; while, however, 
he was so admired and sought after by 
them, that they flocked to him in multi- 
tudes from all parts. His chronicles be- 
long to the most distinguished historical 
sources, including the first division of the 
11th century. 

The sciences and the arts under Henry 
III. progressed to an extent by no means 
unimportant ; and if much became neg- 
lected under the long and turbulent reign 
of his successor, Henry IV., still the foun- 
dation was then laid for that glorious de- 
velopment which is presented to us in the 
after-times, under the reign of the Hohen- 
staufens. 

The princes had already recognised the 
succession of Henry's son immediately on 
his birth. Unfortunately for the empire, 



142 



HENRY IV.— THE ARCHBISHOPS. 



upon the death of his father the young 
king was only a child six years old. 

His education and the government of 
the realm were at first in the hands of his 
excellent mother Agnes, who, however, 
was not in a condition to retain the nobles 
of the empire in dependence, and thus 
complete the father's work. She sought 
rather by favoring some of them to ac- 
quire support for her government, and 
therefore gave Swabia, and at the same 
time the dominion of Burgundy, to Count 
Rudolphus of Rheinfelden, and Bavaria to 
Otho of Nordheim, confirming the grant 
with a dangerous clause, viz., that these 
dignities should remain hereditary in their 
houses. Henry, bishop of Augsburg, 
possessed especially her confidence, but 
this speedily caused envy and jealousy. 
At the head of the discontented stood the 
Archbishop Hanno of Cologne, an ambi- 
tious and prudent, but austere and severe 
man. In order to gain possession of the 
young king, and thereby of the govern- 
ment, he went at Easter in 1062 to Kaiser- 
werth on the Rhine, where at that moment 
the court of the empress was assembled, 
and after the dinner he persuaded the 
boy to go and view a particularly beauti- 
ful vessel, recently built. He had scarce- 
ly, however, got on board, when the sail- 
ors, at a signal given by the archbishop, 
loosened her moorings, and rowed to the 
middle of the Rhine, which so much ter- 
rified the youth, that he suddenly jumped 
into the river, and would certainly have 
been drowned had not Count Eckbert of 
Brunswick sprung after him and saved 
him at the hazard of his life. He was 
cheered up, and many fair promises being 
held out to him, he was thus decoyed 
away and taken to Cologne. His mother 
was much alarmed and grieved, and when 
she perceived that the German princes had 
no longer confidence in her, she determined 
to conclude her life in quiet retirement, 
and went to Rome. 

The Archbishop Hanno, in order that it 
might not appear as if he wanted to retain 
the highest power in his own hands, made 
an order that the young king should dwell 
by turns in the different countries of Ger- 
many, and that the bishop, in whose dio- 
cese he dwelt, should, for the time being, 
have the protectorship and the chief govern- 
ment of the kingdom. His chief object, 
however, was to get the mind of the prince 



under his own control, but in this he could 
not succeed. His character and manner 
were not such as to gain the heart of the 
youth, for he was severe, haughty, and 
authoritative, and as it is related of him, 
that he even applied the scourge with seve- 
rity to his father, the powerful Henry the 
Black, it may likewise be presumed that 
he often treated the youth very roughly. 
Among the remaining bishops there was 
one who was a very different man, as am- 
bitious as Hanno, but subtle and flattering, 
and who gained the youth by granting all 
his wishes : this was the Archbishop Adal- 
bert of Bremen. This ambitious man 
wished to unite the whole of the north of 
Germany into one great ecclesiastical do- 
minion, and to place himself at its head as 
a second pope. In fact he was already in- 
vested almost with the authority and dignity 
of a patriarch of the north ; for by his zeal- 
ous efforts to propagate Christianity there, 
many bishoprics had been founded in the 
Slavonic countries, such as Ratzeburg and 
Mecklenburg, as well as several churches 
in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. He 
hated the temporal princes, because they 
stood in the way of these objects, and in 
order to suppress them he wished to raise 
the imperial power to unlimited despotism. 
Hanno of Cologne and his confederates 
stood in the most decided opposition to him 
in this view, for they endeavored to raise 
the dignity of the princes upon the ruins of 
the empire ; and thus both parties, without 
any reserve, went passionately to extremes. 
While Hanno was on a journey to Rome, 
where he remained some time, Adalbert 
obtained entire possession of the young 
prince. Nothing worse could have hap- 
pened to the youth than to be subject to the 
influence of two such different men, and to 
this change of treatment so entirely opposite ; 
for after having been treated with the great- 
est severity, he was now allowed to sink by 
too great len^ and indulgence into dissi- 
pation and sensuality. 

Henry was distinguished for great mental 
as well as physical qualities ; he was en- 
dowed with daring and ardent courage, 
quickness of resolve, and a chivalric mind 
which might have been directed to the most 
noble objects. But now his active and 
fiery nature became transformed into a re- 
vengeful and furious disposition, and his 
elevated mind degenerated into selfish pride 
and domination. Besides which, he loved 



THE SAXONS— THEIR HOSTILITY. 



143 



sensual pleasures, and thence became often 
idle and careless. A good thought and a 
praiseworthy, honorable action in him 
changed speedily to an opposite character, 
because throughout his whole life he was 
wanting in a fixed leading principle where- 
on to base his actions. That steady calm 
repose and moderation, ever immutable, 
and which constitute the highest majesty of 
kings, were by him unattainable and never 
possessed ; and thus are reflected in his 
whole existence the dissimilar and even 
contradictory sentiments and principles of 
those by whom he was educated. 

It was strongly evinced and verified as a 
great truth in Henry IV., that according to 
our disposition and inward being, so is our 
fate. If the former be fixed and firm, our 
life as surely takes a fixed direction. But 
Henry's life was as unequal as his mind : 
the variation of good fortune with misfor- 
tune, elevation with abasement, and haugh- 
tiness with humiliation — such were the 
transitions of his life, even unto the mo- 
ment of his death. 

Adalbert had transplanted from his own 
soul to that of his pupil two feelings of the 
deepest aversion — the first was directed 
against all the princes generally, and the 
second against those of Saxony, and espe- 
cially the ducal house of Billung, and the 
whole Saxon people, with whom he had 
previously had many disputes relative to 
his archbishopric of Bremen. He there- 
fore impressed upon the mind of the young 
king, that as the princes, but chiefly those 
of Saxony, were striving for independence, 
he should reduce them by times to obedience 
and crush them. These principles embit- 
tered and destroyed the tranquillity of the 
king's whole life, for although the ambi- 
tious archbishop, after he had declared the 
king to be of age at Worms in 1065, was, 
by means of the princes, removed from 
Henry in the following year, his ward 
never forgot his instructions, and when, in 
1069, Adalbert again visited the court of 
the young monarch, he used all his former 
influence to strengthen and confirm him in 
this hatred. 

The Saxons speedily perceived the king's 
purpose of making their country imme- 
diately dependent on the crown ; for he 
dwelt chiefly at Goslar, and commenced 
building in the mountains of the Hartz and 
in Thuringia a multitude of fortresses, and 
manned them with garrisons, to enable 



them to curb the natives more easily. The 
same Benno (afterwards bishop of Osna- 
burg) who, under Henry III., upon the 
building of Goslar itself had already forced 
the Saxons into service, now superintended 
these buildings. The chief of these for- 
tresses was that of Hartzburg, near Gos- 
lar, Henry's favorite place, but an eye- 
sore to the Saxons. Murmurs passed 
around, and the people complained that 
the freedom they enjoyed from their ances- 
tors was about to be destroyed. It was also 
related, that while one day surveying the 
country around from a mountain in Saxony, 
the king exclaimed : " Saxony is indeed a 
beautiful country, but those who inhabit it 
are miserable serfs." 

There were two other causes which in- 
creased the discontent. Henry, as a child, 
had already been betrothed by his father 
to Bertha, the daughter of the margrave of 
Susa, in Italy, and he had afterwards 
married her. Now, however, he wished 
to be divorced from her, and as for this 
purpose he required the assistance of the 
spiritual princes, he accordingly sought to 
conciliate before all others the friendship 
of Sigfried, archbishop of Mentz. But as 
his passions always drove him blindly on 
to the object he was so anxious to grasp, so 
likewise the means he now employed to at- 
tain it were equally bad. He commanded 
and forced the Thuringians to pay to the 
archbishop the tithe of their goods which he 
had formerly claimed, and they had refused. 
Thus he had now made the Thuringians 
doubly his enemies. Meantime, however, 
owing to the opposition shown on the part 
of the pope, he was not divorced from the 
queen ; and subdued, shortly afterwards, 
by her noble and dignified conduct, his 
heart once more turned towards her, and 
she faithfully continued to share with him 
his good and bad fortune. 

Besides this, Henry treated the Saxon 
count, Otho of Nordheim, to whom his 
mother had given the duchy of Bavaria, 
so badly, that all the nobles, but chiefly 
those of Saxony, were highly exasperated. 
This Duke Otho was a friend of the arch- 
bishop of Cologne, and might probably 
thereby have become obnoxious to the king, 
or the latter perhaps turned the hatred he 
had imbibed from Adalbert against all the 
nobles, more particularly against Otho, 
upon whose arm the Saxon people chiefly 
depended. And when at this moment an 



144 HENRY'S INJUSTICE— THE 



SAXONS OVERPOWER HIM. 



accuser appeared, named Egino, (probably 
employed for that purpose,) and charged 
the duke with having tried to persuade him 
to assassinate the king, and Otho refused to 
do battle with him because he was not of 
the same rank, and bore besides a bad cha- 
racter, Henry, by an unjust sentence, de- 
posed him forthwith from his duchy of Ba- 
varia, and destroyed with fire and sword all 
his hereditary lands in Saxony. He gave 
his duchy of Bavaria (in 1070) to Guelf 
the Young (IV.) the son of the Italian Mar- 
grave Azzo, and the founder of the junior 
Guelfic house, the elder house having be- 
come extinct by the death of Duke Guelf 
of Carinthia in 1055. 

But in Otho of Nordheim he had now 
aroused for his whole life-time a most val- 
iant and inveterate enemy. He joined 
Count Magnus of Saxony, son of Duke 
Ordulf, a noble youth, bold and valiant in 
arms, and united himself with him ; but 
pressed by the royal forces, they were 
obliged to yield themselves both prisoners 
to Henry before they had hardly prepared 
themselves for battle. After the lapse of a 
year Henry set Otho at liberty, but he re- 
tained Magnus in prison in the Hartzburg, 
because he refused at his command to re- 
nounce his rights to his father's duchy ; and 
although Otho nobly offered to take his 
friend's place in prison, he refused to listen 
to him. Thence arose the natural conclu- 
sion, that it was the king's intention to take 
possession of the duchy of Saxony himself, 
and leave the young prince to die in cap- 
tivity. 

These circumstances were the origin of 
that deep and violent enmity between Hen- 
ry and the Saxons, and which prepared the 
most bitter and melancholy reverses for the 
king, and incited both parties to acts of the 
most implacable hatred and revenge. 

The Saxons, with Otho of Nordheim at 
their head, concluded with each other a 
close alliance. All the Saxon and Thu- 
ringian nobles, temporal and spiritual, be- 
longed to it, and among others, Burkhard, 
bishop of Halberstadt, who was a nephew 
of the archbishop of Cologne, and had im- 
bibed from the latter his hatred against the 
imperial misrule and ascendency. This 
was still the time when the clergy them- 
selves went into battle, and frequently 
fought at the head of their warlike hosts. 

Quite unexpectedly, and while Henry 
was at Goslar, in the year 1073, a deputa- 



tion from the Saxons came to him and de- 
manded of him as follows : " That he should 
destroy his fortresses in their country ; set 
Magnus, the heir of their Saxon duchy, free 
from his imprisonment ; not always remain 
in Saxony ; honor the ancient constitution 
of the country ; and in imperial affairs not 
give ear to bad advisers, but take counsel 
of the states. If he would perform these 
conditions," they added, "no nation in Ger- 
many would be found more faithful and 
devoted to him than that of the Saxons." 
Henry, however, dismissed the deputation 
with contempt. The Saxons, accordingly, 
now brought into speedy effect and imme- 
diate execution the threatened consequen- 
ces, and advanced towards Goslar with 
60,000 men. Henry fled with his treasures 
to the strong fortress of Hartzburg, and as 
the enemy speedily followed him, he took 
to flight and sought refuge amid great 
danger in the Hartz mountains. He was 
obliged, for three days, to wander without 
food and drink, and with but few compan- 
ions, under the guidance of a yager, imagin- 
ing in every whisper of the wind passing 
along the tops of the firs, to hear the steps 
of his pursuers. At last he reached Esch- 
wege, on the river Werra. From thence 
he went to the Rhine, towards Tribur, and 
sent messengers throughout the whole em- 
pire, summoning all to arms against the 
Saxons. But the Saxons wisely profited by 
the interval, destroyed fortress after for- 
tress, and took possession of the strong cas- 
tle of Luneburg with its whole garrison ; 
and which lucky circumstance they took 
advantage of to free their duke, Magnus, 
for they now demanded his freedom of the 
emperor under the threat, that, if not grant- 
ed, they would hang up the whole garrison 
of Luneburg as robbers. Henry was obliged 
therefore, however unwillingly, to yield 
and set Magnus at liberty, together with 
seventy other nobles and knights. The 
monarch's humiliation, however, did not 
end here, for he was now likewise deserted 
by the princes of Southern Germany, and 
even the archbishop of Mentz, on whose 
account he had made so many enemies, 
left him. A circumstance also occurred 
at this moment which formed a parallel 
case with that of Egino and Otho of Nord- 
heim, only that here the king was made 
out to be the assassin. Reginger, a knight 
and former favorite of Henry, now came 
forward and made public that " the king 



HIS REVENGE— DEFEATS THE SAXONS. 



145 



had employed him to murder the Dukes 
Rudolphus of Swabia and Berthold of Ca- 
rinthia." This statement might possibly 
have been a mere manoeuvre of the enemy, 
in order to prejudice public opinion against 
Henry, similar to that which he had him- 
self previously employed against Otho of 
Nordheim. But it was equally successful, 
for it was even proposed to elect a new 
king, and the ungrateful Archbishop Sig- 
fried convoked the princes for that purpose 
to hold a diet at Mentz. 

In this emergency, when all his friends 
had deserted him, the citizens of Worms 
alone remained faithful to the king. They 
opened their gates to him against the will 
of their archbishop, offered him men and 
arms, and by their generous attachment 
and fidelity again restored his despondent 
mind, and as far as their means admitted 
they wholly supported him, no one else at- 
tempting to assist him. At this period, 
certain cities in Germany already began 
to have a voice in the imperial diets, and 
they became the chief support of imperial 
authority against the princes ; thence we 
see how much, by industry and activity, 
they must have increased since the time of 
Henry I., both in the number and in the 
wealth of their inhabitants. But the faith- 
ful people of Worms could not defend him 
against the entire power of all the accu- 
mulated evils which now hung over his 
head. He was obliged, in order not to 
lose his crown, to make hard terms of 
peace with the Saxons in 1074, and to de- 
liver up to them all his fortresses, even his 
beloved Hartzburg. After contemplating 
it with sorrow and regret for the last time, 
as, in the midst of the Saxons, he rode to 
Goslar, he once more, and even most ear- 
nestly entreated them to grant its preserva- 
tion, but the proud fortress was doomed to 
fall, and in its destruction hatred raged so 
furiously, that the embittered populace, 
without even the knowledge or consent of 
the princes, plundered and burnt both its 
church and altar, tore open the imperial 
tombs, and desecrated the remains of Hen- 
ry's brother and infant son. 

But the Saxons very soon experienced 
that the most dangerous enemy to good for- 
tune is the arrogance of our own heart ; 
and one of those singular chancres of for- 
tune which distinguished Henry's entire 
reign now suddenly displayed itself. He 
had well learned by this time, that men must 
19 



I be differently treated to the fashion Adal- 
bert had taught him, and that in order to 
I conquer a people, something more is neces- 
j sary than building isolated fortresses in 
j their country. Accordingly he now began 
to address the German princes in a very 
i opposite manner to what he had hitherto 
| done ; he sought to gain them individually. 
' especially as their assemblies were in gen- 
l eral prejudicially opposed to him, and for 
i this purpose he employed a different but 
| more suitably-adapted means with each of 
them separately. To all of them he com- 
plained bitterly of the shameful and revolt- 
■ ing destruction of Hartzburg, and as soon 
: as the public voice became more favorable 
! towards him, he issued a general summons 
against the Saxons. This time obedience 
: immediately followed, and a strong army 
was speedily collected both of knights and 
vassals, from all parts of the kingdom, 
even from Bohemia and Lorraine, an army 
i such as had not been seen for a long time, 
! while the Saxons, who had only hastily 
; assembled a few troops, and by the arti- 
: rices of the king had become disunited 
among themselves, were severely beaten, 
in 10T5, near Hohenburg, not far from 
Langensalza, on the river Unstrut. Henry 
| pursued the fugitives as far as Magdeburg 
i and Halberstadt, and desolated their coun- 
; try with fire and sword. His vengeance 
| was terrific, like all his ungovernable pas- 
sions. But in the following year, the other 
| princes, who would not suffer the poor peo- 
j pie to be entirely destroyed, stepped be- 
tween as mediators. Henry granted the 
Saxons a peace after their nobles had 
humbly knelt to him before all the army ; 
I but instead of effecting a complete recon- 
ciliation by a full pardon, he, contrary to 
the promise he gave through his ambassa- 
dors, retained many of the Saxon nobles as 
prisoners, and made over their fiefs to his 
vassals. The most dangerous of all their 
j princes, however, Otho of Nordheim, he 
allowed to return to his estates, and even 
appointed him administrator over Saxony. 
He caused all the destroyed fortresses, in- 
cluding Hartzburg, to be rebuilt, erected 
additional ones, and had them garrisoned 
by his own troops, who, as before, oppress- 
ed the land by arrogance and extortion ; 
thus the seeds of future revolt were again 
planted in this quarter, while from an op- 
posite direction an enemy presented him- 
self, far more powerful, and who fought 



146 



POPE GREGORY VII.— REFORMS THE CHURCH. 



against him with very different weapons to 
those of the Saxons. 

Hildebrand (afterwards Gregory VII.) 
was the son of a carpenter at Saone, an 
Italian city. He entered the clerical state, 
and as he possessed extraordinary mental 
powers, he was taken by Pope Leo IV., in 
the reign of Henry III., from the monas- 
tery of Clugny to Rome, and there made 
sub-deacon of the Roman church, and af- 
terwards chancellor ; henceforward he 
alone directed the government of the popes, 
and became the soul of the pontifical court. 
His object was to raise the pope above all 
the princes and kings of the earth, and 
this aim he pursued during his whole life 
with so much prudence, constancy, power, 
and greatness of mind, that he must be 
placed among the most extraordinary men 
in the history of his times. When he first 
appeared great misuses had crept in among 
the higher and lower clergy ; the majority 
purchased their holy offices with gold, 
whereby unworthy men could attain to 
high and important places. Immorality, 
dissipation, and vices of every kind were 
not rare among them, and as they were 
the slaves of their own sins, so also by 
their love for temporal possessions they at- 
tached themselves to temporal princes, who 
rewarded them with their possessions. Hil- 
debrand therefore resolved, inspired as he 
was for the freedom of the church and the 
morality of the clerical order, to lay the 
axe to the root of these evils. 

His first endeavors were very justly 
directed against the purchase of spiritual 
offices with gold, which was called the 
crime of simony (in reference to the his- 
tory of Simon the magician, related in the 
Acts of the Apostles, viii. 18-24) and was 
considered a sin against the Holy Ghost. 
It is shown with what moral power and 
superiority of mind he knew how to influ- 
ence men, in the example of an archbish- 
op of France, who was charged with this 
crime, but had cunningly gained over the 
informers by gold. Hildebrand, so says 
the original document, sat as representa- 
tive of the pope in judgment upon the af- 
fair. The archbishop then stepped boldly 
into the assembly and said, " Where are 
they who charge me ? Let him step forth 
who will condemn me !" The bribed com- 
plainants were silent. Hildebrand then 
turned himself to him and said : " Dost 
thou believe that the Holy Ghost with Fa- 



ther and Son are one being ?" To which 
the other replied : " I believe it." He now 
commanded him to repeat : " Honor the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," and 
while the archbishop was pronouncing the 
words, he looked at him with such a pier- 
cing, penetrating glance, that the conscience 
of the convicted clergyman was so struck 
with his guilt, that he was unable to add 
" The Holy Ghost," although he several 
times tried it. This was considered a di- 
vine judgment. The archbishop fell at 
his judge's feet, acknowledged his crime, 
and confessed himself unworthy to hold the 
priestly office ; after which confession he 
was enabled to repeat those words with a 
distinct voice. This circumstance worked 
so powerfully upon the minds of the people, 
that twenty-seven other churchmen and 
several bishops, as yet unaccused, laid 
down their offices, because they had ac- 
quired them with gold. 

In order, therefore, that the clergy should 
now be made entirely free from the tem- 
poral power, it became essential that the 
head of the church should no longer be 
named by the emperor, but be appointed 
by a free election. This had been dif- 
ferently settled at the time that Henry III. 
caused the promise to be made to him, that 
the Romans should acknowledge no pope 
without the imperial sanction, and under 
this emperor Hildebrand probably would 
not have carried his object. But he now 
took advantage of the moment while the 
new emperor was still a child, and suc- 
ceeded in the year 1059, under Pope 
Nicholas II., in having a law made, that 
every pope should be chosen by the cardi- 
nals, but with the clause that the sanction 
or confirmation of the emperor should be 
added, as it was only in subsequent times 
that endeavors were made even to abolish 
this decree, and to put a false construction 
upon the law of Pope Nicholas. 

When Hildebrand as chancellor had, by 
this and other regulations, prepared every 
thing for his great object, he was himself 
elected pope in the year 1073, and called 
himself Gregory VII., in order thus to de- 
clare the deposition of Gregory VI. by 
Henry III. as invalid. The emperor Henry 
IV., who now ruled the empire himself, 
sent his faithful adherent, Count Eberhard, 
to Rome, to demand of the Romans why 
they had dared without the imperial per- 
mission to elect a pope. Gregory, who 



GREGORY AND THE INVESTITURE. 



147 



did not wish at this moment to commence 
the dispute with the emperor, excused 
himself by the plea that the people had 
forced him to receive the papal dignity, 
but that he had not allowed himself to be 
ordained before he had received the sanc- 
tion of the emperor and of the German 
princes. With this excuse Henry was 
contented, and the pope was confirmed. 
Henry thus showed, that in the blindness 
of his fury against the Saxons, he had not 
at all perceived that all this time the de- 
gradation of all temporal dominion, and 
the elevation of a spiritual empire, was 
now being gradually prepared in Rome. 

Gregory now stepped forth with new and 
very severe laws against simony, and 
against the marriage of priests. He de- 
sired, like the earlier popes and fathers, 
that the priests of the church should con- 
secrate themselves wholly to the divine 
service, restrain themselves from all sen- 
suality, and not even chain themselves to the 
love of the earth's possessions by the mar- 
riage tie. It is true that in Italy, as well 
as in France and Germany, this prohibi- 
tion found at first great opposition among 
the clergy, for many of them, particularly 
among the lower clergy, were already 
married, but Gregory found in the people 
themselves the support necessary for the 
execution of his law. The populace, ex- 
cited against the married priests, forced 
them, partly through the severest misusage, 
to separate themselves from their wives, 
j but it lasted a full century before the celi- 
V bacy of the clergy was fully established. 
The attainment of this object was of the 
greatest importance to Gregory for the 
completion of his extensive plans ; for if 
the clergy throughout all Christian coun- 
tries were no longer bound by their do- 
mestic cares and anxiety for their children, 
and were made independent of the tempo- 
ral lords, the pope would thereby gain so 
many thousand more zealous servants, who 
would listen only to his command, and con- 
tribute to fix firmly the dominion of the 
church over all temporal power. But in 
order to possess such servants they must 
be rendered still more independent, and 
not receive, even in any shape, their tern-* 
poral possessions from the hands of princes 
as a fief; for the same as the lay vassals 
received a banner as a mark of their ser- 
vices, so also the grand ecclesiastical dig- 
nitaries received from the princes as a 



similar sign, a ring and a shepherd's crook, 
which thus formed the investiture. Greg, 
ory, therefore, prohibited the clergy from 
receiving this said symbol of investiture 
from the hands of the nobles ; and he in- 
sisted that for their elevation they were to 
be beholden to the papal chair alone, and 
only to the pope were they to swear the 
oath of obedience. According to this prin- 
ciple, the pontiff necessarily became sover- 
eign lord of one third of all the property 
in the Catholic countries. 

Such then is the commencement of the 
long and violent dispute of investiture, and 
especially of the contest between the em- 
peror and the pope, the state and the church, 
and which by degrees weakened and de- 
stroyed both. We have already noticed 
previously that the peaceful co-operation 
of both the papal and imperial dignity 
might have formed a solid basis for the 
happiness of the people ; but now the epoch 
commenced when both these powers strove 
singly to rise more elevated than the other. 
For if, on the one hand, the pope wished to 
reign not only in spiritual but also in tem- 
poral affairs over all princes and kings, and 
was anxious to take away as well as to 
provide crowns, so, on the other hand, the 
emperor would not admit in just and rea- 
sonable cases the authority of the pope, but 
insisted he could rule with the edge of the 
sword even over invisible and spiritual af- 
fairs and the conscience of man. Thus the 
two powers which in concord together 
might have made the world happy, de- 
stroyed each other, and after a contest of a 
century and a half, and after unutter- 
able confusion and dissension in Germany 
and Italy, the imperial dignity lost its 
ancient splendor and its intrinsic power, 
while the head of the church became ex- 
ternally dependent upon a foreign power. 
In this schism great men stood opposed to 
each other, who might have exercised their 
energy and powers much more beneficially 
for society ; but this very contest neces- 
sarily entered into the great plan of the 
history of the world, and it prepared those 
developments which otherwise would not 
have followed. 

Pope Gregory continued to advance still 
farther in his principles. Not satisfied 
with having separated the church with all 
its endowments wholly from temporal do- 
minion, he also now solemnly declared that 
emperors, kings, and princes, together with 



148 



GREGORY THREATENS HENRY— HENRY DEPOSES GREGORY. 



all their power, were subject to the pope. 
These principles are especially expressed 
in his own letters : " The world," he says 
in one of them, " is guided by two lights : 
by the sun, the larger, and the moon, the 
lesser light. Thus the apostolic power re- 
presents the sun, and the royal power the 
moon ; for as the latter has its light from 
the former, so only do emperors, kings, and 
princes, receive their authority through the 
pope, because he receives his authority 
through God. Therefore, the power of the 
Roman chair is greater than the power of 
the throne, and the king is accordingly sub- 
ject to the pope, and bound in obedience to 
him. If the apostles in heaven can bind 
and loosen, so may they also upon earth 
give and take, according to merit, empires, 
kingdoms, principalities, duchies, and every 
other kind of possession. And if they be 
appointed as sovereign judges over spiritual, 
they must likewise be so, and far more in 
proportion, over temporal affairs ; and if, 
finally, they have the right to command an- 
gels, who are most assuredly placed above 
the most powerful monarchs, how much 
more may they not give judgment over the 
poor slaves of those angels. Besides, the j 
pope is the successor of the apostles, and j 
their representative upon the chair of St. 
Peter ; he is the vicar of Christ, and con- 1 
sequently placed over all." 

These principles Gregory resolved to j 
exercise generally, and first of all upon the 
emperor himself, as the head of the kings 
and princes, in order thereby to prove his 
power before the whole world. At the 
same time, Henry, living as he did in con- 
tinual dissension with his subjects, had less 
real power than any other king, while his 
name being greater, the victory over him 
must consequently become more glorious, 
and from the passionate character of this 
prince in all his proceedings, the pope 
soon found it easy to furnish a pretext. 
Complaints against the emperor came to 
Rome from every quarter, while the Sax- 
ons, likewise, bitterly complained because 
he still kept many of their princes prisoners. 
Gregory accordingly caused it to be sig- 
nified to the emperor, " That at the ensuing 
fast he must appear before the synod at 
Rome, to answer for the crimes laid to his 
charge ; otherwise, it was now made known 
to him, that he would be cast out from the 
bosom of the church by the apostolic ban." 

Henry was more indignant than terrified 



at these words, for the invisible power of 
the papal ban of excommunication had hith- 
erto been little proved. He assembled the 
German bishops at Worms, in the year 
1076, and there, with equal precipitation 
and impatience, he caused to be pronounced 
at once against the pope the same sentence 
of deposition with which the latter had 
threatened him. He then wrote him a let- 
ter of the following contents : 

" Henry, king, not by force, but by the 
sacred ordination of God, to Hildebrand — 
not the pope, but the false monk : 

" This greeting hast thou merited by the 
confusion thou hast spread throughout all 
classes of the church. Thou hast trampled 
under thy feet the ministers of the holy 
church, as slaves who know not what their 
lord does; and by that desecration hast 
thou won favor from the lips of the com- 
mon herd of people. We have long suf- 
fered this because we were desirous to 
maintain the honor of the . Roman chair. 
But^ou hast mistaken our forbearance for 
fear, and hast become emboldened to raise 
thyself abo^e the royal power, bestowed 
.upon us by God himself, and threatened to 
take it from us, as if we had received our 
dominion from thee. Thou hast raised thy- 
self upon the steps which are called cun- 
ning and deception, and which are accursed. 
Thou hast gained favor by gold, won 
power by favor, and by that power thou 
hast gained the chair of peace, from whence 
thou hast banished peace itself by arming 
the inferior against the superior. St. Pe- 
ter, the true pope, himself says : ' Fear God 
and honor the king !' but as thou dost not 
fear God, thou dost not honor me, his en- 
voy. Descend, therefore, thou that liest 
under a curse of excommunication by our 
and all bishops' judgment, descend ! Quit 
the apostolic seat thou hast usurped ! And 
then shall the chair of St. Peter be ascended 
by one who does not conceal, under the di- 
vine word, his arrogance. I, Henry, by 
God's grace, king, and all our bishops, say 
to thee, ' Descend, descend V " 

Upon this the pope held a council also, 
and not only pronounced the sentence of 
excommunication against Henry, but he 
cteposed him in the following words : " In 
the name of the Almighty God, I forbid to 
King Henry, the son of the Emperor Henry, 
who, with haughtiness unheard of, has 
arisen against the church, the government 
of the German and Italian empire, and ab- 



HENRY'S EXCOMMUNICATION— THE EMPEROR A FUGITIVE. 



149 



solve all Christians from the oath which 
they have made or will make to him, and 
forbid that any one serve him as king. And 
occupying thy office, holy Peter, I bind him 
with the bands of a curse, that all nations 
may learn that thou art the rock whereon 
the Son of God founded his church." 

When, at the Easter festival of the year 
10l6, Henry received, at Utrecht, the news 
of his excommunication, he immediately 
pronounced, on his part, through the vio- 
lent bishop, William of Utrecht, an ana- 
thema against Gregory ; and the bishops 
of Lombardy, the enemies of the pope, re- 
newed this anathema in a council assem- 
bled at Pavia, under the presidency of Wi- 
bert, archbishop of Ravenna. 

The impression made by these unheard- 
of events was varied, according to the dis- 
position and feelings of the people. The 
Saxons rejoiced, for their cause was now 
the cause of the church, and henceforward 
their usual shout of war was " Holy Peter !" 
while, throughout the empire generally, 
there was a division of parties ; every- 
where the cry was, " The pope for ever !" 
or, " The emperor for ever !" This was, 
indeed, a time of bitter contention, and ha- 
tred reigned throughout the whole country. 
Had the king been a good, irreproachable 
man, possessing the greatness of soul which 
can bind and rule the hearts, the power of 
the mere word would not have overcome 
him, for it was only from public opinion 
that this word received its force. But he 
had now numerous and bitter enemies, and 
his arrogance after conquering the Saxons 
had served to increase their number. Be- 
sides the Saxons, his conduct had like- 
wise made Rudolphus, duke of Swabia, ex- 
tremely hostile towards him, while the 
pope's legates exercised all their influence 
upon the minds of the people. Thence it 
happened that the majority of German 
princes assembled together at Tribur, on 
the Rhine, in order to elect a new emperor. 
Henry hastened to Oppenheim, in the vi- 
cinity, and at length, after many entreaties 
and vows of reform, he obtained from them 
an extension of one year's delay ; and it 
was decided that, in the mean time, the pope 
should be requested to come to Augsburg, 
and himself closely investigate the affair ; 
but if Henry, at the end of the year, was 
not freed from excommunication, they re- 
solved to proceed immediately to a fresh 
election. 



In this desperate state Henry formed 
quite an unexpected resolution. In the 
anxiety he experienced lest, in the diet at 
Augsburg, where his enemies constituted 
the majority of the members, nothing favor- 
able towards him should be determined 
upon, he set off himself, notwithstanding he 
possessed no means, and was obliged almost 
to beg for his support, (while likewise the 
princes still occupied the passes between 
Italy and Germany,) and resolved to cross 
the Alps, accompanied only by his consort 
and one faithful companion. He passed 
through Savoy, where he was furnished by 
his mother-in-law, the margravine of Susa, 
with a few more attendants, and as it was 
winter, and indeed so severe a winter that 
the Rhine, from Martinmas until the first 
of April, was completely frozen, the jour- 
ney over the mountains covered with snow 
and ice was, consequently, attended with 
immeasurable difficulties and danger, and 
the empress, wrapped up in an ox-hide, 
was obliged to be slidden down the preci- 
pitous paths of Mount Cenis by the guides 
of the country, hired for the purpose. He 
arrived at last in Italy, and his presence, 
to his astonishment, was hailed with joy ; 
for the report had already spread " that 
the emperor was coming to humiliate the 
haughty pope by the power of the sword." 
In Upper Italy a strong hatred had long 
been cherished against Gregory; the tem- 
poral lords were indignant at his recent re- 
gulations, and among the clergy there were 
many whom his laws against simony and 
the marriage of priests had made his ene- 
mies. Besides, many Italians, even the 
archbishops of Milan and Ravenna, had 
shared in the sentence of excommunication. 
Had Henry, therefore, not been too much 
dejected and disheartened by what he had 
experienced in Germany, he might speedily 
have acquired a numerous train of adhe- 
rents in Italy, to offer opposition to his mighty 
enemy, but he now had conciliation alone 
in view ; the pope, too, was at this moment 
on his journey to Germany, to meet the diet 
at Augsburg, and there to sit in judgment 
upon the king. Upon hearing, however, 
of Henry's sudden arrival in Italy, and not 
knowing as yet whether he was to expect 
good or bad from him, he deviated from his 
direct route, and proceeded to the strong 
castle of Canossa, there to gain an asylum 
with the Countess Matilda, the daughter 
and heiress of the rich Margrave Boniface, 



150 



THE EMPEROR AND THE POPE AT CANOSSA. 



of Tuscany, and who was a zealous friend 
of the papal chair ; having even, at this 
moment, privately made over to it all her 
inheritance. 

Matilda was the most powerful and influ- 
ential princess in Italy, and reigned as 
queen throughout Tuscany and Lombardy, 
while she was likewise equally distinguish- 
ed for her mental attainments and firmness 
of spirit, as well as for her piety and virtue. 
She contested with all her power, during a 
period of thirty years, for the elevation of 
the pontifical chair, having embraced this 
idea wiih all the strength of her natural 
character, and to which she was still more 
influenced by the new severe regulations 
adopted by Gregory VII., which so per- 
fectly agreed with her own austere and 
rigid principles of virtue. She was mar- 
ried to Gozelo, duke of Lower Lorraine, 
but they lived separated from each other, 
owing to their opinions being so completely 
different ; for while in Italy, where she 
ruled over the extensive possessions of her 
father and mother, she herself was busily 
occupied in the support of Gregory, her 
husband was doing all he could in aid of 
the emperor. 

Henry now turned himself therefore to 
the Princess Matilda, in order to get her to 
speak to the pope in his favor. The latter, 
at first, would by no means hear of a re- 
conciliation, but referred all to the decision 
of the diet ; at last, however, upon much 
entreaty, he yielded permission that Henry, 
in the garb of a penitent, covered with a 
shirt of hair, and with naked feet, might 
be received in the castle. As the emperor 
advanced within the outer gate it was im- 
mediately closed, so that his escort was 
obliged to remain outside the fortress, and 
he himself was now alone in the outer 
court, where, in January, 1077, in the 
midst of a severe and rigorous winter, he 
was obliged to remain three whole days 
barefooted and shivering with the cold. 
All in the castle were moved. Gregory 
himself writes in a letter, " That every 
one present had severely censured him, 
and said that his conduct more resembled ty- 
rannical ferocity than apostolic severity." 
The Countess Matilda, while vainly plead- 
ing for him, was affected even to burning 
tears of pity and grief, and Henry, in his 
distress, at length only prayed that he 
might at least be allowed to go out again. 
On the fourth of these dreadful days, the 



pope eventually admitted him before him 
and absolved him from excommunication ; 
but Henry was still forced to subscribe to 
the most severe conditions. He was obliged 
to promise to present himself at the day and 
place the pope should appoint, in order to 
hear whether he might remain king or not, 
and, meanwhile, he was to abstain from all 
exercise of the royal attributes and mo- 
narchal power. 

With shame and anger in his heart, 
Henry now withdrew, and as soon as the 
Italians and his old friends still under ex- 
communication perceived the disposition he 
now evinced towards the pope, they assem- 
bled around him, and he remained during 
the winter in Italy. 

His penetrating eye now perceived, dur- 
ing this his first visit to Italy, that the power 
of the pope was nowhere so weak as just in 
that very country of dissension and venal 
egotism ; and that whoever only understood 
the art of creating adherents by money, 
promises, and cunning, would very soon 
succeed in collecting together a considera- 
ble party to aid him against the court of 
Rome. The illusory awe he had hitherto 
felt for the papal power now vanished ; his 
former courage revived, and from this mo- 
ment he commenced with the sword, as well 
as the pen, a war which he sustained, dur- 
ing thirty years, with the greatest skill and 
determination, and in which he very often 
experienced the most decisive success. 

The German princes, however, were still 
his enemies, and availing themselves of his 
absence, held a diet at Forsheim in March, 
1077, and elected Rudolphus, duke of 
Swabia, as rival emperor. Germany be- 
came now again divided by violent dissen- 
sion ; for Henry also commanded a strong 
party, chiefly among the cities and those of 
the clergy, who were discontented with 
Gregory's church laws. He returned now 
to Germany ; war commenced, and for 
three years devastated many of the most 
beautiful countries of Germany. Rudol- 
phus was obliged to retire from Swabia, 
and marched to Saxony, the Saxon people 
and the valiant Otho of Nordheim being 
his warm supporters. Henry gave the 
duchy of Swabia, together with his daugh- 
ter, Agnes, to the bold and ambitious Count 
Frederic of Buren, who now removed his 
seat from the village of Buren, at the foot 
of the high Staufen, and fixed it upon the 
pinnacle of that mountain, where he built 



THE RIVAL EMPERORS AND POPES — DEATH OF RUDOLPIIUS. 151 



the Castle Hohenstaufen. Thus was laid 
the foundation of the greatness of this 
house, although, at the same time, it was 
a cause of enmity between the Hohen- 
staufens and the other noble houses in the 
vicinity, who envied the good fortune of this 
new race, and thought they had much 
greater right to the duchy of Swabia. The 
Hohenstaufens, however, remained hence- 
forward faithful friends to the Salic-Impe- 
rial house. 

Gregory acted with duplicity in this war 
between the two emperors ; and it ap- 
peared as if he rejoiced in the destruction 
of Germany, and in the enervation of the 
temporal power by its own acts, for instead 
of supporting the Saxons and their king, 
Rudolphus, with all the power of his au- 
thority, in order that they might speedily 
gain the victory, he recognised neither of 
the emperors, but only continued to promise 
them that he would come to Germany 
and be himself the judge between them. 
"Nothing, however, took place," says 
Bruno, the historian of this war, " except 
that the pope's legates arrived and waited 
on both parties in each camp, promising at 
one moment to the Saxons, and in the next 
to Henry, the favor of the pope ; while at 
the same time they conveyed away from 
both armies as much gold as they could 
obtain — according to Roman custom. " The 
Saxons complained severely of this equivo- 
cal conduct of the pope, and they wrote to 
him among the rest as follows : " All our 
misfortunes would never have arisen, or at 
least have been but trivial, if upon having 
commenced your journey, you had turned 
neither to the right nor to the left. Through 
obedience to our shepherd we are exposed 
to the rapacity of the wolf, and if we are 
abandoned now by that shepherd, we shall 
be more unfortunate and miserable than all 
other people." This bold and reproachful 
address, however, did not please the pope ; 
he returned no reply to it, nor did it pro- 
duce more determination in his conduct 
than the subsequent desperate battle fought 
between the two armies at Melrichstadt, in 
Thuringia, in the year 1078 ; and it was 
only after Rudolphus had gained superior 
advantage in a second battle near Munc- 
hausen in 1080, that he declared for him, 
and even sent him the crown,* at the same 

* This crown bore the following inscription : — 
1 Petra, dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rudolpho." 



time again excommunicating Henry. The 
latter, on the other hand, assembled a coun- 
cil at Brixen, again deposed the pope, and 
caused to be elected as pontiff against him 
the excommunicated Archbishop Wibert 
of Ravenna, or Clement III. Thus there 
were now two emperors and two popes. 
The victory, however, this time inclined on 
Henry's side. 

Meantime, in 1080, he suffered a severe 
loss in a third battle, on the Elster, in Sax- 
ony, not far from Gera, through the valor 
of Otho of Nordheim, who there displayed 
the genius of a truly great leader, but un- 
fortunately, Rudolphus himself was fatally 
wounded in the battle and died. His right 
hand was hewn off, and Godfrey, duke of 
Lower Lorraine, (Godefrov of Bouillon, the 
conqueror of the holy tomb,) as related in 
some records, thrust the spear of the im- 
perial banner into his stomach. According 
to a later account, when his hand was 
shown to him, King Rudolphus is said to 
have remarked : " Behold, that is the hand 
with which I swore fidelity to King Henry !" 
j His fall was considered as a judgment of 
God, and Henry's adherents increased in 
proportion ; so that he was now enabled to 
undertake an expedition into Italy in order 
to make war upon his most violent opponent. 
He marched, therefore, with his army and 
came before Rome, which he besieged three 
times, in three successive years, and re- 
duced Pope Gregory to such extremity that 
he was obliged to shut himself up in the 
castle of St. Angelo, where he was be- 
sieged by the Romans themselves ; never- 
theless, Gregory's spirit was too great, and 
his will too inflexible, to humiliate himself, 
and follow the example of Henry at Ca- 
nossa. The emperor offered him reconcilia- 
tion if he would crown him, but he replied 
firmly : " He could only communicate 
with him when he had given satisfaction to 
God and the church." Henry was obliged, 
therefore, with his consort, to be crowned 
by the rival pope, Clement, at Easter, 1034, 
after which he retired from Italy. Pope 
Gregory, however, was still besieged by 
the Romans, in the castle of St. Angelo, 
until he was freed by his friend, Robert 
Guiscard, duke of Normandy, who ruled 
in Lower Italy. The latter subjected the 
city to plunder, and then took with him the 
old and obstinate pope (who, even, in mis- 
fortune, would not renounce any of his 
views and pretensions) to Lower Italy, 



152 REVOLT OF HENRY'S SONS— DEATH OF HENRY IV.— HENRY V. 



where he died the following year at Salerno. 
His party chose Victor to succeed him ; 
but he possessed neither the genius nor the 
force of Gregory, for even Clement main- 
tained the position he held, and continued 
to enjoy the chief authority in Rome. 

Favorable and tranquil times now seem- 
ed to dawn upon the emperor Henry. 
The successor of Rudolphus of Swabia, 
Herman of Luxembourg, whom the princes 
had elevated to be his second opponent, 
could not maintain himself against him, 
and spontaneously laid down the dignity. 
A second, Egbert of Thuringia, died by 
assassination, and the Saxons, after Otho 
of Nordheim was dead, and the irrecon- 
cilable bishop, Burkhard, of Halberstadt, 
had been killed by his own people, (after 
he had tried, for the fourteenth time, to 
excite them to revolt,) wearied with con- 
stant war, voluntarily submitted themselves 
to the emperor — now made milder by the 
many painful trials he had undergone. 
But fate had reserved for him visitations 
still more severe. For he was obliged to 
behold revolt against him, even in the last 
years of his life ; his eldest son, Conrad, 
and after his death in 1101, his second son, 
Henry, was gained over by the papal 
party. Both the successors of Gregory, 
Urban II. and Pascal II., renewed the 
papal ban against Henry the father ; and 
his son now declared that he could hold 
no community with an excommunicated 
person. Nay, even when Henry, confi- 
ding in the apparent reconciliation with 
his son, was about to attend the great diet 
of princes at Mentz, the latter caused 
him, by cunning and treachery, to be dis- 
armed, deprived him of the imperial in- 
signia, by means of the archbishops of 
Mentz and Cologne, and placed him a 
prisoner at Ingelheim, where he forced 
him formally to abdicate the throne. 

Henry, however, found an opportunity 
to escape from prison, and, full of grief 
and trouble, he went to his friend Otbert, 
the bishop of Liege. The latter, and 
Henry, duke of Lorraine, assembled an 
army for him, and beat back the degene- 
rated son when crossing the Meuse in pur- 
suit of his father. But the emperor died 
immediately afterwards at Liege, oppressed 
at length by a turbulent and vexatious ca- 
reer, in the year 1106. The number of 
battles he had fought during his life — 
being no less than sixty-five — sufficient- 



ly prove its agitated and anxious charac- 
ter. 

The bishop of Liege buried the emperor 
as beseemed ; but to such length did 
hatred go, that his body was again ex- 
humed, conveyed to Spires, and there, for 
five years, it remained in a stone coffin 
above the earth, in an isolated, unconse- 
crated chapel, until at last, in the year 
1111, Pope Pascal absolved him from ex- 
communication. He was then interred 
with greater magnificence than any other 
emperor before him. 

In the first years of the reign of Henry 
V., the ducal race of the Billungens, in 
Saxony, became extinct ; and he bestowed 
the dukedom upon Lothaire, count of Sup- 
plingenburg. 

Henry V., although he had previously 
revolted against his father, now acted 
according to his principles ; and in defi- 
ance of the papal laws, he still continued 
to impart the investiture with ring and 
staff, a right, which, as he declared to the 
pope, his ancestors since Charles the 
Great had legitimately exercised for three 
centuries, under sixty-three popes ; and as 
early as the year 1100, he marched with 
a large army of 30,000 horse-soldiers, be- 
sides infantry and servitors, for Italy, in 
order to be crowned with the imperial 
crown, and, in case of necessity, to main- 
tain his rights with the sword. He was a 
much more dangerous enemy than his fa- 
ther, for, besides his physical force, he 
knew likewise how to avail himself of cun- 
ning and hypocrisy. Pope Pascal II. 
made a proposition to him, which would 
have ended the dispute for ever, could it 
have been executed. He caused the em- 
peror to be apprized that — " As he founded 
his claims to the investiture only upon the 
donations which the emperors had present- 
ed to the church — the cities, duchies, 
counties, coins, tolls, farms, and castles — 
he might take them all back again ; the 
church would only retain the presents of 
private individuals, and the tithes and sac- 
rifices. For," said he, " it is commanded 
by the divine law, as well as by the law 
of the church, that the clergy shall not 
occupy themselves with temporal matters, 
nay, not even appear at court, except for 
^e purpose of saving an oppressed person. 
But among you, however, in Germany, 
the bishops and abbots are so mixed up 
with worldly affairs, that the servants of 



HENRY IN ROME — POPE PASCAL II— SANGUINARY BATTLE. 



153 



the altar have become the servants of the 
court." 

The pope might have been serious when 
making this proposition, for he was ex- 
tremely strict in his principles, and thought, 
perhaps, in this manner to remedy the de- 
generation of the clergy, and to bring 
them back to their original simple condi- 
tion But Henry's penetrating mind fore- 
saw well that the clergy themselves, par- 
ticularly those who, by their possessions, 
were raised to the rank of imperial 
princes, would never consent to make 
such a restitution ; therefore he promised 
to dispense with the investiture, if the pope 
would command the bishops to give back 
to him, the emperor, all those possessions 
which they had received from Charle- 
magne and his successors. He then ad- 
vanced to Rome, and the solemn treaty 
upon this affair was to be ratified between 
him and the pope in a large assembly of 
the bishops, in the church of St. Peter, 
and then the coronation of the emperor 
was to be celebrated. But when the above 
condition became the subject of discussion, 
the most animated and violent opposition 
arose between the German and Italian 
bishops, and a long and angry contest en- 
sued. At length one of the German 
knights present exclaimed : " Why do you 
all continue thus wrangling ? Let it suf- 
flee for you to know that our lord, the 
emperor, is resolved to be crowned as 
formerly were Charlemagne, Louis, and 
the other emperors !" The pope replied 
once more — " That he could not perform 
the ceremony before King Henry had 
solemnly sworn to discontinue the right 
of investiture." Henry then, by the 
counsel of his chancellor, Adalbert, and I 
Burchard, bishop of Minister, summoned j 
his guards, and caused the pope, as well j 
as the cardinals, to be made prisoners, j 
The Romans, enraged and furious at this j 
violent proceeding, on the following day 
attacked the Germans, who were encamped 
around the church of St. Peter. The 
king speedily mounted his steed, and | 
boldly, but rashly, rushing into the midst | 
of the enemy, pierced five Romans with 
his own lance, but was himself wounded 
and thrown from his horse. He was 
rescued by Count Otho, of Milan, who I 
hastily assisted him to mount his own 
horse, which he gave up to the king, but 
for which service he was cut to pieces by | 
20 



the Romans. A murderous combat was 
continued throughout the whole day, until 
at length towards the evening the emperor 
cheered on his troops to make a final 
charge, the result of which was that the 
Romans were completely put to flight, and 
were driven partly into the Tiber, and 
partly across the bridges back into the 
city. The church of St. Peter, together 
with all that portion of the city, remained 
in the hands of the Germans, but which 
the emperor abandoned, together with all 
his prisoners, in order to scour the country 
around in the most dreadful manner. The 
Romans, now reduced to extreme necessi- 
ty, urgently entreated the pope to conclude 
a treaty of peace with the emperor. He 
had now been a prisoner sixty-one days ; 
and at length yielded to their prayers. 
He, accordingly, agreed that the emperor 
should retain the investiture with ring and 
staff, and promised, at the same time, that 
he would never excommunicate him on 
account of this proceeding. The treaty 
was signed by fourteen cardinals, and in 
the emperor's name by fourteen princes, 
and Henry himself was, on the 13th of 
April, 1111, solemnly crowned emperor 
by Pascal. 

But scarcely were the Germans out of 
Rome when the whole clergy severely 
censured the pope, and persuaded him to 
assemble a council and excommunicate the 
agreement made between the king and him, 
as having been extorted by violence ; for, 
according to the promise made by the pope, 
they durst not pronounce the ban against 
the emperor himself. The dispute thus 
commenced anew, and continued, also, 
under the following popes, Gelasius II. and 
Calixtus II., ten years longer. As long as 
Pascal lived, the emperor was not himself 
visited with the general excommunication 
of the church ; but the legates and many 
of the heads of the church excommunica- 
ted him in their dioceses, and thereby gave 
occasion to fresh divisions and dissensions 
in Germany ; and a great portion of the 
imperial princes accordingly refused obe- 
dience to the emperor and his laws. Ar- 
bitrary feuds, robbery, devastation, and 
murder took the upper hand. The most 
faithful allies of the emperor were his re- 
lations of the race of Hohenstaufen, and 
he raised their house accordingly still 
higher. When Frederic, the first duke 
to whom his father had given the duchy of 



154 



THE INVESTITURE DISPUTE— DEATH OF HENRY V. 



Swabia, died, he traDsferred it to his eldest 
son, Frederic, and, shortly afterwards, he 
gave the duchy of Franconia to his second 
son, Conrad. 

His own sister Agnes, the widow of Duke 
Frederic, he married to the Margrave, 
Leopold of Austria, of the house of Baben- 
berg, the father of that Leopold who was 
afterwards duke of Bavaria, and who also 
established on the place where Windobona 
then stood, the foundation of the present 
city of Vienna. Thus in the south of 
Germany the emperor gained the superi- 
ority, but in the north, on the contrary, he 
could acquire no lasting power. Here the 
Archbishop Adalbert of Mentz, who had 
been elevated by him, (and who was previ- 
ously his own chancellor, and had advised 
him to imprison the pope, Pascal, but had 
now become his uncompromising enemy,) 
worked most strenuously against him, and 
excited one prince after the other to oppose 
him. Saxony, as in his father's time, be- 
came now the centre of opposition to him 
likewise. The emperor advanced in the 
year 1115 with an army into Saxony, but 
in a battle, not far from Eisleben, he was 
entirely defeated by the Saxon princes. An 
expedition, which he soon afterwards made 
to Italy, gave him for a short time the supe- 
riority in Rome, but brought upon him in 
1118 the general excommunication of the 
new pope, Gelasius, which his successor 
Calixtus II. confirmed. The chief object 
of dispute was still the right of investiture. 
Finally, in the year 1122, both parties, 
tired of the long dispute, concluded a sol- 
emn treaty at the diet of Worms, where 
both yielded to each other. The emperor 
permitted the free choice of bishops, and 
gave up the investiture with the ring and 
staff, as signs of spiritual jurisdiction, but 
for which concession, on the other hand, 
the election was to take place in the pres- 
ence of the king, or of his plenipotentiary, 
and he was to decide in doubtful cases, or 
in any disagreement of the electors, and 
lastly, confer fiefs of temporal possessions 
with his sceptre. The spiritual consecra- 
tion of this bishop elect was to take place 
in Germany after the investiture with the 
sceptre ; but in Italy it was to precede it. 

After the records were publicly read, the 
legate of the pope gave the emperor the 
kiss of peace, and afterwards the commu- 
nion. The joy expressed by the peacefully- 
minded members of the assembly upon 



I this reconciliation was great ; all separated, 

! as the records say, with infinite pleasure. 
The emperor reigned but a few years 

I longer — in peace, it is true, with the church, 
but not without constant dissensions in the 

] German empire. Amidst plans for strength- 
ening the imperial power, in order to op- 

] pose more firmly those disorders, he died 

: suddenly at Utrecht, in 1125, in the forty- 
fourth year of his age. He died childless, 
and with him the Salian house became ex- 
tinct. Most of his hereditary possessions 

J came to his nephews, the Dukes Frederic 
and Conrad of Hohenstaufen. 

Henry did not acquire the love of his 

I contemporaries ; he was despotic, severe, 
and often cruel. On the other hand, how- 
ever, it is not to be denied that he pos- 

I sessed many great qualities, — activity, 

! boldness, perseverance in misfortune, and 
a noble-minded disposition. The main- 
tenance of the imperial dignity against 
every enemy appeared to be with him the 

I chief object of his life. He was entombed 
at Spires in the grave of his ancestors. 

Meantime, while the two emperors, 
Henry IV. and V., were engaged in such 
warm and serious disputes with the pope, 
more than a hundred thousand Christians, 
summoned by the voice of the Church, and 
excited by their own immediate enthusi- 
asm, assembled together, and abandoned 
their country in order to recover and se- 
cure from the power of the infidels the 
tomb of the Saviour in that Holy Land, 
wherein his divine footsteps remained im- 
printed. 

Already, from the earliest ages, it had 
| been a pious custom to make pilgrimages 
to the Holy Land, to pray at its sacred pla- 
ces, and to bathe in the waters of the Jor- 
! dan, which had been consecrated by the 
■ baptism of our Lord. Constantine the 
j Great, the first Roman emperor who em- 
j braced Christianity, as well as his mother 
• Helena, issued orders for the purification 
| and adornment of these holy places in 
Palestine, and the restoration of the sacred 
tomb at the foot of Mount Golgotha : and 
I they erected over the tomb, at enormous 
! outlay, a lofty dome, supported by beauti- 
ful pillars, with an adjoining oratory, rich- 
ly adorned. Eastward of the sepulchre 
j Constantine built a larger and still more 
! magnificent temple. He celebrated the 
j thirtieth anniversary of his reign by the 
I consecration of this temple, on which occa- 



PILGRIMAGES TO PALESTINE— PETER THE HERMIT. 



155 



sion he was himself present ; and the pious j 
Helena, although in extreme old age, made 
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the same 
time, and built two churches, one at Beth- 
lehem on the spot where our Saviour was 
born, and the other on the top of the Mount 
of Olives. 

After this, pilgrimages to the Holy 
Land became more and more frequent : 
and even in the seventh century, when the 
land was under the dominion of the Arabs, 
the pilgrims were not obstructed or dis- 
turbed in their devotions. For the Arabs 
rejoiced in the advantage they derived 
from the visits of so many strangers, and 
took equal care not to molest either the 
patriarch of Jerusalem, or the Christian 
community. But when the Turks, a sav- 
age and barbarous people, seized upon the 
country in the year 1073, complaint after 
complaint reached Europe of the cruel 
treatment heaped upon the pious pilgrims, 
and of the shameful profanation commit- 
ted by the infidels on the consecrated 
spots. 

In the year 1094, a hermit, named Peter 
of Amiens, appeared before Pope Urban 
II. on his return from a pilgrimage to Pal- 
estine, with a letter of petition from the 
patriarch of Jerusalem, and gave a most 
affecting description of the unheard-of suf- 
ferings experienced by the Christians resi- 
dent there, as well as by the pilgrims who 
repaired thither. The pope praised and 
encouraged his zeal, and sent him with 
letters of recommendation to all the princes 
in the various Christian countries, in order 
to arouse the minds of the people, and to 
prepare them for a great expedition. The 
enthusiastic language of the hermit, to- 
gether with the fire which still shone from 
his deep-sunk eve. and his wasted, meager 
form, on which was imprinted the suffer- 
ings he had endured, made the deepest 
impression, and excited, wherever he went, 
equal enthusiasm among all classes, from 
the highest to the lowest. After this, in 
the year 1095. the pope convoked a great 
council of the Church, at Piacenza, in 
Italy, and another at Clermont, in France, 
at which were present fourteen archbish- 
ops, two hundred and twenty-five bishops, 
and four hundred abbots, besides numer- 
ous princes, nobles, and knights. And 
when Peter the Hermit and the pope ad- 
vanced before them, and with words of 
overpowering fire and energy appealed to 



and called upon this assembly to come for- 
ward in deliverance of the sacred tomb, a 
thousand voices shouted aloud, " It is the 
will of God ! It is the will of God T' 
When the pope and the hermit had con- 
cluded their eloquent appeal, Ademar, 
bishop of Puy, was the first to press for- 
ward, and throwing himself at the feet of 
the pontiff, begged from his holiness per- 
mission to proceed to the holy war. Many 
of the clergy and laity followed his exam- 
ple, and as a sign of their devotion to the 
pious undertaking, they sewed a red cross 
on their right shoulder. The final day of 
meeting for the great expedition was now 
fixed to take place on the 15th of August, 
1096. 

Accordingly, innumerable multitudes 
assembled, including warriors from Italy, 
France, Lorraine, Flanders, and particu- 
j larly from Normandy, where the same 
love for distant and adventurous expedi- 
tions that had ever distinguished their he- 
! roic ancestors, was now evinced by the 
| present natives. Not only the knights and 
; nobles, but the whole people w T ere set in 
j motion, for as also in France the laboring 
classes experienced the severest oppres- 
sion, many of these joined the expedition ; 
j because, according to the pope's decree, 
freedom was attained by dedication to the 
holy cross. Germany, which was then at 
variance with the pope, and agitated by 
internal discord, was least affected by this 
first movement. With the commencement 
of the spring, Peter the Hermit set out at 
the head of a crowd of people, whose im- 
; patience would not allow them to await the 
| appointed time, in company with their 
commander, a knight named Walter the 
Pennyless ; but their army was deficient 
in order and discipline, and especially in 
a supply of proper weapons. Before it 
reached Asia, the greater part, on account 
of the robberies committed, were cut off 
by the Bulgarians and Hungarians, and 
those who, under the guidance of Peter 
and W alter, reached and landed on the 
first Turkish territory, were so badly re- 
ceived and cut up by the Turks, that very 
few escaped ; and Peter was forced to re- 
turn home with the remnant in a very 
melancholy plight. A second and still 
ruder horde commenced its labors for the 
cross of Christ, by slaying the Jews in the 
cities on the Rhine ; in Mentz alone nine 
hundred were in this way put to death. 



156 



In this was evinced the universal hatred 
of the people towards the Jews, who, by 
their usurious practices, and the immense 
wealth gained thereby, brought down upon 
their heads this full measure of ven- 
geance. This party, and several other 
troops of crusaders, however, only reached 
Hungary. 

So unpropitious a commencement might 
easily have crushed all inclinations for 
further attempts, had not these first adven- 
turers, in great part, consisted of the lowest 
class of the people, and had not their lead- 
ers been deficient in prudence, experience, 
and noble zeal and energy. Accordingly, 
at the appointed time, in the middle of 
summer, a grand army, well appointed 
and disciplined, and burning with enthu- 
siastic courage, was assembled, and on the 
15th of August, 1098, set out for its desti- 
nation. No king was present as leader of 
the assembled forces ; but, among the 
princes and nobles, Godfrey, duke of 
Lower Lorraine, called, from his ancestral 
seat, Godefroy of Bouillon, stood proudly 
forward, conspicuous in every heroic 
virtue ; having often fought in the armies 
of Henry IV. He was appointed the 
leader of a body of 90,000 men, and di- 
rected his course through Hungary and 
the dominions of the Greek emperor, while 
other princes proceeded through Italy to 
Constantinople. He conducted his army, 
with the most admirable order, through 
countries where so many of the crusaders 
had already perished, and having joined 
the other princes, entered the Turkish 
territories in the spring of 1097. The 
united forces of the crusaders consisted 
of 300,000 men, and with the women, 
children, and servants, made up a body of 
half a million. Unfortunately, however, 
they already found in the tribe of the 
Sedjoucidians, who first opposed their pro- 
gress, an enemy equally cunning and ac- 
tive, while they met with still greater and 
more serious obstacles, in the deserts where 
the Turks had destroyed every thing which 
might have procured them some suste- 
nance, and through which they had to pass 
from Asia Minor to Palestine. Hunger 
and disease carried off every day numbers 
of men and horses ; even the bravest be- 
gan to waver, and had it not been for the 
active genius and heroic firmness displayed 
by the brave Godfrey, this expedition 
would perhaps have experienced the same 



unfortunate result as those that prece- 
ded it. 

At length, in May, 1099, the wearied 
feet of the remaining portion of the army 
which had escaped so many dangers, trod 
the cherished soil of that hallowed land, 
and on the 6th of July, they beheld from 
the top of a mountain near Emmaus, the 
object of their ardent hopes and desires — 
Jerusalem ! One universal shout of joy 
filled the air, vibrating in undying echoes 
from hill to hill, while tears of rapture 
burst from every eye. Their noble leader 
could scarcely prevent them from rushing 
forward at once, in their wild enthusiasm, 
to storm the walls of the holy city. But 
Godfrey soon perceived that the conquest 
of the place was not easy, and could not 
be effected in a moment, especially as the 
garrison was much stronger in numbers 
than the crusaders, of whom out of 300,000, 
only 40,000 men were now left. At length 
every preparation being made, and warlike 
machines with storming-ladders provided, 
in spite of every existing difficulty — for 
the country around was deficient in wood — 
the first general assault was made on the 
14th of July ; but as the besieged defended 
themselves with the greatest bravery, this 
first attempt failed. On the following day, 
however, the Christians renewed the attack, 
and Godfrey was one of the first that 
mounted the enemy's ramparts. His 
sword opened a path for the rest ; the walls 
were soon gained on all sides, the gates 
forced open, and the whole army rushed 
into the city. A dreadful scene of mas- 
sacre now commenced ; in their first fury 
the victors put all to the sword, and but 
few of the inhabitants escaped. When, 
however, reason at length resumed its 
sway, the warriors, wiping the blood from 
their swords, returned them to their scab- 
bards, and then proceeded, bareheaded and 
barefooted, to prostrate themselves before 
the holy places ; and the same city which 
just before had resounded in every part 
with the wild shrieks of the slaughtered, 
was now filled with prayers and hymns to 
the honor and glory of God. 

The election of a sovereign for the new 
kingdom of Jerusalem became now an 
object of consideration, and Godefroy of 
Bouillon appeared to all as the most worthy 
to rule ; but he refused to wear a crown 
of jewels on the spot where the Saviour of 
the world had bled beneath one of thorns, 



ELECTION OF EMPEROR— LOTHAIRE II.— 1125-1 137. 



157 



and would only take the title of " Defender 
of the Holy Sepulchre." As he died, how- 
ever, in the following year, his brother 
Baldwin assumed at once the title of king. 

Of the other crusades, which subsequent- 
ly took place for the maintenance of the 
Christian dominion in Palestine, and in 
which the German emperors also took part, 
our history will speak hereafter. 

After the extinction of the Franks, a 
moment had again arrived when the Ger- 
man princes, if they were desirous of be- 
coming independent and sovereign rulers, 
were not obliged to place a new emperor 
above themselves ; but such a thought was 
foreign to their minds, and they preferred 
paying homage to one, whom they had ex- 
alted to the highest step of honor, rather 
than behold Germany divided into numer- 
ous petty kingdoms. 

Accordingly, in 1125 the German tribes 
again encamped on the banks of the Rhine, 
in the vicinity of Mentz, and ten princes 
selected from each of the four principal 
families, viz. Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria, 
and Swabia, assembled in Mentz for the 
first election. Three princes only were 
proposed : Duke Frederic of Swabia, (the 
mighty and courageous Hohenstaufen,) 
Lothaire of Saxony, and Leopold of Aus- 
tria. The two latter on their knees, and 
almost in tears, entreated that they might 
be spared the infliction of such a heavy 
burden, while Frederic, in his proud 
mind, ambitiously thought that the crown 
could be destined for none other but him- 
self ; and such feeling of pretension in- 
deed was too visibly expressed in his coun- 
tenance. Adalbert, the archbishop of 
Mentz, however, who was himself not well 
inclined towards the Hohenstaufens, put to 
all three the question : " Whether each 
was willing and ready to yield and swear 
allegiance to him that should be elected V 
The two former immediately answered in 
the affirmative ; but Frederic hesitated 
and left the assembly, under the excuse 
that he must take counsel of his friends. 
The princes were all indignant at this con- 
duct, and the archbishop persuaded them 
at length to make choice of Lothaire of 
Saxony, although against his own will. 

But hostilities soon broke out between 
the two powerful Hohenstaufen dukes, 
Frederic of Swabia and Conrad of Fran- 
conia, and during nearly the entire reign 
of the new king, the beautiful lands of 



Swabia, Franconia, and Alsace, were laid 
waste and destroyed, until at last both the 
dukes found themselves compelled to bow 
before the imperial authority. In this dis- 
pute the emperor Lothaire, in order to 
strengthen his party, had recourse to means 
which produced agitation and dissension, 
and continued to do so for more than a 
hundred years afterwards. He gave his 
only daughter Gertrude in marriage to 
Henry the Proud, the powerful duke of 
Bavaria, (of the Guelfs,) and gave him, 
besides Bavaria, the duchy of Saxony like- 
wise. This is the first instance of two 
dukedoms being governed by one person. 
Nay, with the acquiescence of the pope, 
and under the condition that after Henry's 
death they were to become the property of 
the Roman church, he even invested him 
with the valuable hereditary possessions of 
Matilda in Italy, as a fief, so that the duke's 
authority extended from the Elbe to far 
beyond the Alps, being much more power- 
ful than even that of the emperor himself ; 
for besides his patrimonial lands in Swabia 
and Bavaria, he had likewise inherited 
from his mother the moiety of the great 
ancestral possessions in Saxony, and in ad- 
dition to all this his consort now brought 
him the entire lands of Supplinburg, Nord- 
heim, and old Brunswick. Thus the foun- 
dation for the subsequent jealousy so de- 
structive to Germany and Italy, between 
the Guelfs and Hohenstaufens — the latter, 
(styled by the Italians Ghibellini,) accord- 
ing to their castle Veibling, on the Rems, 
being called Veiblingers — was laid at this 
period, and the faction-names of the Guelfs 
and Ghibelins henceforward continued for 
centuries afterwards to resound from Mount 
Etna and Vesuvius to the coasts of the 
North and East Sea. Lothaire 's reign 
became so shaken and troubled, partly by 
the dispute of the Hohenstaufens and partly 
by the Italian campaigns, that but very 
few, if any of the great hopes he had at 
first excited by his chivalric, wise, and 
pious character, were brought into effect. 

During his second and rather successful 
campaign in Italy, in the year 1137, Lo- 
thaire was suddenly seized with illness, 
and died on his return, in the village of 
Breitenwang, between the rivers Inn and 
Lech, in the wildest part of the Tyrolese 
mountains. His body was conveyed to, 
and interred in the monastery of Konig- 
slutter, in Saxony, founded by himself. 



158 



CONRAD III. — THE GUELFS AND GHIBELINS. 



However much the two princely houses 
of the Guelfs and Ghibelins may, from 
this time, have continued to attract and 
command attention, there was still a third, 
which, under this reign, excited not less 
interest. Lothaire had given the mar- 
graviate of North-Saxony, which then com- 
prised the present Altmark, to Albert the 
Bear, of the house of Anhalt, one of the 
most distinguished princes of his time. He 
conquered from the Vandals the middle 
marches, as well as those on the Uker and 
Prignitz, together with the town of Bran- 
denburg ; and finally, in order to excite 
in these countries the desired industry, he 
procured from Flanders a great number of 
agricultural laborers. He may likewise 
be regarded as the founder of the Bran- 
denburg territory ; and it was also under 
his rule that, about the middle of the 
twelfth century, the name of Berlin ap- 
peared for the first time, which place, 
therefore, dates its origin from the same 
period that Leopold of Austria laid the 
foundation of Vienna. 



CHAPTER rx. 

THE SWAB I AN OR HOHENSTAUFEN HOUSE, 1138 

-1254. 

Conrad III., 1138-1152— The Guelfs and Ghibelins— 
Weinsberg— The Faithful Wives— Conrad's Crusade 
— Disastrous Results— His death, 1152— Frederick I., 
or Barbarossa, 1152-1190— His noble Character and 
distinguished qualities— Extends his dominions — The 
Cities of Lombardy and Milan— Pavia — Pope Adrian 
IV.— The Emperor's Homage— Oth o of Wittelsbach 
— Dispute between the Pope and the Emperor — Milan 
taken and razed — The Confederation of the Lom- 
bardian Towns — The Battle of Lignano — Frederick 
defeated — Pope Alexander and Frederick — Venice — 
Henry the Lion of Brunswick — His Rise and Fall — 
Reconciliation and Peace— Lombardy— Frederick's 
Crusade and Death in Palestine, 1190. 

The election even this time did not fall 
upon him who considered he had the great- 
est right to the crown, namely, the son-in- 
law of Lothaire, the powerful Henry (the 
Proud) of Bavaria and Saxony, although 
he had possession of the jewels of the 
crown ; for the princes, repulsed by his 
pride, elected on the 22d of February, 
1138, the Hohenstaufen duke, Conrad of 
Franconia, whom misfortune had made 
wise, and to whom his elder brother, Fred- 
erick, who contested with Lothaire for the 
crown, willingly gave up now the prece- 



dence. Henry the Proud would not bend 
before the new emperor, whereupon he 
was declared an outlaw, his two duchies 
taken from him, and Bavaria given to the 
margrave Leopold of Austria, the half- 
brother of the emperor Conrad by the ma- 
ternal side, and Saxony to Albert the Bear, 
of Brandenburg. Henry died almost im- 
mediately afterwards, and left a son ten 
years of age, who became afterwards so 
celebrated under the title of Henry the 
Lion, to whom Albert, at the desire of the 
emperor, formally resigned the duchy of 
Saxony, which he had not been able to 
conquer, (so faithful did the Saxons re- 
main attached to the Guelfic house ;) and 
in return he was allowed to possess his 
hereditary estates in that country as a 
princely margraviate, independent of the 
duchy. 

In Bavaria also, Count Guelf, of Altorf, 
the brother of Henry the Proud, still con- 
tended against the house of Austria, and 
not unsuccessfully. But when, in the year 
1140, he ventured to march against the 
emperor, near Weinsberg, he was van- 
quished in the battle. It was in this action 
that the names " Guelfs and Ghibelins" 
were first heard as party names, for the 
battle-cry of the troops on one side was, 
" Strike for the Guelfs," and of those on 
the other, "Strike for the Ghibelins." 
After the battle, the long-besieged city of 
Weinsberg was obliged to yield. The em- 
peror, irritated at its long resistance, had 
resolved to destroy it with fire and sword. 
He, however, permitted the females of the 
city previously to retire, and to carry with 
them their dearest jewels. And behold, 
when the day dawned, and the gates were 
opened, the women advanced in long rows, 
and the married bore each upon her back 
her husband, and the others each their 
dearest relative. This affecting scene so 
moved the emperor, that he not only spared 
the men, but also the whole city.* 

The emperor Conrad was now about to 
proceed to Italy, to reconfirm and establish 
there the imperial dignity, when intelli- 
gence arrived in Europe that the unbeliev- 
ers threatened the Holy Land, and had 
already conquered and destroyed the forti- 
fied city of Edessa, a frontier fortress ; 
upon which, Pope Eugene III. sent letters 

* This circumstance is recorded by a contemporary 
of that period in the chronicle of St. Pantaleonis. 



CONRAD IN PALESTINE— HIS DEATH— FREDERICK I. 



159 



of exhortation to all the European kings 
and princes, that they might assist the 
Christians in the east ; and a pious and 
zealous man, the holy Abbot Bernard of 
Clairvaux, in France, journeyed through- 
out Europe, preaching so powerfully, that 
many thousands took the cross. And 
when he addressed Louis VII. of France, 
the multitude of those who took the cross 
was sO great, that St. Bernard (he being 
afterwards canonized) was obliged to cut 
up his own clothes to make crosses of them, 
and both the king and his consort Eleanor 
resolved upon the expedition. St. Bernard 
now turned his attention to Germany, and 
tried to stimulate the emperor Conrad, 
who long refused, and avoided the abbot, 
by proceeding from Frankfort to Spires, in 
order that he might take into consideration 
how much still remained to be put in order 
in his own empire. But St. Bernard would 
not quit him ; he followed him to Spires, 
and there it was that Conrad, in the middle 
of the abbot's address, suddenly arose, and, 
with tearful eyes, exclaimed, " I acknow- 
ledge, holy father, the great goodness that 
God has shown me, and will no longer re- 
fuse, but am ready to serve him ; for I 
feel urged to this expedition by Himself." 
St. Bernard immediately decorated him 
with the cross, and presented him with the 
holy banner lying upon the altar. Frede- 
rick, Conrad's nephew, who became after- 
wards the first emperor of that name, and 
even the old Duke Guelf, who had become 
reconciled with the emperor, both took the 
cross likewise, and a great army was as- 
sembled, which numbered 70,000 warriors 
alone. But in all human enterprises, a 
splendid commencement will not always 
secure a successful issue, and so, in this 
great expedition, nothing but misfortune 
followed. In the year 1147, while the 
army was encamped near Constantinople, 
on the banks of a river, in order to refresh 
themselves from the fatigues of the march, 
and to celebrate the festival of the birth of 
St. Mary, the waters so swelled in the 
night by a sudden rain, that the whole camp 
became overflowed, and great numbers of 
men and horses were drowned. And again, 
when the army was transported across the 
straits to Asia, treacherous guides led it 
into places which the Turks had previous- 
ly devastated ; the provisions they carried 
with them were soon consumed, and the 
cities which the expedition passed closed 



their gates against them. Many then en- 
treated those upon the walls for bread, and 
showed their gold, which the people first 
let down ropes to possess themselves of, 
giving in return only as much as they 
pleased, frequently nothing at all, or only 
a little meal mixed with lime. Many thou- 
sands, consequently, died of hunger and 
disease, and still more were destroyed by 
the cimeters of the Turkish horsemen, 
who allowed the Germans no repose, either 
by night or day, never forming for a re- 
gular engagement with them, which the 
harassed troops so heartily desired. Thus, 
after a thousand dangers, Conrad arrived 
in the Holy Land with only the tenth part 
of his army. He entered Jerusalem and 
visited the holy spot of the cross, where he 
paid his worship ; but these were the whole 
fruits of this crusade. The siege of Da- 
mascus was unsuccessful, and the French 
army was equally unfortunate. Conrad 
returned after an absence of two years, and 
died shortly afterwards, in the year 1152, 
at Bamberg. He was a valiant, high- 
minded, and noble-hearted man, and was 
universally esteemed. He recommended 
as his successor, not his own young son, 
Frederick, whose age would not as yet al- 
low him to rule the nation, but his valiant 
nephew, Frederick Barbarossa, duke of 
Swabia, who had made the crusade with 
him, and who was unanimously elected at 
Frankfort. 

Frederick I. was one of the most pow- 
erful of all the German emperors; high- 
minded, valiant, with a will firm as iron, 
and of a stern, energetic character. His 
very form displayed his lofty mind. His 
figure was manly and powerful ; his limbs 
well formed and strong, auburn locks cov- 
ered his high forehead, and beneath them 
sparkled his sharp and piercing eyes. His 
chin, according to the ancient custom, was 
covered with his beard, which being of a 
bright yellow, he thence derived his sur- 
name of Barbarossa. A youthful ruddiness 
of complexion and natural affability gave 
to his countenance that cheerful expression 
which attracts all hearts ; but his firm, 
proud step, and the whole bearing of his 
presence, displayed the prince born to ~ule 
and command. 

Already, even as a youth, he had per- 
formed deeds which announced the great 
man ; besides which, he belonged to the 
Ghibelins on the paternal, and to the 



160 FREDERICK'S NOBLE QUALITIES— HENRY THE LION— ITALY. 



Guelfs on the maternal side. It was 
hoped that he would cause the rivalship of 
both houses to be forgotten ; and, indeed, 
one of his first acts in Germany was in 
favor of the Guelfic house. For, in the 
year 1154, he re-granted the duchy of 
Bavaria to Henry the Lion, the son of 
Henry the Proud, so that the duke again 
possessed Saxony and Bavaria in conjunc- 
tion, by which means he became the most 
powerful prince in Germany. The Mar- 
grave Henry, called Jasomirgoth, of Aus- 
tria, who, after his brother Leopold's 
death, had become duke of Bavaria, re- 
fused, indeed, to give up the country ; but 
in 1156, Frederick induced him to re- 
nounce it, and compensated him by giving 
him the old Bavarian margraviate of Aus- 
tria, and by making it independent of Ba- 
varia, and raising it to a duchy, he pre- 
sented him with great rights and privileges. 
The duchy was to be hereditary, not only 
in the male, but also in the female line, 
and the duke was to rank with the first 
imperial nobles.* He was only required 
to be invested in his own land, and to par- 
ticipate in the expeditions against the Hun- 
garians, while, without his sanction, no 
foreign laws were available in Austria, 
&c. The reconciliation of the first prince- 
ly houses in Germany caused universal 
satisfaction ; and Frederick depended now 
more firmly than ever upon the assistance 
of the friend of his youth, Henry the Lion, 
for the execution of his enterprises. In 
the other affairs of the empire also, the 
new emperor exerted himself with vigor ; 
he destroyed the castles of the freebooter- 
knights, whom he condemned to death ; 
and proved himself to be, by all his acts, 
a protector of general order, and of the 
rights of the German people. A contem- 
porary historian says, therefore, of him : 
" It appeared as if he gave to heaven and 
earth a new and more peaceful form." 

The countries bordering upon Germany 
also presented him with an opportunity to 
give to the imperial name additional lus- 
tre. In his first diet, at Merseburg, in 
1152, he decided the dispute of the two 
Danish princes, Sven and Knud, respect- 
ing the kingdom of Denmark. Knud re- 

* " He shall rank equal with the ancient Archiduci- 
bus," stands recorded in the original statute. Thence, 
from this expression, originated the subsequent title of 
Archduke of Austria. This was first adopted by Fred- 
erick III. in the year 1453. 



ceived Zealand ; but Sven the crown, 
which Frederick himself placed upon his 
head, and for which the Danish king swore 
allegiance to him. This also King Boles- 
laus, of Poland, was obliged to renew, and 
whom the emperor forced thereto by an 
effective campaign in Silesia. He gave to 
Duke Wladislas, of Bohemia, on account 
of his faithful adherence in this Polish 
campaign, the title of king, such titles the 
emperor alone being able to impart. King 
Geisa, of Hungary, renewed his alle- 
giance, and fulfilled his duties as vassal 
in Frederick's second Italian expedition. 
And finally, in Burgundy, which had be- 
come almost estranged from the Germanic 
empire, Frederick re-established his in- 
fluence by his own marriage with Beatrice, 
the heiress of High Burgundy, whereby 
his house acquired, at the same time, this 
portion of the kingdom of Burgundy. All 
the Burgundian nobles did homage to the 
emperor, and thus the ancient imperial 
dignity acquired additional splendor under 
the powerful monarch who now ruled in 
Germany. 

It was only in Italy, the ancient seat, of 
the dominion of the world, that the author- 
ity of the emperor had declined ; and 
Frederick was not able to restore it entire- 
ly, even by the most glorious battles. 
The large towns in this country, since the 
weak government of Henry IV., had be- 
come overbearing, and submitted with 
great repugnance to the obedience due to- 
wards their superior feudal sovereign ; 
above all the rest, the opulent city of Mi- 
lan, the capital of Lombardy, was the 
most arrogant and independent. Milan, 
since the commencement of the 12th cen- 
tury, had, by the vigor and energy of its 
inhabitants, made such rapid progress, that 
one might almost have believed that an- 
cient Rome had transplanted its spirit thi- 
ther. It subjected, by degrees, several of 
the neighboring cities, especially Lodi and 
Como ; and, at the same time, affected to 
treat the commands of the emperor with 
such contempt, that an imperial edict 
which Frederick issued in the year 1153. 
had even its seal torn off, and was tramp- 
led under foot. Upon this, the emperor, in 
1154, crossed the Alps, and, according to 
the ancient custom of the Longobardian 
kings, held his first great diet in the Ron- 
calian plains, on the banks of the river 
Po ; and now that complaints from many 



LOMBARDY — ADRIAN 



IV. AND FREDERICK. 



161 



other places were urged against the op- 
pression of this proud city, which even 
refused to meet or reply to them, his anger 
became excited, and he resolved to punish 
it severely. He did not venture this time 
to besiege it, as he was not prepared for 
such an important undertaking ; but he 
destroyed several of its adjacent castles 
and forts, and conquered its allied cities, 
Asti and Tortona. 

At Pavia he caused himself to be 
crowned king of Lombardy, and then 
rapidly advanced towards Rome. Here 
dissension existed between the pope and 
the people, who, in a revolutionary tumult, 
and under the guidance of a bold monk, 
Arnold of Brescia, wished to restore the 
ancient Roman republic. Neither of the 
parties knew in whose favor the emperor 
advanced. Pope Adrian IV. fled to a well- 
fortified castle called Castellana, but soon 
returned to the German camp, the emperor 
having promised him safety. Upon his 
arrival, Adrian (who had originally wan- 
dered from England, his native country, 
as a beggar boy, and had eventually raised 
himself to the papacy) expected that 
Frederick would hold his stirrup, as his 
predecessors had always done ; as, how- 
ever, he did not do it, the cardinals accom- 
panying the pope fled hastily back to Cas- 
tellana, for they regarded this omission as 
a bad omen of the imperial sentiments. 
Adrian, however, descended from his mule, 
and placed himself upon the seat prepared 
for him ; and now Frederick cast himself 
before him, and kissed his feet. The pope 
now acquired fresh courage, and charged 
the emperor with the omission of the ac- 
customed mark of deference ; and the 
latter, who sought his glory in greater 
things, willingly yielded in this trifling 
affair, upon his princes assuring him that 
the emperor Lothaire had shown a similar 
sign of respect to Pope Innocent II. The 
ceremony of dismounting was consequent- 
ly repeated on the following day, when 
the emperor met the pope and held his 
stirrup — thus it is related by the records 
of Rome. German writers, on the con- 
trary — namely, Otho of Freissingen, and 
Helmold, inform us that the emperor, 
upon the first descending of the pope, had 
held the stirrup, but, from oversight, had 
seized the left instead of the right, and 
that the pope, in consequence, had refused 
him the kiss of peace. Upon the excuse 
21 



of the emperor, that he had erred through 
ignorance, as he had not applied much 
attention to stirrup-holding, the pope re- 
plied : " If the emperor neglects trifles 
from ignorance, how will he show atten- 
tion in important affairs V The emperor, 
however, at the entreaty of the princes, 
yielded, and they both embraced each 
other as friends. 

After this, Frederick went to Rome, and 
was crowned emperor in St. Peter's church, 
on the 18th of June, 1155. Meantime, a 
dispute ensued with the Romans, who would 
yield neither to the pope nor the emperor ; 
the force of arms, however, soon reduced 
them to tranquillity. 

In spite of these continual contests, how- 
ever, with the perfidious and treacherous 
Italians, Frederick returned at length to 
Germany. But disputes speedily arose be- 
tween him and the pope himself, who, con- 
fiding in the assistance of the Norman king, 
William of Naples and Sicily, wrote to the 
emperor a letter full of reproaches, and his 
legate, Cardinal Roland (afterwards Pope 
Alexander III.) uttered even in the assem- 
bly of the German princes, the arrogant 
words : " From whom, then, has the empe- 
ror the empire, if not from the pope V 
The irritated count palatine, Otho of Wit- 
telsbach, whose office it was to bear the na- 
ked sword before the emperor, upon hear- 
ing this raised the weapon, and was about 
to sunder the legate's head, for he consid- 
ered the honor of the German prince deeply 
wounded by this language. Frederick,, 
however, withheld him from this desperate 
act of indignation ; but he commanded the 
ambassador to return early on the following 
morning to Rome. The German bishops, 
in reply to the reproaches of the pope, sta- 
ted, that they had given themselves every- 
possible trouble to mediate, but that the- 
emperor had replied to them, firmly and 
gravely, thus : " There are two regulations, 
according to which our empire must be 
ruled — the laws of the emperors, and the- 
good customs of our forefathers ; these limits 
we will not, nor can we transgress. To? 
our father, the pope, we will willingly pay 
all the homage we owe him ; but our im- 
perial crown is independent, and we ascribe 
its possession to divine goodness only."' 
They then earnestly entreated the holy fa- 
ther no longer to excite the anger of their 
lord the emperor. 

The dispute between the emperor and 



162 



THE MILANESE SUBJECTED—THEY REVOLT AGAIN. 



the pope, after a short reconciliation, was, 
nevertheless, resumed, and lasted until the 
death of Adrian, in 1159. Thenceforward, 
affairs became still more entangled, for 
the imperial party chose Victor III., and 
the opposite party Alexander III., the same 
who, as cardinal legate, had uttered such 
bold words in the imperial assembly. Each 
pope excommunicated the other, and sought 
to strengthen his own party by all possible 
means. 

The emperor Frederick, as early as the 
year 1158, had already prepared another 
more powerful expedition against Italy ; 
the Milanese having in the preceding year 
reduced to ashes the city of Lodi, which 
had yielded allegiance to the emperor. All 
the princes of Germany, as well as the 
king of Hungary and the newly-elected 
king of Bohemia, performed feudal ser- 
vice ; by which means such an army was 
collected as no emperor had previously led 
into Italy: consisting of 100,000 infantry 
and 15,000 cavalry. They broke up their 
camp near Augsburg, at Whitsuntide, and 
crossed the Alps. Almost all the cities of 
Northern Italy were humbled at the view 
of such a powerful force, and allied them- 
selves with the emperor ; but the rebellious 
city of Milan was declared outlawed, and, 
after a short siege, was obliged to submit to 
the irritated ruler. The Milanese appear- 
ed now before him, in humble supplication, 
forming a procession unusual to the Ger- 
mans. First came both ecclesiastics and 
laymen barefooted, and dressed in tattered 
garments, the former holding up crosses in 
the air ; then followed the consuls and pa- 
tricians with swords hanging from their 
necks, and the rest with cords round their 
throats; and thus humbly they fell at the 
feet of the emperor. As he therefore only 
desired their submission, he pardoned them, 
saying : " You must now acknowledge that 
it is easier to conquer by obedience than 
with arms." Upon which he caused them 
to swear allegiance, and to promise that 
they would not interrupt the freedom of the 
smaller cities ; and taking with him three 
'hundred hostages, he placed the imperial 
•eagle upon the spire of the cathedral. 

But their humility was only feigned, and 
the effect of necessity ; lasting only so long 
as the power of the emperor terrified them. 
For when, according to the imperial pre- 
rogative, he wished, in the following year, 
to appoint the civil functionaries, the citi- 



zens attacked Raynald, his chancellor, the 
count palatine, Otho, and the other ambas- 
sadors, with so much fury that they could 
scarcely save their lives. Upon being 
summoned, and an explanation demanded, 
they pleaded nothing but empty excuses ; 
and at the second and third summons they 
did not appear at all. Upon which the 
emperor renewed the imperial edict of out- 
lawry against Milan, and vowed, in his 
wrath, never to replace the crown upon his 
head until he had destroyed the arrogant 
city. 

The war recommenced with all the bit- 
ter exasperation of that period. The Milan- 
ese sought even their salvation — such at 
least was the universal charge — in the as- 
sassination of the powerful emperor who 
thus menaced them. It is quite certain 
that a man of gigantic strength suddenly 
attacked the emperor while performing his 
morning devotions in a beautiful and soli- 
tary spot upon the Ada, and strove to throw 
him into the river. In the struggle both 
fell to the earth, and, upon the call of the 
emperor, his attendants rushed forward, 
and the assassin was himself cast into the 
stream. Shortly after this an old mis- 
shapen, squinting man glided into the camp 
with poisoned wares, the very touch of 
which was said to be mortal. The em- 
peror being fortunately already warned, 
caused him to be seized and executed. 
His army, meanwhile, had become much 
strengthened, and with it he first besieged, 
in 1160, the city of Cremona, which was 
in alliance with Milan, and had obstinately 
refused submission ; the inhabitants defend- 
ed themselves for seven months with unex- 
ampled obstinacy, when they were at length 
obliged to yield. The city was razed to 
the ground, and the inhabitants were obliged 
to wander to other places. 

It was only after a three years' siege, 
and after much blood had been spilled on 
both sides, that Frederick overcame the 
strong city of Milan. His patience was 
exhausted ; the pardon he had once grant- 
ed having only made the rash citizens more 
arrogant, he resolved therefore, by a severe 
punishment, to destroy their spirit of resist- 
ance. During three days, the 1st, 3d, and 
6th of March, the consuls and chief men of 
the city, in increasing numbers, advanced 
to the imperial camp before Lodi, and on 
the third day, the whole people with them ; 
they divided themselves into a hundred 



MILAN RAZED— THE LOMBARDIAN CONFEDERATION. 



163 



sections, and repeated thrice before that 
city, which had been so despised and ill- 
treated by them, the whole spectacle of 
their humiliation ; with crosses, swords, and 
ropes hanging about the neck, and bare- 
footed. More than a hundred banners of 
the city were, upon the third day, laid 
down before the imperial throne, and, last- 
ly, their chief banner, the Carocium,* was 
drawn forward. Its lofty frame or tree, 
with its iron leaves, was bowed down before 
the emperor as a sign of the deepest humil- 
iation ; the princes and bishops, seated near 
him, sprang up, in dread of being killed by 
the weighty mass, but Frederick remained 
unmoved, and tore the fringe of the banner 
down. The whole of the people then cast 
themselves to the ground, with loud wail- 
ings, and implored mercy. The consuls 
and grandees of the city, and even the no- 
bles of the emperor's suite, all supplicated 
his pardon for the capital, but the emperor 
remained inexorable, and desired his chan- 
cellor, Raynald, to read the law, whereby 
the city surrendered itself at discretion. 
He then said : " According to that law you 
have all merited death, but I will grant you 
your lives. As regards the fate of the city 
itself, I will so order it, that in future you 
shall be prevented from committing similar 
crimes therein." Upon which he retired 
to Pavia, to decide upon the fate of Milan 
in a large assembly of German and Italian 
bishops, lords, and deputies from the vari- 
ous other cities. 

The sentence was, " that Milan should 
be levelled with the ground, and the inhab- 
itants remove, within eight days, to four of 
their villages, two miles from each other, 
where they should live under the surveil- 
lance of the imperial functionaries." The 
city of Milan in its prosperity and arro- 
gance, had so deeply injured many other 
cities — Cosmo, Lodi, Cremona, Pavia, Ver- 
relli, Novarra, and others, that they all 
begged, as an especial favor, that they 
might themselves pull down the walls of 
the proud capital ; so that, by the impulse 
of their hatred and revenge, they accom- 

* Upon a car strengthened with iron, a massive iron 
tree with iron leaves was fixed ; a large cross adorned 
the ton of the tree, in front of which was represented 
the holy Ambrosius, Milan's tutelary saint. The color 
of the car was red, and the eight oxen which drew it 
were also covered with red drapery. Before it was 
drawn away, high mass was celebrated on the car ; 
the whole being an iii litation of the ark of the Israel- 
ites. 



plished within six days what hired work- 
men would scarcely have executed in so 
many months : for, although the houses 
and churches were not pulled down, as 
later exaggerated records report, yet, the 
powerful walls and forts of the city were 
destroyed, the ditches filled up, and this 
once wealthy and splendid city, after the 
expulsion of the moaning inhabitants, be- 
came one dreadful scene of waste and des- 
olation.* The emperor then, at a splendid 
banquet at Pavia, in the Easter festival, re- 
placed his crown upon his head. 

But Frederick was doomed to show to 
the world, by his example, that a change 
of fortune must ever produce its influence 
upon the most powerful monarchs, and that 
no force can check it but wisdom and mod- 
eration. The punishment of the city of 
Milan had been too severe, and if this may 
even be excused perhaps by the rudeness 
and strong passions of that period, still 
Frederick erred in not having treated that 
and the other cities of the north of Italy 
with mildness, and according to the laws 
of justice. 

His deputies severely oppressed the coun- 
try, and although, perhaps, without his con- 
currence, yet he did not sufficiently attend 
to the complaints which were made to him. 
At the same time he continued the contest 
with the still increasing party of Pope Al- 
exander, and acted wrong in not taking ad- 
vantage of the death of his own pope, Vic- 
tor III., to reconcile himself with the for- 
mer, instead of confirming the election of 
another rival pope, Pascal III. Frederick 
did not consider that his opponents, by their 
united inspiration, the one for civil free- 
dom, and the other for their church-party, 
derived unconquerable power. The cities 
of Lombardy allied themselves still more 
closely together, and even those which had 
previously been the enemies of the Mi- 
lanese became disinclined towards the em- 
peror ; for, now that their former oppres- 
sors were cast to the ground, they compas- 
sionated them. But the most dangerous 
enemy of the emperor was the bold and sa- 
gacious Pope Alexander, who had succeed- 
ed, after a two years' exile in France, in 

* During this devastation of Milan, many relics were 
removed from the deserted churches. Among the rest, 
the archbishop Raynald conveyed the bones of the 
three kings with great solemnity across the Alps to the 
city of Cologne, and the king of Bohemia carried with 
him the candlesticks of the temple of Jerusalem. 



164 



THE IMPERIAL ARMY— MILAN RESTORED. 



gaining over the Romans to his side ; and 
had now returned to his metropolis. Conse- 
quently, Frederick, after he had collected 
a new army, and had settled the most ur- 
gent affairs in Northern Italy, marched, in 
1167, to Rome. The Romans were speed- 
ily beaten out of the field, and the city it- 
self besieged. It was especially around 
the churches that the severest conflict took 
place, for they were defended like fortress- 
es ; and it was in the heat of combat that 
the Germans, having cast torches into the 
church of St. Mary, situated close to St. 
Peter's, the flames reached the latter edi- 
fice, which, in the general confusion, was 
taken possession of by the Swabian duke, 
Frederick. Pope Alexander, seeing that 
the Romans commenced murmuring at his 
obstinacy, fled secretly from the city, in the 
dress of a pilgrim. He was seen on the 
third day near a fountain, not far from Cir- 
cello, whence he escaped to Benevento. 

Frederick, however, together with his 
consort, was crowned by his pope, Pascal, 
on the first of August, 1167, in the metro- 
politan church of Christendom. But, im- 
mediately afterwards, an epidemic disease 
broke out among the Germans, of so ter- 
rific a nature that a great portion of the 
army and a multitude of the nobles and 
chief men were carried off. It was on a 
Wednesday, in August, that it first appear- 
ed ; the heat had long been excessive and 
overpowering ; on the morning of that day 
the sun was bright, after which rain sud- 
denly fell, and a glowing heat succeeded ; 
whence the vapor raised caused the sick- 
ness. Men died so suddenly, that often 
those who were perfectly well in the morn- 
ing fell dead on the same day while walk- 
ing in the street, and many, while even 
burying the dead, fell suddenly with them 
into the grave. The Archbishop Raynald, 
of Cologne, the emperor's able chancellor, 
four bishops, and eight dukes, and among 
these the emperor's cousin, Frederick of 
Rothenberg, and Guelf, the younger ; be- 
sides many thousands of noble counts and 
lords who were numbered among the dead. 
The people everywhere exclaimed, "that 
this was a judgment of God for burning 
St. Peter's Church !" The emperor was 
obliged to retire to Pavia, and, in the fol- 
lowing spring, he was forced, with only a 
few companions, to leave Italy like a fugi- 
tive, secretly and disguised. 

The cities, however, now raised their 



heads. They had already, in that very 
year, 1167, and almost under the very eyes 
of the emperor, while he lay before Rome, 
concluded a formal alliance with each 
other ; they even ventured to reconduct 
the Milanese back to their ancient city. 
The ditches, walls, and towers were speedi- 
ly restored, and every one labored to re- 
construct his habitation. For the capital 
had been so large and strong that, in its 
destruction, portions of the walls, most of 
the houses, and almost all the churches 
had remained standing. Thus, as Athens 
once, after its destruction by the Persians, 
so, also, Milan now raised itself by the aid 
of the other cities, more extensive and 
powerful than before. After this was 
done, the Lombard confederation built a 
new city, as an impregnable fortress against 
the emperor, in a beautiful and fertile spot 
surrounded by three rivers and deep 
marshes, and called it, in defiance of the 
emperor, and in honor of their pope, Alex- 
andria. In the space of a year this city 
became inhabited, and garrisoned by 
15,000 warriors. The most powerful cities 
participated in the Lombard confederation : 
Venice, Milan, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, 
Ferrara, Brescia, Cremona, Placenza, Par- 
ma, Mod en a, Bologna, &c. 

Frederick, meanwhile, was not inactive 
in Germany ; he remained there stationa- 
ry nearly seven years ; established more 
firmly the imperial dignity with all the 
strength of his high mind ; regulated and 
adjusted internal disturbances, and, in par- 
ticular, the great dispute in the north of 
Germany between Henry the Lion and his 
adversaries — upon which subject we shall 
enlarge as we proceed — and at the same 
time augmented the power of his house by 
various just and legitimate acquisitions for 
his five sons, still very young. Henry, the 
eldest, although only 15 years of age, was 
elected king of the Romans ; Frederick 
received the duchy of Swabia and the lands 
of Guelf, the elder, who had bequeathed 
them, after the death of his only son, to 
the emperor, an example followed by many 
other counts and nobles in Swabia. Con- 
rad, the third son, inherited the lands of the 
Duke of Rothenberg, who died childless. 
To the fourth son, Otho, Frederick gave 
the vice-regency of Burgundy and Aries ; 
and to the youngest, Philip, who still lay in 
the cradle, he presented several confisca- 
ted crown possessions and clerical feods. 



ALEXANDRIA— BESIEGED BY FREDERICK— THE BATTLE OF LIGNANO. 165 



Thus the race of the Hohenstaufens stood 
firmly rooted like a vigorous and richly- 
branched tree of majestic oak. 

But now Frederick again directed his 
attention to that still revolutionary coun- 
try, Italy. The German princes were 
now, it is true, less easily induced to pro- 
ceed to that intractable, unhealthy climate, 
but, by his persuasive eloquence and un- 
wearied activity, he at length succeeded 
in again collecting an army, and appeared, 
in the autumn of 1174, for the fifth time, 
in that land. He besieged the new city of 
Alexandria, which had been built and for- 
tified in order to check his course ; and he 
was forced to remain seven months before 
it, during which his army suffered greatly 
in the winter from sickness and fatigue, in 
their camp, pitched upon marshy ground. 
Meanwhile the Lombard cities had collect- 
ed an army to relieve the besieged, and 
which advanced at Easter, in 1175, fully 
prepared and equipped. The emperor re- 
solved upon making a last attack against 
the place, and caused it to be stormed on 
the Thursday before Easter. The Ger- 
mans, by means of a subterraneous pas- 
sage, succeeded in advancing into the very 
heart of the city, as far as the middle of 
the market-place. Nevertheless the va- 
liant garrison did not lose courage, and, to 
their great good fortune, this subterraneous 
passage fell in. Those of their enemy, 
who had thus entered the city, were over- 
powered, and the rest who were storming 
from without were beaten back. The em- 
peror was therefore obliged to raise the 
siege, and to seek so hastily a different po- 
sition, that he was forced to set fire to his 
own encampment. 

It was then agreed, that a meeting of the 
belligerent parties should take place at 
Pavia, in order to conclude a treaty. The 
cardinal of Ostia, who appeared in the 
name of the pope, would not greet the em- 
peror on account of the excommunication, 
but he evinced to him his regret, while he 
expressed his admiration of Frederick's 
great qualities. Both sides were, however, 
but little inclined to yield in any portion 
of their demands. 

What tended much to increase the cour- 
age of the Lombards was, that precise^ 
at this moment, Henry the Lion refused 
the emperor that assistance upon which 
Frederick had so much relied. The trea- 
ties were, consequently, broken off, and the 



Lombards, taking advantage of this favor- 
able moment, advanced, under the protec- 
tion of the grand and sacred banner of St. 
Ambrose, against the emperor, and fought 
the decisive battle of Lignano, on the 29th 
of May, 1176. Their force was far su- 
perior in numbers, and occupied a favor- 
able position ; while on one side they were 
flanked by a ditch which made all flight 
impossible. When they saw that the em- 
peror had accepted their challenge, and 
now advanced against them, they imme- 
diately formed their line of battle. The 
Carocium of the Milanese was placed in 
their centre, surrounded by 300 youths 
who had sworn to defend it in life unto 
death, besides a body of 900 picked cav- 
alry, styled the phalanx of death, who had, 
singly and collectively, likewise taken the 
oath of immolation. The battle commenced, 
and one of the Lombard wings beginning 
very soon to waver, the order of the Milan- 
ese ranks became confused. The emperor 
pressed directly upon the centre, to gain the 
Carocium, and, as now its band of defend- 
ers likewise faltered, the courage of the 
Germans increased, and at length they con- 
quered the sacred banner, and tore down all 
its decorations. But at this moment the 
death-squadron recovered themselves, and 
again returned to the charge. Mortally 
wounded, the emperor's standard-bearer 
now sank at his side, and the imperial ban- 
ner with him ; but the brave Frederick, 
equipped in his splendid suit of armor, still 
fought on at the head of his warriors. Sud- 
denly, however, he was seen to fall from his 
charger, and vanish from the view of the 
army. Terror and confusion now seized 
upon all, and Frederick's troops suffered an 
entire overthrow ; he himself escaped with 
a few faithful friends in the wild tumult, 
and under the protection of the night. Al- 
most all the citizens of Como, his allies, 
embittered by hatred and revenge against 
the Milanese on account of their ancient 
wars, fell a sacrifice and were left dead 
upon the field. For two whole days the 
emperor was mourned as slain, and even 
his consort put on a widow's robes ; when, 
to the unexpected joy of all, he again ap- 
peared in Pavia. 

After this the emperor wished and pro- 
posed a peace ; when the pope, Alexander, 
said in reply: "That nothing was more 
desirable to him than to obtain peace from 
the greatest hero of Christendom ; he en- 



166 POPE ALEXANDER 



treated only, that the Lombards might par- 
ticipate in it, and he himself would proceed 
to that country." The two great opponents 
had now learned mutually to esteem each 
other, and Frederick having expressed a 
wish for an interview with the pope, the 
latter proceeded at once to Venice. His 
'ourney thither resembled a triumphal pro- 
cession, for he was treated as the saviour 
of liberty, and as the father of the Italian 
free states. Frederick also came there in 
July, 1177, and, according to an ancient 
historian, " It pleased God so to guide his 
heart that he suddenly subjected the lion- 
like pride of his mind, and he became mild 
and gentle as a lamb, so that he cast him- 
self at the feet of the pope, who awaited 
him at the entrance of the church of St. 
Mark, and kissed them ; and the pope, with 
tears, raised him from the ground, and gave 
him the kiss of peace, at which the Ger- 
mans exclaimed : ' Lord God, we praise 
thee !' The emperor then took the pope 
by the hand and led him into the church, 
where he bestowed upon him his benedic- 
tion. On the following day, however, at 
the express desire of the emperor, the pope 
3elebrated high mass, and Frederick, after 
he had himself, like an inferior of the 
church, humbly cleared the way for the 
pope through the crowd, took his place 
amid the train of the German archbishops 
and bishops, and devoutly assisted in the 
\ioly ceremony." 

Thus, in those days, did mild, religious 
feelings moderate the severe and stern dis- 
position of the emperor, without at all af- 
fecting the majesty of his presence, for his 
humility was voluntary, and thence ac- 
quired for him general esteem ; while at 
the same time his conduct was sincere, and 
consequently his reconciliation with the 
pope was complete and lasting. But with 
the Lombards, as all the articles of the 
treaty could not be immediately settled, a 
truce of six years was concluded. All 
rights and customs were to be investigated ; 
the demands of both sides equally weighed ; 
and the relations of the Italian cities with 
the emperor and empire arranged afresh : 
all which demanded time. 

In 1178 the emperor proceeded to Aries, 
where he was crowned king of Burgundy, 
and thence returned to Germany, where 
another important affair awaited his pres- 
ence. While on the one hand the house 
of Hohenstaufen possessed at this period, 



AND FREDERICK. 



in the person of its emperor, a powerful and 
high-minded chief, the house of Guelf en- 
joyed, on the other, an equal advantage in 
Henry the Lion, duke of Bavaria and Sax- 
ony. For, while Frederick, in the south, 
conducted his great wars against the Italian 
cities, Henry increased his power in the 
north by a successful war against the Van- 
dals. Henry resembled the friend of his 
youth, Frederick, in valor, firmness, and 
chivalric sentiments. His outward ap- 
pearance was also distinguished, and his 
powerful figure, strengthened by every 
corporeal exercise, displayed the bold cour- 
age of his mind. Yet, while Frederick, in 
his hair and complexion, bore the true im- 
press of genuine German origin, Henry, on 
his part, presented in his whole appearance 
the evidence of his connection with the 
southern race of the Guelfs ; his com- 
plexion being darker, his hair and beard 
black, and his eyes the same color. His 
name soon became terrible in the northern 
districts. He conquered a great portion of 
Holstein and Mecklenburg, as far as Pom- 
erania, and populated the country, as Al- 
bert the Bear had done previously in the 
marches, with peasants from Brabant, Flan- 
ders, and Germany. He founded bishop- 
rics and schools ; distributed throughout 
these countries criminal courts and judges ; 
transformed forests and marshes into fruit- 
ful fields ; and, while he increased his own 
power, he became the promoter of civiliza- 
tion in the north of Germany. Lubeck, 
founded in 1140, and made the see of a 
bishop, soon developed itself and flourished 
nobly ; and Hamburg, previously destroyed 
by the Vandals, was again restored. Thus 
his extensive possessions extended from the 
shores of the Baltic and the North Sea, as 
far as the Danube in the southern moun- 
tains, and were more considerable than the 
absolute dominions of the emperor ; while, 
finally, he founded, in 1157, Munich, in 
Bavaria. 

The object of Henry was to unite his 
two duchies under one entire political gov- 
ernment, and thus to restrict throughout his 
territories, as much as possible, the rights 
of the nobles, both temporal and spiritual. 
At the same time, in so doing he laid him- 
self open to the reproach of injustice ; as, 
for instance, in the case of Count Adol- 
phus III., of Holstein. This nobleman had 
labored greatly to advance the prosperity 
of his country, and having, among the rest. 



HENRY THE LION OF BRUNSWICK — HIS RISE AND FALL. 



167 



established some valuable salt works at 
Oldesloe, Henry now destroyed them by 
causing fresh water from the neighboring 
springs to flow into them, because his own 
salt works at Liineburg were, as he 
thought, injured by the existence of those 
of Count Adolphus. 

The jealousy of the neighboring German 
princes having now become excited against 
him, he, as a warning to them, caused a 
large lion, cast in bronze, to be placed be- 
fore his castle in Brunswick. They un- 
derstood what by this sign he meant to indi- 
cate, but although they trembled individu- 
ally, they nevertheless tried once more to 
put a stop to his rapid progress by a great 
alliance, in which were included : the 
archbishops of Cologne, Bremen, and Mag- 
deburg ; the bishops of Hildesheim and 
Liibeck, the landgrave of Thuringia, and 
the margrave of Brandenburg, with several 
counts and knights. But Henry, sudden 
as the royal animal whose title he had 
chosen, broke loose, reconquered Bremen, 
devastated Thuringia and the archbishopric 
of Magdeburg with fire and sword, drove 
away Conrad, bishop of Liibeck, and thus 
overcame and crushed his enemies com- 
pletely. Such was the state of affairs in 
Germany when the emperor Frederick re- 
turned from Italy, in 1168 ; his presence, 
however, restored tranquillity once more, 
and both parties were obliged to surrender 
to each other their conquests. 

The noble Guelf, to whom repose was 
hateful, made now, in 1172, a pilgrimage 
to the Holy Land, but, upon his return, 
disputes were renewed, and he this time 
drew upon himself, in the person of the 
emperor, a far more powerful opponent. 
The latter, who had been hitherto his con- 
stant friend, and, in a series of years, had 
shown him nothing but kindness, considered 
he might with justice calculate especially 
upon him when, after raising the siege of 
Alexandria, in the year 1175, he collected 
all his forces together, in order to come to 
a decisive and final engagement with the 
Lombards. But it was just in that critical 
moment that Henry, to whom these distant 
expeditions were highly objectionable, and 
who preferred remaining at home with his 
army, for the purpose of increasing his 
own power, refused his assistance. He 
pleaded his age, although he was only 
forty-six years old, and thus younger than 
the emperor himself; pretending that too 



many necessary affairs required his pres- 
ence in his own country. Frederick hoped, 
however, in an interview with him, to per- 
suade him to change his mind, and invited 
him to the frontiers of Italy ; the duke 
came, and the two rulers met at Chiavenna, 
on the Lake of Como. The emperor re- 
minded his friend of their alliance, their 
close relationship, of his honor, and feudal 
duty as a prince ; but Henry remained in- 
flexible. The emperor then arose in great 
agitation, embraced the duke's knees, and 
entreated him still more earnestly — so im- 
portant was his assistance to him at this 
moment. Henry was moved, and endeav- 
ored to raise the emperor, but did not 
waver in his determination. The empress 
then joined them, and said to her husband : 
" Pray rise, my dear friend, God will help 
you if, on some future day, you do but 
punish this arrogance !" The emperor 
arose, but the duke retired; and it was to 
his absence that Frederick might chiefly 
impute his subsequent bad success at Lig- 
nano. He could not forget this event, and 
upon his return to Germany, after the peace 
of Venice, in 1178, and fresh complaints 
resounded from all sides against the duke, 
he cited him to appear at a diet at Worms. 
Henry did not however attend. He was 
summoned a second time to Magdeburg; 
even there he did not appear ; and, as he 
equally neglected a third and a fourth 
summons, at Geslar and WurzbUrg, the em- 
peror sat in judgment upon him, in the year 
1180, and the princes confirmed his de- 
posal from all his dignities and fiefs, as his 
punishment. Frederick then declared him 
outlawed, and divided his fiefs among other 
princes. The duchy of Saxony, to which 
he left but the shadow of preceding great- 
ness — for he had himself already felt the 
danger resulting from too extensive duchies 
— he awarded to the second son of Albert 
the Bear, Bernard of Anhalt. The duchy 
in the western districts, as far as the dio- 
ceses of Cologne and Paderborn, compri- 
sing Limburg, Arnsberg, Westphalia, Pader- 
born, and a portion of Ravensberg, he 
gave to the archbishop of Cologne, who, 
however, only succeeded in holding posses- 
sion of a portion of these countries. The 
bishops of Magdeburg, Hildesheim, Pader- 
born, Bremen, Verden, and Minden, took 
advantage of this opportunity to make them- 
selves not only independent of the duchy, 
but also to increase their possessions. The 



188 



HENRY EXILED TO ENGLAND— LOMBARDY. 



duchy of Bavaria, which was somewhat de- 
creased, was given to the valiant count pala- 
tine, Otho of Wittelsbach, the faithful com- 
panion of the emperor. The cities of Lii- 
beck and Ratisbon became free imperial 
cities, and in Pomerania, which was now 
united with the empire, Frederick created 
the brothers, Casimir and Bogislaus, dukes. 

After the emperor had passed judgment 
upon Henry, his enemies forthwith took up 
arms, to possess themselves of their portion 
of the booty ; but the old Lion still de- 
fended himself valiantly. They could ac- 
complish nothing against him, and were re- 
peatedly beaten, until Frederick himself 
advanced with an army. Their reverence 
for the imperial name, and their natural 
repugnance to be allied with an outlaw, 
disarmed the duke's friends : he was obliged 
to quit his patrimonial estates, and was 
forced to see Brunswick, his capital, in- 
vested, one of his chief castles, Bardewick, 
taken ; and finally, when the powerful 
city of Liibeck yielded to the emperor, he 
found himself left completely without any 
protection, even behind the Elbe. Driven, 
at last, to extremities, he cast himself at 
the feet of the emperor, at the diet of 
Erfurt, held in the year 1181. The hu- 
miliation of his old friend and companion 
in arms, whose proud soul was now bro- 
ken, drew even tears of sympathy from the 
mighty Frederick, and he pardoned him. 
He counselled him, however, in order that, 
with time, the hatred of his enemies might 
become moderated, to absent himself for 
three years from Germany, and to remain, 
during that interval, with his father-in-law, 
Henry II., king of England ; meanwhile 
his hereditary lands, Brunswick and Liine- 
burg, remained in his possession. Thus it 
was that, as it were by a singular reverse 
of fate, the duke dwelt as an exile for some 
time in the country where his descendants 
were subsequently to ascend a brilliant 
throne ; for it was there that his consort, 
Matilda, gave birth to the same William 
who was afterwards the chief branch of 
the house of Hanover, which has placed 
the British kings upon the throne. 

This great example of imperial superi- 
ority in Germany may possibly have work- 
ed upon the minds of the Italians ; and as, 
in the following year, 1183, the truce of 
six years with the Lombards ceased, and 
the emperor, besides, showed himself a 
merciful ruler, they evinced a more satis- 



fied disposition, and the peace of Kosnitz 
was accordingly signed with them, which 
henceforward stood as fundamental law 
between the emperor and Upper Italy. The 
emperor himsslf obtained great privileges : 
he had the right to appoint his own counts, 
as the burgomasters chosen by the citizens, 
and to renew their dignity every five years ; 
he exercised the supreme judicial power, 
while he derived, besides, several imposts, 
particularly the subsidies for his army in 
the Italian campaigns ; and all the citizens, 
from the age of 15 to 70, swore allegiance 
to him. Under these conditions the citi- 
zens, on their part, received the right of 
municipal freedom within their walls ; 
were permitted to live according to their 
own manners and customs, and were even 
privileged to make such new regulations 
as they deemed just ; and the confederation 
of their cities, already existing, was now 
confirmed. 

Thus Frederick was enabled, now and 
for the last time, (in 1184,) to proceed to 
Italy in a state of peace, and, as he ad- 
vanced, he was rendered more and more 
happy in witnessing the tranquillity and 
contentment that reigned throughout the 
land, while all around him was in a fever 
of joy and delight. The Lombards receiv- 
ed him as if no enmity had ever existed 
between them. He caused the iron crown 
of the Lombards to be placed on the head 
of his son Henry, and gave him away in 
marriage, with great pomp and festivity, at 
Milan, in 1186, (which city had especially 
begged from the emperor that honor,) to 
Constanza, the last heiress of Naples and 
Sicily of the royal Norman race, and 
which allegiance gave the house of Hohen- 
staufen new and high expectations ; for, 
being already in possession of Northern 
Italy, if it acquired in addition, Lower 
Italy, the whole peninsula would necessa- 
rily soon become subject to its dominion, 
and its subjection would accordingly lead 
to that of the whole of Germany. Such 
were the projects formed by the old yet 
youthfully-sanguine emperor, who was far 
from anticipating that by this last, and ap- 
parently splendid achievement of his glori- 
ous career, the seeds were sown for the fall 
and ruin of his house. 

It appeared now as if fate, after having 
subjected the emperor to all its storms, had 
determined to prepare for him, in his ven- 
erable age. the glory of a noble death in a 



FREDERICK'S GRAND CRUSADE— HIS SUCCESSES— HIS DEATH. 



169 



sacred cause ; for, at this moment, intelli- 
gence arrived suddenly in Europe that 
Jerusalem, after the unfortunate battle of 
Hittin, or Tiberiad, in 1187, was again 
torn from the Christians by Saladin, the 
sultan of Egypt. Pope Urban III. died of 
grief at this news, and his successors, 
Gregory VIII. and Clement III., addressed 
urgent letters to the European princes, 
summoning them to rise and march forth- 
with to the deliverance of the Holy City ; 
consequently, all the knights-templars and 
the knights of St. John, dispersed through- 
out Europe, were the first to embark ; the 
Italians assembled together under the arch- 
bishops of Ravenna and Pisa ; the Nor- 
mans furnished all their forces ; a fleet of 
fifty vessels from Denmark and Friesland, 
and thirty-seven from Flanders, set sail, 
headed by their great leaders : Richard 
Cceur-de-Lion, king of England, Philip Au- 
gustus, of France, and the emperor Frede- 
rick Barbarossa, together with all the 
neighboring kings and princes, came like- 
wise forward with their whole power for 
the sacred cause. Our venerable hero, 
Frederick Barbarossa, advanced, in the 
May of the year 1189, at the head of 
100,000 well-armed combatants. The 
Greeks, who seemed disposed to practise 
similar treachery towards him as they had 
against Conrad III., he punished severely, 
and dismantled their cities. The Sultan 
Kilidish Arslan, of Cogni, or Iconium, in 
Asia Minor, who had offered him his friend- 
ship, and afterwards betrayed him, he at- 
tacked and put to flight, taking possession 
of his metropolis. Thus, in all these bat- 
tles, Frederick, even as an old man, dis- 
tinguished himself beyond all the rest by 
his heroic vigor and magnanimity, and he 
succeeded in leading his army through 
every danger as far as the frontiers of 
Syria, but here ended the term of his noble 
course. When, on the 10th of June, 1190, 
the army resumed its march from Sileucia. 
and traversed the river Cydnus, or Seleph, 
the bold and venturesome old warrior, to 
whom the passage over the bridge was much 
too slow, dashed at once with his war-horse 
into the river, in order thus to overtake 
more speedily his son Frederick, who led 
the van. But the rapid course of the 
stream overpowered and bore him away, 
and when, at length, assistance could be 
rendered him, the veteran was found al- 
22 



ready dead. The grief and lamentations 
of his son, of the princes, and of the whole 
army were indescribable. Fate neverthe- 
less had by this means saved him from ex- 
periencing, subsequently, bitter pain and 
mortification, and his noble soul was not 
doomed to suffer by the unfortunate ter- 
mination of so great an enterprise. For 
the German army, after his death, was 
almost entirely destroyed by sickness 
before the city of Antioch ; and the 
emperor's second son Frederick, duke of 
Swabia, died at the siege of Acre, or Ptole- 
mais, and Jerusalem was never recon- 
quered.* 

The grief which the emperor Freder- 
ick's death excited throughout the west of 
Europe, is testified by a French writer of 
that period, who, according to his peculiar 
style, thus speaks of it : " News so deadly 
piercing, even to the very marrow and bone, 
has wounded me so mortally, that all hope 
and desire of life have passed from me. 
For I have heard that that immoveable pil- 
lar of the empire, Germany's tower of 
strength and its very foundation, and that 
morning star which surpassed all other stars 
in splendor, Frederick the mighty, has end- 
ed his life in the east. Thus no longer ex- 
ists that strong lion, whose majestic counte- 
nance and powerful arm frightened savage 
animals from devastation, subjected rebels, 
and made robbers live in peace and order." 
And the degree to which the imperial digni- 
ty in general was raised by him, is express- 
ed in the words of his chancellor, Raynald, 
at a diet at Besan^on, where he said, " Ger- 
many possesses an emperor, but the rest of 
Europe — only petty kings." 

* This siege is one of the most remarkable and san- 
guinary on record. Both the kines of England and 
France were present, and took their share in the dan- 
gers. The city was eventually taken, after a long and 
vigorous resistance : but the sword and disease had 
combined to reduce the army of the Crusaders to such 
a degree, that it was in vain to contemplate any fresh 
enterprise. Several archbishops and patriarchs, "twelve 
bishops, forty dukes and counts, five hundred of the 
principal nobility, together with a great number of 
kniglits, and an "innumerable host of inferior otficers 
and soldiers, became a sacrifice. Philip Augustus re- 
turned speedily to France ; but Richard of England re- 
mained, and continuing on the war with the greatest 
activity, acquired the reputation of being the most val- 
iant knight of his time; while Saladin likewise proved 
himself a brave and shrewd adversary. Richard, how- 
ever, was recalled to Europe, through the dangers 
which threatened his own kingdom. He concluded a 
peace with the sultan, and gave up to him Jerusalem ; 
and thus nothing more remained in the hands of the 
Christians than a narrow strip of land along the coast 
from J aria to Acre. 



170 HENRY VI. — RICHARD CCEUR-DE-LION — NAPLES AND SICILY. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM 1190 TO THE INTERREGNUM, 1273. 

Henry VI., 1190-1197— His Mercenary and Cruel Char- 
acter — Richard I. of England — Is seized and impris- 
oned by Henry— Naples and Sicily— The Grandees— 
Their Barbarous Treatment by the Emperor— His 
Death, 1197— The Rival Sovereigns— Philip of Swa- 
bia, 1197-1208, and OthoIV., 1197-1215— Their Death 
—Frederick II., 1215-1250— His Noble Qualities- 
Love for the Arts and Sciences— His Sarcastic Poet- 
ry — Preference for Italy — Disputes with the Popes — 
Is Excommunicated— His Crusade to the Holy Land 
— Crowned King of Jerusalem — Marries a Princess of 
England— Italy— Pope Gregory IX.— Frederick De- 
nounced and Deposed — Dissensions in Germany — 
The Rival Kings— Death of Frederick II., 1250— His 
Extraordinary Genius and Talents — His Zeal for Sci- 
ence and Education — A Glance at the East and 
Northeastern Parts of Germany— Progress in Civili- 
zation— William of Holland, 1247-1256— Conrad IV., 
1250-1254— Their Deaths— The Interregnum, 1256- 
1273 — Progress of the Germanic Constitution. 

Frederick's eldest son Henry, who, dur- 
ing his father's life, was named his succes- 
sor, and in whose absence he had been in- 
vested with the government of the empire, 
was not dissimilar to his father in the pow- 
er of his mind, in chivalric bearing, and in 
grand ideas and plans, but his disposition 
was extremely partial and severe, often 
cruel, and in order to execute great ambi- 
tious projects he betrayed feelings of a very 
mercenary nature. This was displayed in 
an occurrence which has not done him 
much honor. King Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 
of England, when in Palestine, had, at the 
siege of Akkon, or Acre, (of which we have 
already spoken,) a dispute with Duke Leo- 
pold of Austria ; inasmuch as the Germans, 
after the city was taken, being encamped 
in one of its quarters, Duke Leopold caused 
the German banner to be raised according- 
ly upon a tower, similar to the kings of 
England and France. But the proud Rich- 
ard of England caused it to be torn down, 
and it was trampled in the mud by the 
English. This was an affront to the whole 
German army, and certainly deserved im- 
mediate and severe punishment. But the 
revenge which the duke and the emperor 
Henry took afterwards upon the king was 
of ihe most treacherous and ignoble charac- 
ter. Richard, namely, upon his return 
from Palestine in 1192, was cast by a storm 
upon the Italian coast, near Aquileja, and 
wished to continue his route through Ger- 
many ; but, although he had disguised him- 
self as a pilgrim, he was recognised in Vien- 
na by his expensive style of living, and by 
the imprudence of his servant. He was 
seized and delivered up to Duke Leopold, 



who had previously returned, and by whom 
he was surrendered to the emperor Henry. 
The noble chivalric king of England, and 
brother-in-law of Henry the Lion, was now 
detained at Trifels, in close confinement, 
above a year, until he was formally brought 
before the assembly of German princes at 
Hagenau, as a criminal, and had defended 
himself ; nor was he liberated and allowed 
to return to his kingdom until the English 
had paid a ransom of a million of dollars — 
for that period an immense sum. In thus 
proceeding against Richard, Henry had, 
it is true, acted in conformity with the an- 
cient right of the imperial dignity, accord- 
ing to which the emperor was authorized to 
cite before him all the kings of Christen- 
dom, and sit in judgment over them. But 
the manner in which he acted in this case 
was degrading, and unworthy of any ruling 
power. 

The emperor concluded with Henry the 
Lion, who after his return from England 
had produced fresh wars, a permanent 
treaty of peace, and by the marriage which 
took place between the duke's son, Henry 
the Slender, and Agnes, princess palatine, 
and niece of Frederick I., the reconcilia- 
tion of these two distinguished houses was 
confirmed. 

The principal aim now of the emperor 
Henry, beyond every thing else, was to 
secure to his house Naples and Sicily, the 
inheritance of his consort Constanza ; but 
the avarice and cruelty with which he 
acted in his endeavors to gain his object, 
soon indisposed and rendered the feelings 
of his new subjects more and more adverse 
towards him, and increased their hatred 
against the Germans. For he not only 
conveyed away the gold and silver, togeth- 
er with all the costly ornaments of the an- 
cient Norman kings, to such an extent that 
one hundred and sixty animals were load- 
ed therewith, and proceeded with them to 
the castle of Trifels on the Rhine, but he 
caused the eyes of the grandees who had 
rebelled to be put out, and as an insult to 
their misfortunes, and in mockery of their 
efforts to get possession of the throne and 
wear the crown, he placed them upon seats 
of red-hot iron, and fastened upon their 
heads crowns formed equally of burning 
iron. The rest of their accomplices were, 
it is true, so much terrified thereby, that 
they vowed allegiance ; but this submis- 
sion did not come from their hearts, and 



DEATH OF HENRY VI— THE RIVAL EMPERORS— THEIR DEATHS. 171 



Henry's successors paid severely for his 
cruelties. 

He meditated the most important plans, 
which, had they been accomplished, would 
have given to the whole empire a complete- 
ly different form. Among the rest, he of- 
fered to the German princes to render their 
fiefs hereditary, promised to renounce all 
imperial claims to the property left by 
bishops and the rest of the clergy ; in re- 
turn for which, however, he desired the 
imperial throne to be made likewise hered- 
itary in his family. He even promised to 
unite Naples and Sicily wholly with the 
empire. Many princes voluntarily agreed 
to these propositions, which appeared ad- 
vantageous to them ; some of the greater 
ones, however, refused, and as the pope 
likewise withheld his consent, Henry was 
obliged to defer the execution of his great 
projects to a more convenient time. Af- 
fairs now called him again to Sicily, and 
there he died suddenly in 1197, in the 33d 
year of his age, and at the moment when 
he contemplated the conquest of the Greek 
empire, by which to prepare and secure a 
successful issue to the crusades.* 

His son Frederick was but just eight 
years old, and the two parties in Germany, 
the Hohenstaufens and the Guelfs, became 
again so strongly divided, that the one side 
chose as emperor Philip, Henry's brother, 
and the other Otho, the second son of Henry 
the Lion, a prince distinguished for his 
strength and valor, and thus Germany had 
again two sovereigns at once. 

Through this unfortunate division of 
parties the empire became for the space of 
more than ten years the scene of devasta- 
tion, robbery, and murder, and both prin- 
ces, who were equally endowed with good 
qualities, could do nothing for the country ; 
on the contrary, in the endeavors made by 
each to gain over the pope to himself, they 
yielded to the subtle Innocent III., under 
whom the papacy attained its highest grade 
of power, many of their privileges. Otho 
IV. even acknowledged the pope's claim of 
authority to bestow the empire as he might 
appoint, and called himself in his letters to 
the pope a Roman king by the grace of 
God and the pope. For which concession, 
and because he was a Guelf, Innocent pro- 

* Henry's tomb, at Palermo, was opened after near- 
ly 600 years, and the body found well preserved. In 
the features of the face, the expression of imperious 
pride and despotic cruelty was still to be recognised. 



tected him with all his power, and when 
Philip in 1208 was assassinated at Bam- 
berg by Otho of Wittelsbach, (a nephew 
of him to whom Frederick I. had given the 
duchy of Bavaria,) in revenge because he 
would not give him his daughter in mar- 
riage as he had promised, Otho IV. was 
universally acknowledged as emperor, and 
solemnly crowned at Rome. His friend- 
ship with the pope, however, did not last 
long, for Otho saw that he had gone too 
far in his submission, and ought not to sac- 
rifice for his private interest all the privi- 
leges of the empire. The pontiff, there- 
fore, opposed to him as king, the youthful 
Frederick, the son of Henry VI., who had 
meanwhile grown up in Sicily, and whose 
guardian he became after the death of his 
mother Constanza. Frederick soon gain- 
ed adherents, and was crowned at Aix-la- 
Chapelle in 1215, and Otho lived hence- 
forward deserted and inactive on his patri- 
monial lands until he died in 1218. 

The emperor Frederick II., the grand- 
son of Frederick I., by his heroism, firm- 
ness of will, and boldness of spirit, and 
combining with this majesty of character 
both mildness and grace, was worthy of his 
noble family, so that the impression of his 
personal greatness remained long after his 
demise. In addition to which, he was a 
friend of art. and science, and was himself 
a poet : sentiment, animation, and euphony 
breathing in all his works. His bold and 
searching glance dwelt especially upon 
the follies of his age, and he frequently 
lashed them with bitter ridicule, while, on 
the contrary, he saw in every one, whence 
or of whatsoever faith he might be, mere- 
ly the man, and honored him as such if he 
found him so worthy. 

And yet this emperor executed but little 
that was great ; his best powers were con- 
sumed in the renewed contest between the 
imperial and papal authority, which never 
had more ruinous consequences than under 
his reign, and Germany in particular found 
but little reason to rejoice in its sovereign, 
for his views, even beyond all the other 
Hohenstaufens, were directed to Italy. By 
birth and education more an Italian than a 
German, he was particularly attached to 
his beautiful inheritance of the Two Sici- 
lies, and in Germany, thus neglected, the 
irresponsible dominion of the vassals took 
still deeper root, while, on the other hand, 
in France the royal power, by withdraw- 



172 DISPUTE WITH THE POPES— PALESTINE— FREDERICK'S MARRIAGE. 



ing considerable fiefs, commenced pre- 
paring its victory over the feudal system. 

There were also three grand causes 
which served to excite the popes against 
Frederick. In the first place, they could 
not endure that, besides Northern Italy, he 
should possess Sicily and Naples, and was 
thus enabled to press upon their state from 
two sides ; secondly, they were indignant 
because he would not yield io them, un- 
conditionally, the great privileges which 
the weak Otho IV. had ceded to them ; but, 
thirdly, what most excited their anger was, 
that, in the heat of their dispute, he fre- 
quently turned the sharpness of his sar- 
casm against them, and endeavored to make 
them both ridiculous and contemptible 

The commencement of the schism, how- 
ever, arose from a particular circumstance. 
Frederick, at his coronation, in Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, had spontaneously engaged to under- 
take a crusade for the deliverance of Jeru- 
salem, and this promise he renewed when 
he was crowned emperor at Rome, in 1220. 
But he now found in his Italian inheritance, 
as well as in the opposition shown by the 
Lombard cities, which, after the death of 
Frederick I., had again become arrogant, 
so much to do, that he was continually 
obliged to require from the pope renewed 
delays. The peaceful and just Honorius 
III. granted them to him ; and there existed 
between him and the emperor a friendly 
feeling, and even a mutual feeling of re- 
spect. But with the passionate Gregory 
IX., the old dispute between the spiritual 
and temporal power soon again broke forth, 
and Gregory strongly urged the crusade. 
In the year 1227, Frederick actually sailed 
with a fleet, but returned after a few days, 
under the pretext of illness, and the whole 
expedition ending in nothing, Gregory be- 
came irritated, and without listening to or 
admitting even the emperor's excuses, ex- 
communicated him, for he maintained his 
sickness was a fiction. To contradict these 
charges by facts, the emperor actually 
went the ensuing year to Palestine. But 
upon this the pope censured him, even 
more strongly than before, declaring any 
one, under excommunication, to be an unfit 
instrument for the service of God. And 
in order that Frederick might accomplish 
nothing great in the Holy Land, he sent 
thither commands, that neither the clergy 
there, nor the orders of knighthood, should 
' have community with him \ nay, he himself 



even caused his troops to make an incur- 
sion into Frederick's Italian lands, and 
conquered a portion of Apulia. 

But Frederick, in the mean time, speed- 
ily brought the war in Palestine to a suc- 
cessful termination. The sultan of Egypt, 
at Kameel, partly through the great fame 
which the imperial sovereignty enjoyed in 
the east, and partly from personal esteem 
for Frederick, (but weakened principally 
by family dissensions,) concluded with him 
a truce for ten years, and gave up Jerusa- 
lem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. The em- 
peror then entered the holy city, and visited 
the grave, but the patriarchs of Jerusalem 
and the priests, obedient to the commands 
of the pope, would celebrate no religious 
service in his presence. Notwithstanding 
which, he performed his devotions, and in 
the presence of his nobles, crowned him- 
self with the crown of the kings of Jeru- 
salem ; a right he had acquired by his 
marriage with Iolontha, the daughter of 
King John of Jerusalem ;* after which he 
returned quickly to Italy. His presence 
speedily repaired all that was lost, and the 
pope saw himself obliged, in 1230, to con- 
clude a peace and remove the ban. 

A tranquil moment seemed now to pre- 
sent itself in Frederick's life, but fate 
attacked him from another side. His own 
son Henry, whom he had lefl in Germany, 
as imperial viceroy, rebelled against him, 
excited, probably, by ambition and evil 
counsellors. After fifteen years absence, 
Frederick returned to Germany, and with 
a bleeding heart he was obliged to over- 
power his own son by force, take him 
prisoner, and place him in confinement in 
Apulia, where, seven years afterwards, he 
died. 

Upon this occasion Frederick also held, 
in 1235, a grand diet at Mentz, where 
64 princes, and about 12,000 nobles and 
knights were present. Here written laws 
were made relative to the peace of the 
country, and other regulations adopted, 
which showed the empire the prudence of 
its emperor. Before the diet assembled, 
he celebrated, at Worms, his espousa.1 with 
his second consort, the English princess, 
Isabella. The imperial bride was received 
upon the frontiers by a splendid suite of 
nobles and knights ; in all the cities through 

* The kings of Naples and Sicily inherited the title 
of king of Jerusalem from Frederick 



LOMBARDY— FREDERICK EXCOMMUNICATED. 



173 



which she passed, the clergy met her, ac- 
companied by choirs of sacred music, and 
the cheerful peals of the church-bells ; and 
in Cologne, the streets of which were su- 
perbly decorated, she was received by ten 
thousand citizens on horseback, in rich 
clothing and arms. Carriages with organs, 
in the form of ships, their wheels and hor- 
ses concealed by purple coverings, caused 
an harmonious music to resound, and 
throughout the whole night choirs of maid- 
ens serenaded beneath the windows of 
the emperor's bride. At the marriage in 
Worms, four kings, eleven dukes, and 
thirty counts and margraves, were present. 
Frederick made the most costly presents to 
the English ambassador ; and among the 
rest, he sent rich gifts of curiosities from 
the east to the king of England, as well 
as three leopards, the leopards being in- 
cluded in the Eaglish coat of arms. 

From these peaceful occupations, Fred- 
erick was obliged to turn, in the following 
year, to more serious affairs in Italy, where 
the Lombard cities more especially claimed 
his presence, they having renewed their 
ancient alliance among themselves and 
refusing to yield to him the obedience he 
required as emperor. With the assistance 
of his valiant leader, the knight Ezzelin de 
Romano, he conquered several of the allied 
cities, and so beat the Milanese in 1237, at 
Cortenuova, that they would willingly have 
humbled themselves, if he had granted only 
moderate conditions. But, unwarned by 
the example of his grandfather, he required 
them to submit at discretion : while the 
citizens, remembering earlier times, pre- 
ferred dying under their shields, rather, 
they said, than by the rope, famine, or fire, 
and from this period commenced in reality 
the misfortunes of Frederick's life. Ac- 
cording to the statement made by one of our 
writers, "he lost the favor of many men 
by his implacable severity." His old ene- 
my also, Gregory IX., rose up again against 
him, joined henceforth the confederation of 
the cities, and excommunicated him a sec- 
ond time. Indeed, the enmity of both par- 
ties went so far, and degenerated so much 
into personal animosity, that the pope com- 
paring the emperor, in a letter to the other 
princes, " to that Apocalyptic monster 
rising from the sea, which was full of 
blasphemous names, and in color checkered 
like a leopard," Frederick immediately re- 
plied with another passage from Scripture : 



" Another red horse arose from the sea, 
and he who sat thereon look peace from the 
earth, so that the living should kill each 
other." 

But in that age there existed one great 
authority which operated powerfully cn 
the side of the pope, and fought against 
Frederick — this was the power of puhlic 
opinion. The pope now cast upon the em- 
peror the heavy charge that he was a de- 
spiser of religion and of the holy church, 
and was inclined to the infidelity of the 
Saracens, (the fact that Frederick had em- 
ployed, in the war with the Lombardians, 
10,000 Saracens, appeared to justify this 
charge,) and although the emperor several 
times, both verbally and in writing, sol- 
emnly declared that he was a true Chris- 
tian, and as such wished to live and die : 
nay, although he was formally examined 
in religion by several bishops, and caused 
a testimony of his orthodoxy to be pub- 
lished, this accusation of the pope still 
found belief among most men. In addi- 
tion to which, Frederick's rash and capri- 
cious wit had too often thoughtlessly at- 
tacked sacred subjects; while his life also 
was not pure and blameless, but stained 
with the excesses of sensuality. Accord- 
ingly he sank more and more in general 
estimation, and it was this that embittered 
the latter period of his life, and at length 
entirely consumed him with vexation. 

Gregory IX., who died in 1241, nearly 
one hundred years old, was succeeded by 
Innocent IV., who was a still more violent 
enemy of the emperor than even Gregory 
had been. As Frederick still continued 
to be powerful in Italy, and threatened him 
even in Rome itself, the pope retired to 
Genoa, and from thence to Lyons, in 
France. There he renewed, in 1245, in 
a large council, the ban against the empe- 
ror, although the latter offered himself in 
peace and friendship, and was willing to 
remove all points of complaint, while, in 
addition to all this, his ambassador, Thad- 
deus of Suessa, pleaded most powerfully 
for his lord. Indeed, the pope went so far 
as solemnly to pronounce the deposal of 
the emperor from all his states and digni- 
ties. When the bull of excommunication 
was circulated in Germany, many of the 
spiritual princes took advantage of the ex- 
citement produced thereby, and elected, in 
1246, at Wiirzburg, the landgrave, Henry 
Raspe, of Thuringia, as rival emperor. 



174 



DEATH OF FREDERICK II. — HIS GENIUS AND TALENTS. 



The latter, however, could gain no abso- 
lute authority, and died the following year. 
As Frederick, however, still remained in 
Italy, entangled in constant wars, the ec- 
clesiastical princes elected another sover- 
eign, Count William of Holland, a youth 
twenty years of age, who, in order that he 
might become the head of the order of 
knighthood, was forthwith solemnly pro- 
moted from his inferior rank of squire to 
that of a knight. The greatest confusion 
now existed in Germany, as well as in 
Italy. " After the emperor Frederick was 
excommunicated," says an ancient histo- 
rian, " the robbers congratulated them- 
selves, and rejoiced at the opportunities for 
pillage now presented to them. The 
ploughshares were transformed into swords, 
and the scythes into lances. Every one 
supplied himself with steel and flint, in 
order to be able to produce fire and spread 
incendiarism instantly." 

In Italy, the war continued uninter- 
ruptedly and without any decisive result, 
especially with the Lombardian cities. 
The imperial arms were often successful, 
but the spirit of the emperor was bowed 
down, and at last his good fortune occa- 
sionally deserted him. In the year 1249, 
his own son, Enzius, whom he had made 
king of Sicily, and of all his sons the most 
chivalric and handsome, was taken prisoner 
by the Bolognese in an unsuccessful com- 
bat near Fossalta. The irritated citizens 
refused all offers of ransom for the empe- 
ror's son, and condemned him to perpetual 
imprisonment, in which he continued for 
two-and-twenty years, and survived all the 
sons and grandsons of Frederick, who per- 
ished every one by poison, the sword, and 
the axe of the executioner. 

Exclusive of the bitter grief caused by 
his son's misfortune, the emperor, in his 
last years, was afflicted with additional 
pain and mortification at finding his long- 
tried friend and chancellor, Petrus de Vin- 
cis, to whom he had confided the most im- 
portant affairs of his empire, charged with 
the crime of attempting to take the life of 
his master by poison. Matthieu of Paris, 
at least, relates as certain, that the physi- 
cian de Vincis handed to the emperor a 
poisonous beverage as a medicine, but 
which the latter, having had L is suspicions 
exceed, did not drink. The chancellor 
was thrown into prison, and deprived of 
his eyesight, where he committed suicide 



by dashing his head against the wall. 
Whether de Vincis was guilty, or whether 
appearances were alone against him which 
he could not remove, is not to be decided, 
owing to the insufficiency of the informa- 
tion handed down to us. The emperor, 
however, did not long survive this painful 
event ; he died in 1250, in the arms of his 
son Manfred, at the castle of Fiorentino or 
Firenzuolo, in the fifty-sixth year of his 
age. 

If, after contemplating the stormy phases 
which convulsed this emperor's life, we 
turn our observation to his noble qualities, 
his acute and sensitive feeling for all that 
was beautiful and grand, and, above all, 
to what he did for science and enlighten- 
ment generally in Naples, his hereditary 
land, we feel penetrated with profound re- 
gret when we find that all this, like a 
transitory apparition, passed away without 
any lasting trace ; but more especially are 
we pained to witness how he neglected to 
reign with affection and devotion over his 
German subjects. Since Charlemagne and 
Alfred of England, no potentate had exist- 
ed who loved and promoted civilization, in 
its broadest sense, so much as Frederick II. 
At his court, the same as at that of Charle- 
magne, were assembled the noblest and 
most intellectual minds of that age ; through 
them he caused a multitude of Greek 
works, and in particular those of Aristotle, 
to be translated from the Arabic into Latin. 
He collected, for that period, a very con- 
siderable library, partly by researches 
made in his own states, partly during his 
stay in Syria, and through his alliance 
with the Arab princes. Besides, he did 
not retain these treasures jealously and 
covetously for himself, but imparted them 
to others ; as, for instance, he presented 
the works of Aristotle to the university of 
Bologna, although that city was inimically 
disposed towards him, to which he added 
the following address : " Science must go 
hand in hand with government, legislation, 
and the pursuits of war, because these, 
otherwise subjected to the allurements of 
the world and to ignorance, either sink into 
indolence, or else, if unchecked, stray be- 
yond all sanctioned limits. Wherefore, 
from youth upward, we have sought and 
loved science, whereby the soul of man 
becomes enlightened and strengthened, and 
without which his life is deprived of all 
regulation and innate freedom. Now that 



HIS ZEAL FOR SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. 



175 



the noble possession of science is not di- 
minished by being imparted, but, on the 
contrary, grows thereby still more fruitful, 
we accordingly will not conceal the pro- 
duce of much exertion, but will only con- 
sider our own possessions as truly delight- 
ful when we shall have imparted so great 
a benefit to others. But none have a 
greater right to them than those great men 
who, from the original ancient and rich 
sources, have derived new streams, and 
thereby supply the thirsty with a sweet 
and healthy refreshment. Wherefore, re- 
ceive these works as a present from your 
friend, the emperor," &c. 

A splendid monument of his noble mind 
and genius is presented in his code of laws 
for his hereditary kingdom of Naples and 
Sicily, and which he caused to be com- 
posed chiefly by Peter de Vincis. Accord- 
ing to the plan of a truly great legislator, 
he was not influenced by the idea of crea- 
ting something entirely new, but he built 
upon the basis of what already existed, 
adapted whatsoever to him appeared good 
and necessary for his main object, and so 
formed a work which gave him as ruler the 
necessary power to establish a firm foun- 
dation for the welfare of his people. Un- 
fortunately, the convulsions of his later 
reign and the following periods, never al- 
lowed this grand work to develop its results 
entirely. 

Frederick himself possessed a knowledge 
unusual, and acquired by few men of his 
time. He understood Greek, Latin, Italian, 
French, German, and Arabic. Among 
the sciences, he loved chiefly natural his- 
tory, and proved himself a master in that 
science by a work he composed upon the 
art of hawking ; for it not only displays the 
most perfect and thorough investigation in 
the mode of life, nourishment, diseases, and 
the whole nature of those birds, but dwells 
also upon their construction generally, both 
internally and externally. This desire 
after a fundamental knowledge in natural 
science had the happiest influence, especial- 
ly upon the medical sciences. Physicians 
were obliged to study anatomy before every 
thing else ; they were referred to the en- 
thusiastic application of Hippocrates and 
Galen, and not allowed to practise their 
profession until they had received from the 
board of faculty at Salerno or Naples, a 
satisfactory and honorable certificate ; be- 
sides which, they were obliged to pass an 



examination before the imperial chamber, 
formed of a committee of competent mem- 
bers in the science. 

The emperor founded the University of 
Naples in 1224, and he considerably im- 
proved and enlarged the medical school at 
Salerno. At both places also, through his 
zeal, were formed the first collections of 
art, which, unfortunately, in the tumults 
of the following ages, were eventually de- 
stroyed.* 

Of Frederick II. it is related, as was 
already stated of Charlemagne, that the 
j eastern princes emulated each other in 
sending him artistical works as signs of 
friendship. Among the rest, the sultan of 
Egypt presented him with an extraordinary 
tent. The sun and moon revolved, moved 
by invisible agents, and showed the hours 
of the day and night in just and exact re- 
lation. 

At the court of the emperor, there were 
often contests in science and art, and vic- 
torious wreaths bestowed, in which scenes 
Frederick shone as a poet, and invented 
and practised many difficult measures of 
verse. His chief judge, Peter de Vincis, 
the composer of the code of laws, wrote 
also the first sonnet extant in Italian. 
Minds, in fact, developed themselves, and 
were in full action in the vicinity and pres- 
ence of the great emperor, and there they 
commanded full scope for all their powers. 

His own personal merit was so distin- 
guished and universally recognised, that he 
was enabled to collect around him the 
most celebrated men of the age without 
feeling any jealousy towards them — always 
a proof of true greatness. His most violent 
enemies even could not withhold from him 
their admiration of his great qualities. His 
exterior was also both commanding and 
prepossessing. Like his grandfather he 
was fair, but not so tall, although well and 
strongly formed, and very skilful in all 
warlike and corporeal exercises. His fore- 
head, nose, and mouth bore the impression 
of that delicate and yet firm character 
which we admire in the works of the 



* On the bridge across the Vulturous, in Capua, was 
erected a statue of the emperor Frederick II., with 
several others, and it continued there hi a Very good 
state of preservation until the most recent wars of mod- 
ern times, when it became a prey to the devastation 
committed. The head of the emperor on this statue, 
however, has been copied and engraved upon a ring ; 
and it is after that, that the excellent portrait of Fred- 

| erick has been drawn in the History of the Hohenstau- 

I fens, by M. F. de Raumer. 



176 



EAST AND NORTHEASTERN 



GERMANY— THE MONGOLS. 



Greeks, and name after them ; and his 
eye generally expressed the most serene 
cheerfulness, but on important and serious 
occasions it indicated gravity and severity. 
Thus, in general, the happy conjunction 
of mildness with seriousness was, through- 
out his life, the distinguishing feature of 
this emperor. His death produced great 
confusion in Italy, and still greater dissen- 
sion in Germany. In the latter country 
two emperors again stood opposed to each 
other, throne against throne : the Hohen- 
staufen party acknowledging and uphold- 
ing Conrad, Frederick's son, in opposition 
to William of Holland, the former having 
already, during his father's life, been elect- 
ed king of the Romans. 

But before we relate the history of these 
two rival emperors, it will be useful and in- 
teresting to cast our glance at the countries 
in the east and northeastern parts of Ger- 
many. 

Europe was about this time threatened 
by a terrible enemy from the east, equally 
as dreadful as the Hunns were in earlier 
times. This enemy consisted of the Mon- 
golians, who ever since the year 1208, 
under Dschinges-Khan, had continued to 
ravage Asia, and led by him had advanced 
as far as Moravia and Silesia. In the year 
1241 they gained a great battle near Lieg- 
nitz over the Silesians, under the command 
of Henry II. of Liegnitz, who himself fell 
chivalrously fighting at the head of his 
troops ; but by the valor with which he dis- 
puted the victory with the enemy, he de- 
stroyed the desire they had previously in- 
dulged in of penetrating farther westward, 
as they now turned towards Hungary. 
Thus, by his own death, Henry the Pious 
saved Europe ; and indeed, upon the same 
spot (Wahlstadt) where, on the 26th of Au- 
gust, 1813, the action called the battle of 
Katzbach was so victoriously fought. 

In this emergency Frederick well felt 
what his duty was as first Christian prince, 
and very urgently pressed the other kings 
for their immediate assistance against the 
common enemy ; but at this moment the 
general disorder was too great, and his ap- 
peal for aid remained without any effect. 
As regards Silesia and Hungary the incur- 
sionof the Mongolians produced this result, 
that many German peasants migrated to 
the deserted and depopulated districts, and 
henceforward Lower Silesia became, in- 
deed, more a German than Slavonic coun- 



try. Other neighboring countries also 
were about this period occupied and popu- 
lated by the Germans, consisting of the 
coasts of the Baltic, Prussia, Livonia, Esth- 
land, and Courland. As early as at the 
end of the twelfth century, Meinhardt, a 
canon of the monastery of Legeberg, built 
a church at Exkalle, (in the vicinity of the 
present Riga.) where, shortly afterwards, 
Pope Clement III. founded a bishopric, and 
from this central point the diffusion of Chris- 
tianity extended in that district. But tem- 
poral force soon mixed itself in these spirit- 
ual and peaceful exertions ; the resistance 
of the heathen Livonians induced Pope Ce- 
lestin III. to cause a crusade to be preached 
against them, and speedily a multitude of 
men from the north of Germany stormed 
towards these parts. A spiritual order of 
knighthood was formed under the name of 
the knights of the sword, and with the 
Christian doctrines the dominion of this or- 
der was by degrees extended over Livonia, 
Esthland, and Courland. The natives who 
remained after the sanguinary battles of 
this exterminating war were reduced to op- 
pressive slavery, which was for the first 
time moderated in our own age by the em- 
peror Alexander. 

In Prussia also the sword established at 
the same time with Christianity the Ger- 
man dominion and superiority. About the 
year 1208 a monk of the monastery of Kol- 
witz, in Pomerania, of the name of Chris- 
tian, crossed the Vistula, and preached 
Christianity to the heathen Prussians. But 
when the pope made him a bishop, and 
wished to establish a formal hierarchal go- 
vernment, they rose in contest against him, 
in which the knights of the sword, together 
with Duke Henry the Bearded of Breslau, 
and many warriors of the neighboring lands, 
immediately marched forth and gave war- 
like aid to the new bishop. But little was 
accomplished until the latter, upon the ad- 
vice of Duke Henry, summoned to his as- 
sistance the knights of the Teutonic Order, 
which had originated in an institution of 
North Germany. Accordingly, in the year 
1229, their first grand master, Herman 
Salza, with not more than twenty-eight 
knights and one hundred squires and atten- 
dants, advanced to Prussia; he proceeded 
in his work cautiously by establishing for- 
tified places, among which Thorn, on the 
Vistula, serving, as it were, for the entrance 
gate of the country, was the first; and 



MIGRATIONS— CONRAD IV. AND WILLIAM OF HOLLAND. 



177 



Culm, Marienwerder, Elbing, Braunsberg, 
and others speedily followed. The do- 
minion of the Teutonic Order was spread 
even in Livonia, as the Knights of the Sword, 
after a severe defeat by the Livonians, in 
1273, were received in it ; and in 1255, 
upon the advice of Ottocar of Bohemia, who 
had made a crusade against the Prussians, 
in which Rudolphus of Hapsburg joined, 
the present metropolis of the country was 
founded, and in honor of him was called 
Kbnigsberg. The cities around, by their 
favorable situation for commerce, soon 
flourished again, and the peasants found 
themselves in a happier situation than their 
Livonian neighbors, for their services and 
imposts were rendered more moderate, and 
absolute slavery was only experienced by 
a few individuals as a punishment for their 
defection. 

When we add to this the various emigra- 
tions which had commenced already much 
earlier, populating the Vandal countries as 
well as Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and 
Pomerania, and take into consideration the 
many flourishing cities which were built 
there by German citizens, we may be in- 
clined to style the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries as the epoch of the migration of 
Germans towards the northeast, the same 
as that of the fourth and fifth centuries after 
Christ is called the period of migration to- 
wards the west and south. Indeed, if we 
reckon the hundreds of thousands which 
Germany at the same period sent with the 
crusades to the east, together with those 
sent with the Hohenstaufen emperors to 
Italy, we must really feel astonished at the 
population which that vast country pro- 
duced, and assuredly cannot join with many 
other historians in calling a period present- 
ing like this so much vigor and activity 
of life, an epoch of absolute misery, slavi- 
tude, and desolation. 

Had the emperor Frederick rightly known 
the strength of Germany, and had he un- 
derstood how to avail himself of the means 
to render it still more powerful by union, 
the whole of the east and north of Europe 
might then have become annexed to that 
country. But his eyes were turned exclu- 
sively upon Italy, and there he fruitlessly 
sacrificed all his strength. 

Conrad, meanwhile, was likewise more 
occupied with his patrimonial inheritance 
than with Germany. He went as early as 
1251 to Italy, and left his consort in the 
23 



former country, who gave birth the follow- 
ing year to the unfortunate Conradin. Con- 
rad, under the excommunication of the pope, 
like his father, conquered Naples, it is true, 
but made the inhabitants his most implaca- 
ble enemies, by placing a bridle upon the 
horse, which stood as an emblem of the city 
upon the market-place. He died shortly 
after, in 1254, and said a few moments be- 
fore his death : " Unhappy being that I am, 
why did my parents bring me into this 
world only to expose me to so much mis- 
fortune ! The church, which should have 
shown both me and my father a maternal 
heart, has become much rather our step- 
mother ; and this empire which flourished 
before the birth of Christ is now fading 
away and approaching its destruction !" 
And in this he prophesied too truly with 
respect to his own race, for he was the last 
king of the Hohenstaufens. Frederick II. 
had, it is true, left behind him a second son 
(Henry) by his marriage with Isabella, and 
a third (Manfred) by Blanca, his Italian 
consort, and two grandsons, the sons of his 
unfortunate eldest son Henry ; but they all 
died in the flower of their age, and about 
the same time : so that at the death of Con- 
rad IV., there only remained of the whole 
family of the Hohenstaufens, his son, the- 
unfortunate Conradin, and his brother Man- 
fred. We shall very shortly learn the fate 
of these two princes. 

King William also lived but a few years: 
after Conrad, and in so little esteem, that a 
common citizen of Utrecht cast a stone at 
him, and a nobleman plundered his consort 
upon the highway. When in the winter 
of the year 1256 he advanced against the 
Friesi, and crossed the ice near Medenblick r 
it broke under him, and he remained with 
his heavy war-horse sticking in the morass, 
where the Friesi killed him, although he 
offered a large sum for his life. 

After his death the confused state of af- 
fairs in Germany became greater than ever. 

Upon the demise of Conrad IV. and 
William of Holland, no German prince 
would accept the imperial crown, except,, 
perhaps, Ottocar, king of Bohemia, but who, 
however, was not liked. Most of them pre- 
ferred rather to occupy themselves in ruling 
over and extending their own hereditary 
lands, than to take upon themselves the 
heavy charge of restoring order and peace 
in those countries of Germany now become 
almost again savage, and thus renounce 



178 



CONRADIN OF SWABIA— CHARLES OF AXJOU. 



their own selfish interests, in order to con- 
secrate all their powers to the common 
good. The spiritual electors now con- 
ceived the unworthy and degrading idea 
of electing a foreigner for emperor. Still 
they were by no means unanimous in their 
choice ; the one party elected an English- 
man, Richard, earl of Cornwall, the brother 
of King Henry III. ; the other chose a Span- 
iard, Alphonso, king of Castile, who, on 
account of his knowledge in astronomy, 
was called the Sage, but who nevertheless 
was not wise enough to know how to rule 
even his own country. Both had offered 
the imperial princes considerable sums of 
money, and Richard, as some relate, came 
with thirty-two carriages to Germany, each 
drawn by eight horses, together with an 
immense tun filled with sterlings, an Eng- 
lish coin of that period. He possessed ex- 
tensive tin mines in Cornwall, then almost 
the only mines in the world, whence he 
acquired immense riches. With such arms 
as these, he speedily conquered many 
hearts, and was solemnly crowned at Aix- 
la-Chapelle, in 1257, after which he re- 
turned to England again, accompanied by 
several Germans of high rank. In Eng- 
land, however, the home of national pride, 
he was not treated otherwise than any other 
English prince or nobleman ; and this so 
much vexed the Germans who were with 
him, that they returned to their country 
discontented. After that, Richard visited 
Germany at three different times, but on 
each occasion only for a short space. Al- 
phonso, however, never came to that coun- 
try at all. During this period, therefore, 
disorder and violence necessarily increased 
from day to day, so that the petty princes, 
counts, knights, and the cities themselves, 
lived in constant anarchy and warfare Mith 
each other, to an extent, that those who de- 
sired justice and tranquillity, wished most 
heartily for an emperor who might become 
their protection and shield. 

Conradin of Swabia, the son of the em- 
peror Conrad IV., the last descendant of the 
Hohenstaufen race, fell at this moment a 
victim to the most cruel fate. He was 
styled Conradin by the Italians, because he 
ended his career at so early an age. After 
his father's death, he had been brought up 
in Bavaria, and afterwards in Swabia, 
where he still retained some small inherit- 
ance ; while his uncle Manfred, as regent, 
and subsequently as king, administered his 



hereditary estates in Naples and Sicily, 
The popes, however, who still remained tho 
irreconcilable enemies of the Hohenstau- 
fen house, sought to despoil him of these 
possessions ; and as they could not effect 
this by their own power, it was determined 
by Clement IV. to bring another king in 
opposition to the hated Manfred. He ap- 
plied, therefore, to Charles, duke of Anjou, 
who marched forth in 1266 ; he was ac- 
companied by a numerous suite of French 
knights, who were ever happy to avail 
themselves of any expedition which prom- 
ised them rich booty. King Manfred, who 
had unfortunately lost, in a storm, the whole 
of his fleet, with which he had set sail in 
order to prevent the French from landing, 
was defeated in an action at Benevento, on 
the 26th of February, 1266, principally 
through treachery, and preferred sacrifi- 
cing himself by an heroic death, rather than 
to endure an ignominious life in prison ; be 
therefore rushed into the midst of the ene- 
my's ranks, and sank mortally wounded. 
His children, however, were seized by the 
conqueror, and remained in captivity dur- 
ing the rest of their lives. 

When the youthful Conradin now be- 
came older, and bethought him of the 
lands which belonged to him, whereof one 
city alone was richer than his German 
possessions altogether, the bold disposition 
of his ancestors awoke within him, and he 
resolved to drive the robbers from his in- 
heritance. In 1268, therefore, he went 
forth, accompanied by the faithful friend 
of his youth, Prince Frederick of Baden, 
and many faithful knights who followed 
him from Germany. 

In Italy the numerous adherents of the 
Ghibelin party immediately flocked to 
him ; the Romans, in defiance of their 
pope, Clement, who had called for the aid 
of the French, led him in triumph into their 
city, and he soon stood opposed to the ene- 
my with a strong army near Tagliacozzo 
in Lower Italy. In battle, also, fortune at 
first favored him ; the enemy was put to 
flight, but, unfortunately, in the pursuit 
his ow T n army got into disorder, and in 
their eagerness for booty fell too soon 
upon the enemy's camp, for at that mo- 
ment the French reserve returned and 
rushed upon the plunderers. The latter 
were wholly defeated, and Conradin, with 
his friend Frederick, after they had long 
fought most bravely, were forced to fly 



END OF THE HOHENSTAUFENS— THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. 



179 



towards the sea. They had already got 
on board a ship at Astura, and were just 
setting sail for Pisa, when they were over- 
taken, made prisoners, and led before 
Charles of Anjou. And such was the in- 
solence, perfidy, and cruelty of the tyrant, 
that he treated Conradin as a rebel against 
himself the legitimate and true king, and 
caused both the princes, at the age of six- 
teen, to be beheaded publicly in the mar- 
ket-place of Naples on the 28th of Octo- 
ber, 1268.* 

With the unfortunate Conradin ended 
the powerful house of the Hohenstaufens, 
and that was produced by means of the 
same possessions by which Frederick I. 
thought to elevate it to the highest degree 
of splendor and glory. But the Swabian 
patrimony now fell into so many divisions, 
that eventually no territory throughout 
Germany was divided into so many owner- 
ships as Swabia. As the duchy was never 
restored, the whole of its states hencefor- 
ward formed a part of the immediate pos- 
sessions of the empire. Not only the 
bishops, counts, and superior free lords, 
but also the inferior ranks of the nobility, 
the cities, monasteries, and even the peas- 
antry, which had been previously the vas- 
sals and subjects of the duke, became now 
emancipated ; but they had not these rights 
and privileges individually, like the larger 
imperial lordships, but only as an entire 
combined body of the Swabian states, 
which they enjoyed as members thereof. 
The emperor derived from them important 
revenues, and the administration of these 
imperial possessions was transferred to 
seneschals ; so that instead of the ancient 
Swabian dukes there were only now the 
imperial bailiwicks — Helvetia or Switzer- 
land, Alsace, and Swabia, which were di- 
vided into cantons. These arrangements 
were adopted under the reign of the suc- 
ceeding emperor, Rudolphus. 

The fate of the duchy of Swabia leads 
us naturally to consider the circumstances 
which produced, especially in the interior 
of Germany, the dismemberment and abo- 
lition of the ancient national duchies. 
The basis for this important event was laid, 

* The unfortunate Conradin, before his execution, 
transferred all his rights to Manfred's daughter Con- 
stanza ; and this princess became afterwards the aven- 
ger of the Hohenstaufens, For, as the wife of Peter 
of Aragon, she favored the horrible conspiracy known 
under the name of the Sicilian Vespers, in the year 
1282, by which Charles of Anjou lost his usurped king- 
dom of Sicily 



as we have already seen, at the time of 
the deposition of Henry the Lion, in the 
year 1180. Although the plan and the 
limits of this general history of the empire 
will not permit us to trace more in detail 
all those princely houses which have arisen 
from the ruins of these ancient duchies, 
we may give at least a general outline of 
the changes as they occurred : 

1. The duchy of Saxony had already 
become separated from the important mar- 
graviate of Brandenburg, which was trans- 
ferred to Henry the Bear, who received 
therewith all the prerogatives of a duke in 
time of war, together with the rights of 
an elector, in his quality of arch-chamber- 
lain. His son Bernard reunited subse- 
quently, it is true, the duchy with the 
margraviate, and was created a duke ; but 
his territory was of very little importance, 
and was, besides, divided into two portions 
between the two families of Lauenburg 
and Wittenberg, both of which disputed 
with each other for a long time for the 
possession of the office of grand marshal, 
and which question was not settled until 
the reign of Charles IV., who decided in 
favor of the Wittenberg house. 

The ducal authority of the archbishop 
of Cologne in the western part of Saxony 
likewise could not recover its former ele- 
vation. The nobles in his jurisdiction 
made themselves gradually independent, 
after the example presented to them, espe- 
cially by the spiritual princes of the an- 
cient duchy. Besides which, the arch- 
bishop of Bremen came into possession of 
the lordship of Stade, in the territory of 
Detmarsh ; the peasants took upon them- 
selves the principal authority in that coun- 
try ; the count of Oldenburg refused to 
remain united with the duchy, and the 
important city of Liibeck was raised to the 
dignity of an imperial free city by Fred- 
erick II. ; while at the celebrated diet of 
Mentz, in 1235, the emperor having con- 
ferred upon the Guelfic house new power 
and authority, by restoring to the infant 
duke, Otho, the duchies of Brunswick and 
Liineburg, that powerful family likewise 
refused to recognise longer any rights 
claimed by the house of Saxe-Anhalt. 
Thuringia had already long since sepa- 
rated itself from the duchy, and had pos- 
sessed its own particular counts from the 
time that the house of Saxony became 
imperial : we speak here of the north and 



180 



PROGRESS OF THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. 



southern parts of Thuringia, which be- 
came united under the valiant margrave, 
Eccard of Meissen. Under the Hohen- 
staufens, the margraviate was replaced by 
a landgraviate. The landgraves resided 
at Eisenach and in the castle of Wart- 
burg. Their possessions extended, by 
means of certain allodial acquisitions, over 
Hesse and the towns of Miinden, Cassel, 
Marburg, &c, as far even as the banks 
of the Rhine ; such was the power com- 
manded by Louis IV., landgrave of Thu- 
ringia, the husband of Elizabeth the Holy, 
at the commencement of the thirteenth 
century. With Henry Raspe, who died 
childless, in 1247, the masculine branch 
of the house of Thuringia became extinct. 
The female line contested together for the 
inheritance, and two of the descendants 
carried on a war against each other during 
a period of seven years. At length, in 
1264, the fief of Thuringia was conferred 
upon Otho the Illustrious, of Meissen ; but 
the allodial possessions, and especially the 
Hessian territory, fell to Henry, the son of 
Sophia, of Brabant. The aforesaid Henry 
of Meissen was the founder of the present 
Saxon house, and Henry of Hesse that of 
the house of the landgrave of Hesse. 

In the north of Germany the counts of 
Holstein possessed claims to immediate 
imperial lordships : Mecklenburg, which 
belonged to the counts of Schwerin on the 
one part, and to the Obotrite princes on the 
other, had become an immediate fief of the 
empire, the same as the duchy of Po- 
merania. 

2. The duchy of Bavaria, when it pass- 
ed from the house of the Guelfs to that of 
Wittelsbach, possessed nothing more than 
the mere name of the ancient duchy. 
Carinthia, Austria, and Styria, had already 
since the year 1156, under the Saxon em- 
perors, been separated from Bavaria. 

Otho of Wittelsbach governed his duchy 
with much greater vigor certainly than 
Bernard of Saxony ; but the bishops, never- 
theless, withdrew from his sovereignty ; 
Ratisbon became an imperial city ; and in 
the south of Bavaria the count of Andechs, 
in his quality of heir to the house of the 
counts of Dachau, came in possession of 
the title of duke of Merau, (which this 
house had assumed from a tract of land 
on the coasts of Dalmatia,) which title he 
extended to the whole of his possessions in 
Franconia, and made it the basis for claim- 



ing his independence. In 1248, however, 
the house of Andechs became extinct, 
whence the greater portion of its posses- 
sions passed over to a house of Swabia, (the 
Hohenzoller branch,) the burgraves of 
Nuremberg, and laid the foundation for the 
duchies of Anspach and Baireuth. 

Meantime the house of Wittelsbach, 
besides the acquisition of the duchy of 
Bavaria, came into possession of another 
territory extremely important — the county- 
palatine of the Rhine, which it received in 
1227, by the marriage of Otho the Illustri- 
ous with the hereditary countess palatine 
of the house of Guelf. But the power of 
this house became considerably diminished 
by its dismemberment, after the death of 
Louis the Severe, in 1292, whose eldest 
son, Rudolphus, received the palatinate, 
and his second son, Louis, succeeded to the 
duchy. The count palatine of the Rhine 
possessed the title of arch-carver or stew- 
ard, and consequently he commanded the 
first voice in the electoral college of the 
temporal princes. Bavaria contested with 
Bohemia for the office of arch cup-bearer, 
which Henry the Lion, or his father, who 
possessed two duchies, had been forced to 
abandon, and which it subsequently lost for- 
ever. 

Those arch or grand offices fell gradually 
into the hands of those who possessed the 
right of election, after the original institu- 
tion, which called together the principal 
heads of the people throughout the em- 
pire to take part in the meetings, had be- 
come altered. At the election of Otho I., 
there were present five of the principal 
nations: the Lorrainers, the Franks, the 
Swabians, the Bavarians, and the Saxons. 
When Otho of Saxony was elected, the 
dukes of the other four nations divided 
among themselves the offices of arch-cham- 
berlain, arch-carver or steward, arch-cup- 
bearer, and arch-marshal. At the subse- 
quent election of Otho III., however, the 
distribution of the offices had already be- 
come changed. 

At the election of Conrad II. there ap- 
peared seven nations, because Lorraine 
was then divided in two portions, and 
Carinthia had likewise recently joined the 
rest. But at the election of Lothaire, the 
Saxons, the Lorrainers, and Carinthians, 
no longer attended, as the former had de- 
tached themselves from the empire, and 
the latter remained but a short time allied 



PROGRESS OF THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. 



181 



with the other chief nations. In earlier 
times the dukes did not possess this ex- 
clusive and positive right of election. All 
the princes, even the populace itself, took 
part in the choice of the sovereign : but 
subsequently, in proportion as the election 
assumed a more determined form, the 
elective right became more and more con- 
nected with the arch-offices, and was even 
transferred altogether with those dignities 
to other princes. 

Thus Conrad III. indemnified the mar- 
grave, Albert the Bear, for the loss of the 
duchy of Saxony, by giving up in his favor 
the office of arch-chamberlain, which he 
held as a Hohenstaufen ; while, on the 
other hand, the Hohenstaufens received the 
dignity of arch-carver or steward, when 
the remains of the duchy of Franconia 
passed over to their house. This office 
was then attached to the palatinate of the 
Rhine ; and as, in ancient times, the duke 
of Franconia held the first rank among the 
temporal princes, so now, among the latter, 
the count palatine commanded the first 
voice. 

We have already found that the office of 
grand cup-bearer was transferred from the 
Guelfs to the house of Bohemia; but with 
respect to that of grand marshal, it always 
remained with the Saxons. The right of 
Bohemia to a voice in the elections was a 
subject of long contest, inasmuch as the 
Germans would not admit the right of 
election to a Slavonic prince ; and it was 
on this account that, at the period in ques- 
tion, the college of princes only possessed 
six votes : three ecclesiastical, consisting 
of those of the archbishops of Mentz, 
Treves, and Cologne, who, protected by 
the influence of the pope, were thus en- 
abled to raise themselves to the highest 
rank in the empire ; and three temporal 
votes, those of the dukes of Saxony, Bran- 
denburg, and of the Palatinate. 

3. In Swabia, we have seen that, at the 
fall of the Hohenstaufens, all their rights 
disappeared ; their rich possessions had, 
in the latter period, been wasted or given 
away ; and Conradin, at the time of his 
expedition to Italy, made over his remain- 
ing possessions to the house of Bavaria. 
We therefore naturally inquire who then, 
from that time, really ranked as the most 
important and influential family in Swa- 
bia ? In answer to this, we find that the 
counts of Wlirtemberg stood at the head of J 



all the rest of the nobility, and who had 
already chosen Stuttgard as their place of 
residence. After them, the rich counts of 
Baden, scions of the Hohenstaufen race, 
acquired from the house of Ziihringen the 
territory of Breisgau, which was the com- 
mencement of the reign of the house of 
Baden. Another portion of the Zahringen 
inheritance, in Switzerland, fell to the 
counts of Kyburg, and after them to the 
counts of Hapsburg, who owed to this cir- 
cumstance their subsequent importance. 
Of the counts of Hohenzollern, the bur. 
graves of Nuremberg, we have spokei 
previously. 

4. In Franconia, the duchy had already 
become extinct when the succession of the 
Salic house terminated. It had been di- 
vided equally between the ecclesiastical 
and temporal nobles ; for the Hohenstau- 
fens, who were called dukes of Franconia, 
possessed nothing of the authority of the 
ancient dukes ; enjoying merely, as they 
were the most powerful lords of Franco- 
nia, and proprietors of the county-palatinate, 
a small portion of the ducal influence, and 
which was recognised by a few of those 
counts and knights who were dependent on 
them as feudatories. At the end of this 
period, besides the powerful counts pala- 
tine of the Rhine, we find in the ancient 
land of Franconia the landgraves of Hesse, 
who possessed a portion thereof, the counts 
of Nassau, the bishop of Wiirzburg, &c. 

The general title of count palatine 
gradually vanished in Germany, leaving 
it only in the hands of the count palatine 
of the Rhine, while, on the other hand, 
the title of burgrave now came into use, 
and took rank immediately after that of 
the king. 

5. Finally, with respect to Lorraine, it 
became divided into two portions : Upper 
Lorraine falling to the counts of Alsace, 
and Lower Lorraine to the counts of Lo- 
vain. They, however, did not possess the 
whole of Lorraine, and for this reason they 
were likewise styled counts of Brabant. 
Several other counts — of Holland, Zea- 
land, Friesland, Juliers, Cleves, Guelder, 
Luxemburg, &c, ranked themselves as 
immediate imperial feudatories. 

All the princes began now to consider 
themselves as feudatories, not only of the 
country of which they merely had the ad- 
ministration, but likewise of their heredi- 
tary lands, which they governed in their 



182 



THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION— THE MIDDLE AGES 



own name. Vassalage now received an- 
other meaning ; it was no longer for their 
possessions, but their dignities, that the 
princes now held themselves bound to pay 
homage by the investiture ; and as they 
had already raised themselves to the 
height of territorial power and sovereignty 
throughout their country — although they 
did not take to themselves the title — all 
the sovereign princes in the land became 
feudatories. 

We will now proceed to give a sketch 
of the entire states existing in the empire, 
although we cannot pretend to present an 
exact detail thereof, on account of the con- 
fusion so prevalent in some of the depen- 
dencies. 

Germany included, at this period, six 
archbishoprics ; that of Mentz, (the most 
considerable and extensive,) having under 
its jurisdiction fourteen bishoprics, viz. 
Worms, Spires, Strasburg, Constance, Cour, 
Augsburg, Eichstadt, Wiirtzburg, Olmiitz, 
Prague, Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Pader- 
born, and Verden ; that of Cologne with 
five bishoprics — Liege, Utrecht, Minister, 
Osnaburg, and Minden ; that of Treves 
with three bishoprics — Mentz, Toul, and 
Verdun ; that of Magdeburg with five bish- 
oprics — Brandenburg, Havelberg, Naum- 
burg, Merseburg, and Meissen ; that of 
Bremen with three bishoprics — Oldenburg, 
(afterwards Liibeck,) Mecklenburg, (after- 
wards Schwerin,) and Ratzburg ; and, 
finally, ihat of Salzburg with five bishop- 
rics— Ratisbon, Passau, Freisingen, Brixen, 
and Gurk. Besides which are to be add- 
ed : Bamberg, which stood immediately 
under the pope, and Cambrai under the 
archbishop of Rheims. Altogether, there- 
fore, they amounted to six archbishoprics 
and thirty-seven bishoprics. There existed, 
besides, seventy prelates, abbots, and ab- 
besses, and three religious orders, thus 
forming, in the whole, more than a hun- 
dred ecclesiastical states. 

The temporal estates were, viz. : four 
electors, (if we include Bohemia,) consist- 
ing of one king, one duke, one count pala- 
tine, and one margrave ; six grand dukes — 
Bavaria, Austria, Carinthia, Brunswick, 
Lorraine, and Brabant-Limburg ; about 
thirty counts with the title of prince, 
among whom some had also the title of 
duke, others of margrave, landgrave, and 
burgrave ; about sixty imperial cities, of 
whom some, however, did not enjoy en- 



tirely the privileges of the imperial muni- 
cipalities. Thus, altogether, these form- 
ed about a hundred temporal states ; 
and, finally, both classes embraced more 
than two hundred members of the empire, 
spiritual and temporal. 

Meantime, the dominion of the empire 
had, in certain respects, diminished in ex- 
tent of government towards the end of the 
interregnum, inasmuch as it no longer held 
under its sway either Denmark, Hungary, 
or Poland ; while Burgundy and Lom- 
bardy had both withdrawn themselves from 
the imperial rule, Prussia alone having 
joined in alliance. 

We will now avail ourselves of this 
short interval, and cursorily review the 
chief features presented in the Middle 
Ages, which immediately succeed this pe- 
riod of the interregnum ; for every thing 
that has been said, whether favorable or 
unfavorable, upon the character of this bar- 
barous and yet glorious epoch, is especially 
appropriate at the present moment. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Chivalry— The Cities— The Peasantry— The Arts and 
Sciences — TheClergy and Ecclesiastical Institutions — 
The Monasteries and Convents— The Faust-Reeht— 
The Administration of Justice— The Vehm-Gericht 
or Secret Tribunal. 

The period of the Middle Ages has also 
been called the period of Chivalry, and it 
was knighthood indeed which chiefly gave 
to it its great and peculiar lustre. By the 
diffusion of the feudal system over the 
whole of Germany, as has already been 
shown, the nobility became the influential 
portion of the empire, to the extent that, 
beyond the cities, few common freemen 
were to be found. War was conducted 
principally by the nobles and their vassals. 
The former fought only on horseback, were 
equipped in heavy iron armor, and were 
so inured to the exercise of arms from 
youth upward, that they could not only 
bear them with ease, but were enabled to 
use them freely and powerfully. A man 
thus encased in armor and arms, on horse- 
back, was infinitely superior to the com- 
mon warriors, who served on foot, and who 
were badly armed ; and thence an army 



CHIVALRY. 



183 



was speedily counted solely by the multi- 
tude of its knights. In order to maintain 
these privileges, the education of the no- 
bility was necessarily entirely warlike. 
An ancient writer says — " The boys born 
in Germany, in their quality as pages, 
prefer learning to ride rather than to read ; 
their horses may run and gallop as they 
please, still they remain immoveably fixed 
in the saddle. They carry after their lords 
their long lances ; and inured to cold and 
heat, they are not to be fatigued by any 
toilsome exercise. The bearing of arms 
is as easy to the Germans as carrying their 
own limbs, and it is surprising, and almost 
incredible, how skilful they are in govern- 
ing their horses, using their bows and ar- 
rows, and wielding the lance, shield, and 
sword." 

By their exclusive attention to the im- 
provement of their corporeal strength, while 
the intellectual occupations which in later 
centuries began to be treated as the chief 
portion of education were then entirely 
unknown, this generation must have sunk 
into a state of complete barbarism, had not 
the happy nature and noble capacities of 
the German races, and the development 
of the grand institutions of chivalry, pro- 
duced a preponderating power by their 
beneficial effects. But in order to compre- 
hend the details, it is necessary we should 
know more exactly the institutions of the 
middle ages. 

These various grades of condition and 
rank were particularly distinguished by 
the changes introduced in military service 
from the time of Henry I. ; for from that 
period the cavalry department especially 
underwent such reforms that, in the course 
of a short time, it came exclusively into 
the hands of the nobility and their own vas- 
sals, to the extent that the honor of this 
warlike arm of the service belonged to 
them alone. It was made to form two di- 
visions or classes, the Semper-freien, or 
available freemen, (always free,) and the 
Mi.Uel-freien, or mediate freemen. The 
former, who, in ancient times, consisted 
merely of the nobility, and were called 
ingenui in the codes of law, were the im- 
mediate nobility, which, after the dismem- 
berment of the early duchies, retained their 
independence of every prince, and were 
only subjected to the empire. Of this class, 
the high clergy formed part, with this ex- 
ception, however, that the nobility acquired 



by birth what the former received by their 
office. 

The second class was composed of me- 
diate freemen ; firstly, of those freemen 
who were originally bound by their pos- 
sessions to do service as cavaliers, but who 
could not disengage themselves from the 
authority of the princes, and were forced 
to follow them to the wars ; and secondly, 
of those who were employed by the higher 
nobility of the empire, and who served as 
cavaliers under their orders with the title 
of milites minores. These mediate freemen 
very soon advanced their claims to titles of 
nobility, especially after Conrad II. had 
been the means of raising them to higher 
importance and consideration by making 
the lowest fiefs hereditary. Thus was 
created by degrees a higher and lower 
class of nobility. 

But for both these grades it was strictly 
necessary that the descent of families 
should be from parents of equal rank ; and 
in case of unequal unions, the children 
were forced to remain in the inferior con- 
dition of the one or the other parent. 

The king, however, always retained the 
right of power to elevate any subject from 
this lower grade to the rank of a nobleman. 

Thence the nobility formed two distinct 
classes from the moment that the art of 
war became wholly based upon its cavalry 
service; and it was in this sense that the 
knighthood already existed under the Sax- 
on and Salian emperors. But it was not 
until the twelfth century that it formed it- 
self into one especial institution, which 
served as a connecting link between the 
higher and lesser nobility, inasmuch as it 
thus brought into union by military and 
religious vows, and under especial disci- 
pline, miliiaris ordo, both the Semper-freie 
and Mittel-freie. The Crusades had the 
most important influence and shed the 
greatest lustre upon chivalry, for it was in 
the sacred service of God and the Saviour 
that the swords of the knights obtained for 
them the greatest glory on earth. The goal 
which was to be attained lay far distant 
from home, and in other climes ; the ima- 
gination became more enthusiastically ex- 
cited, and the descriptions given by such 
as had returned from those eastern coun- 
tries were perfectly adapted to heighten 
and render still more vivid the glowing 
colors of the picture their heated fancy had 
already formed. Thence this period was 



184 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



inspired by such daring and fanatic enthu- 
siasm, that no enterprise was deemed too 
difficult to undertake, and such heroic 
deeds were actually achieved, that in mod- 
ern times they have been regarded almost 
in the light of fabulous creations of the 
mind. Three religious orders of knight- 
hood, which owed their origin exclusively 
to the Crusades, served especially to at- 
tach the warriors to the cause of Christian- 
ity by a sacred and solemn vow. The first 
of these was the order of the Templar- 
Knights, which originally only consisted 
of a small body of French cavaliers, for 
the purpose of protecting the pilgrims on 
their journey to the Holy Land ; they took 
the three religious vows — obedience, pov- 
erty, and chastity ; adding a fourth, which 
was altogether military, viz. to protect 
travellers, stratos publicas custodire. Bald- 
win II., king of Jerusalem, granted them 
as quarters a portion of his palace, next to 
the temple of Solomon ; and it is from this 
circumstance that they adopted the title of 
Templars. Two years afterwards origi- 
nated the order of the Knights of the Hos- 
pital, who devoted themselves to the charge 
of the sick pilgrims, subsequently adopting 
the name of St. John, from their tutelary 
saint, John the Baptist ; their vows were 
exclusively religious. To these followed 
shortly after the order of the Teutonic 
Knights. 

These examples operated with a very 
great effect upon the continent ; and as the 
entire spirit of the times produced a closer 
union between individuals of equal habits 
and condition, the result was that chivalry 
in the middle of the twelfth century be- 
came mo?-e and more extended, and formed 
one grand body of alliance, to which ac- 
cess could only be obtained after passing 
through certain ordeals in which the reli- 
gious vows of chastity and poverty were, 
however, exempted, but religious consecra- 
tion was retained. 

Thus the entire education of the nobility 
connected itself with the sole object of at- 
taining knighthood by passing through all 
its various gradations. As soon as the boy 
had escaped from his maternal guide, he 
was transferred to the charge of some es- 
teemed knight and friend, whom he served 
as page ; and, subsequently, after he had 
become versed in arms, and received his 
sword, he attended him as his esquire, 
(famulus, armiger,) regarding him as the 



model of his future life. He accompanied 
his lord at all hours, and in every occupa- 
tion. In the pleasures of the chase, the 
festival, the tournament and military jousts, 
as well as in the dangers of the battle. 
His first duty was the most faithful attach- 
ment to and vigilant care of his lord ; and 
if, in the heat of the battle, he had defended 
him with sword and shield, and had saved 
his life, he thence acquired the highest de- 
gree of fame that could be earned by a 
young nobleman. Thus fidelity was the 
first virtue which, by hourly and daily ex- 
ercise, became so deeply impressed upon 
the memory of the youth, that it grew up 
in indissoluble connection with his mind. 
After several years of honorable service as 
a squire, the youth (generally in his twenty- 
first year) was made a knight, and received 
into military companionship under the con- 
secration of religion. Solemn occasions, 
grand festivals, coronation days, and such 
scenes, were diligently sought for the pur- 
pose, and frequently many were dubbed 
knights at the same time. Fasting and 
prayer preceded, and after the youth had 
partaken of the sacrament he received from 
the hands of a knight, or noble lady, the 
spuis, breast-plate, and gauntlets. He then 
knelt down, and one of the knights (often, 
however, the reigning king or prince) gave 
him, with a naked sword, three gentle 
blows across the shoulder, upon which he 
vowed with a solemn oath, to faithfully fulfil 
all the duties of an honorable knight, to 
speak the truth, to defend the laws, and to 
draw his sword for the defence of religion, 
of widows and orphans, and of persecuted 
innocence, but, above all, against every un- 
believer ; finally, he received the helmet, 
shield, lance, and sword. Thus, in the 
most inspired hour of the youth's early ca- 
reer, the practice of manly virtues : truth, 
justice, and religion, were again, by solemn 
oath, elevated to become the inviolable law 
of his whole life. Honor stood before the 
eyes of the youthful knight like a brilliant 
star — an emblem to which he was to remain 
faithful to his last breath — as the noble ob- 
ject of, and, at the same time, the reward 
for the due observance of the oath he took. 
So highly was this solemn consecration of 
the noble warrior esteemed, that Count 
William of Holland, as we have already 
seen in his history, was necessarily made a 
knight before his coronation. 

The prerogative of the knight was to be- 



CHIVALRY — 



long henceforward to a select body of his 
equals, which none could join but by the 
especial reception he himself had experi- 
enced, and to be enabled to confer knight- 
hood himself ; as also to take his share in 
the tournaments, which in the twelfth cen- 
tury were introduced from France into 
Germany. These had the most important 
influence on the education of the nobility ; 
for as none could take part in them whose 
honor had suffered the least stain, and the 
whole imagination of the boy and youth 
was from earliest infancy devoted to the 
glory and high reputation these contests 
conferred, chivalry thenceforth became the 
school of honor and morality, as well as 
of every other heroic virtue. Thence this 
period presents us with the most complete 
and undeniable evidence of the principle — 
that in order to disseminate a love for virtue 
in a generation, it is not enough to try to 
promote it by instruction, but it is likewise 
necessary to encourage and give an im- 
pulse to the practice thereof by the irresist- 
ible force of example. 

Such is the light in which the design and 
object of chivalry must present itself before 
us in the most flourishing period of its ex- 
istence ; for although a system may not be 
carried out so completely as to render it 
possible to say, that it is in every respect 
perfect, and, consequently, although in the 
most happy times of chivalry, much bar- 
barism and uncouth violence too often ap- 
peared, still it cannot be denied that it laid 
the foundation for that elevation of thought 
which eventually, in a moral point of view, 
exercised its influence upon the community 
at large. 

The noble institution of chivalry was, 
in fact, of the highest importance in its re- 
sults to the whole of the Christian nations, 
inasmuch as even when the imperial dig- 
nity lost its powerful influence, and the 
authority of the church began to totter on 
its base, the principles of honor and recti- 
tude, together with the irresistible force 
commanded by the manly, chivalric word, 
in all cases of need and succor, operated 
so beneficially upon all classes, that this 
grand and illustrious foundation of knight- 
hood served as a tower of strength, impreg- 
nable against all subsequent attacks at- 
tempted by uncivilized and barbarous assail- 
ants. 

While the aristocracy of the German 
nation thus vigorouslv cultivated itself, and 
24 



THE CITIES. 185 



wore the sword equally for the honor of 
their faith and defence of their country, 
the citizens in the towns labored with in- 
dustry and activity for their commercial 
prosperity. The German cities during this 
period daily increased in population and 
riches, and the source of all was com- 
merce, for which also the crusades opera- 
ted very advantageously. The spirit for 
great undertakings and speculations was 
aroused, the costly wares of southern coun- 
tries were brought more frequently and in 
greater abundance to Europe. The Italian 
maritime cities, particularly Venice, Ge- 
noa, and Pisa, introduced the merchandise 
of the east, and then it was conveyed the 
same as the produce of Italy itself along 
the ancient commercial roads, through the 
passes of the Alps to Germany, there ex- 
tending its transit upon the high roads and 
rivers, and what was not consumed in the 
country itself was carried still farther to- 
wards the territories bordering upon the 
North Sea and the Baltic. All that was 
brought to the northern countries from 
across the ocean was forwarded through 
Germany, and by means of this extensive 
commercial agency, to which was added 
the produce of native German industry, the 
ancient cities of the empire progressed and 
flourished in all their wealth and prosperi- 
ty. Augsburg, Strasburg, Ratisbon, Nu- 
remberg, Bamberg, Worms, Spires, and 
Mentz, in the south of Germany ; in the 
north, Cologne, Erfurt, Brunswick, Liine- 
burg, Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck, and 
many others proudly raised and extended 
their walls and towers, and an increasing 
and active, but equally industrious popula- 
tion, animated their streets. Their riches 
soon gave them the means to purchase their 
freedom and independence from the princes 
who held them in dominion, for as in those 
ancient times, when but few or no regular 
imposts were levied, the privileges of those 
princes and lords were not so productive as 
now, no large sum was required to obtain 
this emancipation. The cities then acknow- 
ledged the emperor alone as their superior 
feudal lord, and thence were called free 
imperial cities. 

This progress, however, was only made 
by degrees, and was not everywhere at- 
tended with the same favorable results. 
The first step was made in the tenth centu- 
ry, when Henry I. encouraged the founda- 
tion and extension of cities, and improved 



186 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



their internal condition in eastern Germa- 
ny, and when afterwards the episcopal 
cities in the south and western parts of the 
country, according to the ancient Roman 
cities, were raised to a state of immunity, 
and the authority of the count was substi- 
tuted by that of the episcopal intendant, or 
advocatus cases. After their example, a 
number of other cities received also impe- 
rial governors, and were thus freed from 
the jurisdiction of the count. 

Subsequently the cities advanced still 
farther, and sought to elevate themselves 
from their state of immunity, in order to 
become their own governors ; for the in- 
tendants, replacing the counts in their qual- 
ity as judges, selected their assessors from 
the municipal council, who, previous to the 
twelfth century, were called cives, in its 
more distinguished acceptation, and later, 
in imitation of the Lombardian cities, they 
were styled consults, or counsellors ; and 
their president, proconsul, or magister con- 
solum, burgomaster. Those families among 
whom the counsellors were usually chosen, 
formed a civic or urban nobility, and were 
called patrician families. As this council 
was intrusted with the administration of 
the commercial property and the magiste- 
rial authority of the city, it is easy to con- 
ceive what increasing influence it must 
have had at its command, and how it must 
have extended its power in the administra- 
tion of affairs beyond, as well as within the 
city, and the burgomaster, consequently, in 
the course of time, left little or nothing for 
the intendant to perform. In fact, this lat- 
ter functionary in the end had reason to 
congratulate himself if he was only allow- 
ed to retain the administration of justice ; 
and, even then, means were not wanting on 
the part of the council to arrogate this de- 
partment to themselves when they found it 
favorable for their object to do so. 

But the authority did not rest exclusive- 
ly in the hands of the council ; the various 
guilds and trade associations had also their 
share in the government. Their influence 
derived strength from the increasing activi- 
ty among the industrial and working class- 
es, and consequent prosperity in trade ; and 
thence their claims to a portion of power 
they enjoyed were based upon the interest 
they took and shared individually and 
among themselves in the municipal institu- 
tions. The extent to which they gradually 
succeeded in establishing their united do- 



minion is made evident by their generally 
triumphant contests with the patrician fam- 
ilies in many of the cities. 

If commerce and gain had alone been the 
objects of the inhabitants of the cities, they 
would soon have become subject to all those 
evils which necessarily arise when the 
mind of man becomes wholly occupied and 
absorbed in his mercenary pursuits ; the 
citizens would have been rendered tim- 
id and cowardly, and would have sacri- 
ficed both their liberty and pride in their 
efforts after worldly possessions. But in 
those times, when the Faustrecht or club- 
law existed in all its violence, they found 
opposed to them the entire nobility of the 
empire — princes, counts, and knights, as 
well as bishops and abbots, who, jealous of 
the riches of the cities, closely observed 
their deeds and acts, and waited only for 
an opportunity to overturn and destroy their 
freedom. 

If the cities, therefore, desired to submit 
no longer to these powerful enemies, they 
found they must necessarily bear arms 
themselves, and preserve inviolate in their 
breasts that manly courage which is the 
shield of freedom. In an ancient chroni- 
cle we find the following account of the 
Nuremberg patricians : " The furniture of 
their houses consists chiefly of gold and sil- 
ver, but amidst all that meets the eye no- 
thing is more conspicuous than their swords, 
armor, battle-axes, and horses, which they 
particularly display as the chief signs of 
their nobility, and the ancient rank of their 
families. But the simple citizen also keeps 
his arms ready and in good order in his 
house, so that on the first movement he may 
appear fully equipped immediately at the 
appointed place of assembly." The whole 
of the internal regulations of the city had 
war in view ; the citizens were divided in- 
to companies according to their trade and 
dwelling-place ; and when the city was in 
danger, each of the different bodies assem- 
bled in its appointed quarter, and under its 
particular banner, and thus all marched 
forth together, and fought united in battle. 
This was a beautiful union, firmly bound 
by warlike and peaceful occupations, and 
the rivalry and emulation evinced by all in 
valor have frequently obtained the victory 
for cities in time of danger. The citizens 
collectively did not lose their time in a love 
for petty things and trifles, nor in the effem- 
inacy of a sedentary life in the close rooms 



THE CITIES. 



187 



of their houses, but they were both in body 
and soul good men and true, as well as 
independent. And, notwithstanding their 
riches, notwithstanding their extraordinary 
expenditure upon great festivals, which 
honor demanded in those more ancient and 
better times, their daily ordinary life was 
very simple and temperate, and not sophis- 
ticated by artificial wants. Thence their 
bodies remained strong, and their prosperi- 
ty lasting ; for the source and guarantee 
of prosperity do not so much consist in rich 
acquisitions as in that moderation which 
knows how to preserve them. " That the 
Germans are rich," says Machiavelli, in his 
treatise, Ritratti delta Alamagna, " arises 
from their living as if they were poor. It 
suffices for them to have a superfluity in 
bread and meat, and a room, whither they 
may retreat from the cold. Thus little or 
no money quits their country ; on the con- 
trary, far more comes into the land in pay- 
ment for the wares they manufacture them- 
selves. The power of Germany is based 
upon its cities ; they are the nerves of the 
provinces, for in them there exist both 
wealth and good order." 

At this glorious period of the municipal 
institutions, many German cities united to- 
gether for the protection of their freedom, 
their independence, and their commerce 
generally. Thus, in the year 1254, seven- 
ty cities in the south of Germany formed 
the Rhenish league, for offence and de- 
fence, and powerfully opposed themselves 
to the encroachments and pretensions of 
the nobility. Afterwards arose the Swa- 
bian cities'-union, which was also very nu- 
merous and strong. 

But the most powerful confederation 
among all was that of the Hanse towns. 
x\lready early in the middle ages, the tra- 
ding cities of Germany had formed alli- 
ances in the large commercial towns of 
other countries, and there established ware- 
houses and factories. These factories bore 
the name of Hanse, probably from the 
word Hansa, which signifies trade imposts, 
(confounded subsequently with the Italian 
word Ansaria,) and as several such houses 
were united in foreign cities, there conse- 
quently arose a general Hanse, which was 
termed German Hanse. Very early we 
find in London, German Hanses from 
Cologne, Hamburg, Liibeck, Bremen, and 
other cities, and, perhaps, their union was 
a chief cause for the establishment of the 



whole alliance. In the history of its for- 
mation also it is important to notice the 
league which in 1241 the cities of Liibeck 
and Hamburg concluded together, and 
which is commonly but incorrectly consid- 
ered as the first commencement of the 
whole confederation. It was agreed that 
both cities should prepare ships and supply 
troops to protect from all robbery the high- 
way between the Trave and the Elbe, and 
the rivers themselves, down which both 
sent their merchandise to the sea. Several 
northern cities soon joined this alliance ; 
about the year 1300 it numbered already 
sixty cities from the Lower Rhine as far as 
Prussia and Livonia; later it included as 
many as a hundred, and in the middle of 
the fourteenth century we find the name 
Hansa universally distributed. In Ger- 
many there belonged to it, besides Liibeck 
and Hamburg — Bremen, Stade, Kiel, Wis- 
mar, Rostock, Stralsund, Greifswalde, 
Stettin, Colberg, Stargard, Salzwedel, Mag- 
deburg, Brunswick, Hildesheim, Hanover, 
Liineburg, Osnaburg, Miinster, Coesfeld, 
Dortmund, Soest, Wesel, Duisburg, Co- 
logne, and many others besides ; and out 
of Germany — Thorn, Dantzig, Kbnigsberg, 
Riga, Reval, Narva, Whisby, Stockholm, 
&c. They wholly monopolized the trade 
in the Baltic, and chiefly that in the North 
Sea, and had four grand depots : at Novo- 
gorod in Russia, Bergen in Norway, Bru- 
ges in Flanders, and in London. 

The establishment of these emporia call- 
ed forth the greatest possible development 
in trade, and produced the most glorious 
results in commercial intercourse. From 
the northern regions they shipped timber 
for building vessels, flax, hemp, tar, furs, 
and smoked and dried fish, the consump- 
tion of which was extremely great on ac- 
count of the rigorous observance of the 
periods for fasting practised by the Cath- 
olics ; and they maintained the herring 
fishery exclusively in their own hands. 
From England they procured raw wool 
and cloths, which they had dyed and pre- 
pared in Germany. Bruges at this epoch 
was one of the most important of the com- 
mercial cities, and formed a depot for the 
merchandise of Asia, Italy, and Western 
Europe, which the Hanseatic towns con- 
veyed thence to the north of Europe : 
spices of every sort, silks, gold and silver 
wares, fruit, &c. This traffic exercised, 
likewise, the most happy influence upon 



188 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



the sale of the produce of Germany : linen, 
cloth, metal wares, corn, flour, beer, Rhe- 
nish wine, and woad, (so much sought for 
before the introduction of indigo, and much 
planted in Germany,) and many other 
articles which, by means of the Hanse, 
found a market in foreign countries. It is, 
therefore, not surprising that when uniting 
its strength the confederation was richer 
and more powerful than the northern king- 
doms. It was enabled to collect together 
whole fleets and armies whenever it chose, 
even if only a portion of the cities united, 
and its friendship was universally sought. 
It forced King Philip IV. of France to for- 
bid the English all traffic on his coast, and 
obliged England to purchase peace for 
10,000Z. sterling. It conquered, in 1369, 
even Copenhagen and Helsengoer, com- 
manding the mouth of the Sound, and of- 
fered the kingdom of Denmark for sale ; to 
such an extent did it hold the northern 
kingdoms generally in its dependence, and 
the city of Liibeck might well be proud of 
being the head of such an alliance. It 
was divided into four classes: 1. The 
Wendish, of which Liibeck was particular- 
ly the head ; 2. The Westphalian, with 
Cologne at its head, (Cologne emulated Lii- 
beck for precedency ; it carried on an ex- 
tensive commerce by sea, and founded in 
London a celebrated German factory ; its 
maritime commerce, however, fell when 
Dortrecht received its oppressive staple- 
right ;) 3. The Saxon, of which Bruns- 
wick was the head ; and 4. The Prussian 
and Livonian, with Dantzig at the head. 

Many records testify how extensive and 
populous the cities were precisely at a time 
when violence through the Faustrecht 
raged most wildly. In the fourteenth cen- 
tury, for instance, Aix-la-Chapelle had 
19,826 men who could bear arms, and 
Strasburg 20,000 more; Nuremberg had 
52,000 citizens ; and increased annually 
by 4000 male born children. Upon a re- 
volt of the citizens of Liibeck, the council 
alone armed 5000 merchants and their 
servants. And besides these and other 
large places Germany was covered with a 
multitude of towns of middling size, which 
likewise flourished in trade and popula- 
tion, but which now retain only the shadow 
of their former importance ; as, for in- 
stance, the many imperial cities in Swabia. 

iEneas Sylvius, (afterwards Pius II.,) 
in the fifteenth century, speaks with great 



admiration of the riches of the German 
cities, although even then their splendor 
began to sink : " The kings of Scotland 
might envy," he says, "the state of the 
meaner citizens of Nuremberg. Where 
is there a tavern among you where you 
do not drink out of silver? What mar- 
ried woman, I will not say of rank, but 
the wife of merely a simple citizen, do 
we not find decorated with gold ? What 
shall I say of the neck-chains of the men, 
and the bridles of the horses, which are 
made of the purest gold, and of the spurs 
and scabbards, which are covered with 
jewels?" 

The source of such especial riches in 
precious metals, possessed by Germany, 
originated not only in the commerce, but 
also in the recently discovered mines of 
the country. In the year 1477, for in- 
stance, when Duke Albert of Saxony 
dined in the mine of Schneeberg, in the 
Hartz mountains, the viands were laid out 
upon a solid block of silver, whence after- 
wards 400 quintals of silver were pro- 
duced. 

The flourishing state and increasing 
power of the German cities was also a 
chief motive for the peasantry to recover 
their freedom ; for the inhabitants also of 
the rural districts, who, under the oppres- 
sion of slavery, were obliged to cultivate 
their own land, as serfs, for a master, at 
the view of the flourishing free cities were 
aroused to the love of liberty and inde- 
pendence, and when this desire is once 
properly reawoke in an enslaved people, 
it rests no more until it has cast its oppres- 
sive and degrading burden from its shoul- 
ders. Not that the gradual rise of the 
rural population is to be attributed to one 
source only, but, on the contrary, as in 
this case, it must be a consequence of the 
collective working of many causes, which 
here earlier, there later, supplied an indi- 
vidual, a family, or a whole community 
with freedom and possession of the soil. 
In this view also the crusades now pro- 
duced the most important and beneficial 
results. 

By command of the pope, every serf 
who took the cross to proceed into the 
Holy Land was obliged to be made free by 
his lord, and thousands of them proceeded 
thither and became free accordingly. In 
other cases, the lord, previous to setting 
out upon the crusade, animated by pious 



THE PEASANTRY— THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



189 



zeal, gave his serfs their freedom at once, 
or perhaps he did not return at all ; and 
if he had no heirs, many of his feudal 
servitors, in the consequent dispute for the 
inheritance, faithful until then, now made 
themselves free. This method of disfran- 
chisement was the more easily put into 
effect when they belonged to a noble, and 
if they dwelt near large cities. For they 
put themselves under the protection of the 
latter, and continued to live within their 
walls, or remained upon their own inherit- 
ance, and were called then Pfahlbiirger 
or suburban citizens, and in case their lord 
sought to force them to return to his ser- 
vice, it became the affair of the powerful 
city itself, and even of the entire league to 
which it belonged. 

It is not to be denied, that under such 
circumstances many cities in their muni- 
cipal arrogance were unjust towards their 
noble neighbors, inasmuch as they, with- 
out having one justifying cause, received 
and harbored their subjects in opposition 
to him ; but what incited them chiefly to 
do this was the recollection of the injustice 
which these lords or their predecessors 
had done to them — for injustice provokes 
injustice — or they were perhaps at open 
variance with them, and they thought they 
were justified in injuring them in every 
way. When now the nobles saw them- 
selves in danger of thus losing all their 
subjects, one after the other, if they per- 
sisted in retaining them in their service by 
force, they preferred emancipating them 
themselves, under certain conditions, for 
lighter services and a fixed yearly impost. 
Finally, many from a kindliness of dispo- 
sition, and influenced by the enlightenment 
of the period, may possibly have seen that 
it was more honorable as well as more 
lucrative, to cause their land to be culti- 
vated by free laborers, who in the feeling 
that they were toiling for themselves and 
their descendants, now devoted all their 
powers of mind and body to that occupa- 
tion which formerly as slaves they were 
forced to be driven to perform. 

It was in this manner, particularly at 
the period of which we now speak, that by 
a hundred different causes, a basis was 
laid in Germany for the establishment of 
the important class of common free pea- 
santry, which by degrees became the fun- 
damental strength of the more modern 
states of Europe. 



When man is raised to a certain degree 
of prosperity, in which his mind is no longer 
absorbed in acquiring the more immediate 
and pressing means to satisfy the necessa- 
ry cares and wants of life, he then applies 
and devotes the powers of his genius to- 
wards producing the beautiful and grand 
— to that, the creation of which must shed 
over his whole life and memory, an endur- 
ing halo of glory and honor — and accord- 
ingly all those gifts of intellectual great- 
ness are promoted by their cultivation, and 
enjoy the free independent action they 
demand. Thence the cities with their in- 
creasing riches necessarily became the 
cradle of German art and science ; to 
which the excitement of the imagination, 
and the impulse which the crusades pro- 
duced in all minds, contributed not a little. 
Ideas both novel and of vast and extraor- 
dinary character spread over the world, 
elevated the powers of the mind beyond 
the ordinary condition of life, and filled it 
with images which it found itself excited 
to represent and embody in beautiful pro- 
ductions of art. If we had no other evi- 
dence of the splendor of the middle ages 
than that displayed in the works of art of 
all kinds which that period has handed 
down to us, we should even then have am- 
ple proof wherewith to refute those opin- 
ions which, without any modification, pro- 
nounce that epoch to have been dark, 
barbarous, and miserable. A period of 
ignorance and calamity could not have 
produced such sublime works as the min- 
sters of Strasburg, Vienna, and Ulm, 
together with the cathedrals of Cologne, 
Magdeburg, Spires, Freiburg, and so many 
other churches in the cities of Germany 
and the Low Countries. For art flourishes 
solely in the light of freedom and in the 
genial warmth of prosperity and human 
happiness. 

We have here taken our examples from 
architecture, because there is scarcely any 
other art which, like this, so peculiarly ex- 
presses the genuine German genius. What 
we call Gothic architecture, — and which 
would be better expressed with the general 
name of the nation, Teutonic architecture 
— is a combination of the greatest boldness 
and sublimity of idea, produced by re- 
ligious inspiration and deep natural feeling, 
with the most admirable industry and 
perfection in the execution of the detail. 
In the contemplation of those wonderful 



190 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



structures, our heart swells and the breast 
expands with reverential awe and emotion ; 
we become completely lost, and forget our- 
selves in the presence of so much grandeur, 
while we feel as we continue gazing as if 
with those bold ideas our mind was con- 
veyed upward towards heaven, leaving its 
earthly infirmities behind it — such is pre- 
cisely the expression which characterizes 
the truly sublime and grand in all the 
creations of nature, as also in the works 
of man. And when the eye, after it has 
recovered from this first and overpowering 
impression of the whole, contemplates the 
detail, it observes that there is scarcely a 
solitary stone throughout the gigantic edi- 
fice which is introduced in its rough state, 
but each bears some artistical labor which 
makes it share in the embellishment of the 
whole. Thus it might be almost said, that 
as in the works of the wide creation itself 
there is not a blade of grass but possesses 
its own peculiar beauty and ornament, and 
this blade with its millions of semblant 
companions, combined with the trees, rocks, 
and lakes, present a rich and magnificent 
picture of nature — so, likewise, these works 
of German industry and art, faithful in 
the detail, and sublime in the idea of the 
whole, are in this union of both, objects 
surpassed by no other nation. We will 
only remark of the Minster of Strasburg, 
that it has the loftiest tower in Europe, 
being 594 feet high. Bishop Werner be- 
gan to lay the foundation of the church in 
1015, but it was not completed until 1275. 
After which the eminent architect, Erwin 
of Steinbach, sketched the plan of the tower 
in 1277 ; this was begun and completed in 
1439 by John Hulz, of Cologne, so that 424 
years were consumed in the entire con- 
struction. Of the Cathedral of Cologne, 
which in its design, commenced by arch- 
bishop Conrad, of Hochstedt, in 1248, is 
still more noble, not even the church itself, 
not to name its tower, has been completed, 
although its construction has lasted 250 
years. But we shall not wonder at this, 
when we consider the thousands of images 
which are carved in the stone.* 

It tends to the eternal fame of our nation 
and of those times that the industry, pa- 
tience, and outlay of capital so necessary 

* It is, however, gratifying to observe as one among 
the many existing signs of the progress made in our 
time in the fine arts, that the completion of this noble 
edifice has been recently determined and commenced 
fipon. 



for the construction of such works were 
not spared, while later generations have 
but too often wasted their powers upon un- 
dertakings which have left no trace be- 
hind. 

In order to comprehend the origin, and 
especially the successful execution of those 
miracles of architecture, according to one 
great plan, we must remark that it was 
not individual architects, who, with some- 
times good, sometimes bad workmen, as in 
our times, undertook such works, but they 
were accomplished by an association of 
masons, distributed over the w^hole of Ger- 
many, and indeed over the whole of 
Europe, who were bound together by re- 
ligion, honor, and discipline. Even among 
the Romans there were building societies 
of great extent, the remaining members of 
which retired to the monasteries, and there 
occupied themselves chiefly with the con- 
struction of churches, and created the 
more sublime style of Christian architec- 
ture. Regular but temporal builders were 
also received into the society, and when, 
in the eleventh century, the vigor of the 
monachal system began to slumber in the 
indolence and satiety of acquired riches, 
these temporal builders obtained by de- 
grees the superiority, and eventually 
formed the grand associations by means 
of which those wonderful works were ex- 
ecuted. They possessed and followed 
mysterious signs and customs, by which 
the members of the body forming the class 
of the more sublime architecture were dis- 
tinguished from the more simple artisans. 
Every -society had its protecting patron, 
from whom it was named ; and wherever a 
grand undertaking was to be executed, 
they all came from their various districts 
and assembled on the spot, so that their 
art, like a common possession, was bene- 
ficially distributed throughout most Chris- 
tian countries. These important societies 
received from the reigning emperor and 
princes letters of license, and even their 
own exclusive judicial courts, at which 
the chief architect presided as judge. 
Close to the spot on which was to be 
erected the large building they were en- 
gaged upon, and which edifice perhaps 
took centuries to construct, a wooden 
house or Hiitte was generally built, neat- 
ly adorned inside, in which the said chief 
architect, with the sword of justice in his 
hand, sat under a canopy and pronounced 



THE ARTS AND SCIENCES— PAINTING— POETRY. 



191 



judgment. This hiitte or courthouse, in 
Strasburg, derived a peculiar importance 
during the period of the construction of 
the minster. It was soon regarded as the 
most distinguished among all in Germany ; 
its institutions were imitated, and the other 
courthouses frequently derived counsel and 
decision from it.* 

But the noble principle of these associ- 
ations ended with the decline of the general 
spirit of the middle ages. The great archi- 
tectural undertakings ceased ; the ener- 
gies of men were divided in all directions. 
War monopolized so entirely the resources 
of states, that for great monuments of art 
but little more could be done, as will be 
more particularly developed as we proceed 
in the course of our history. 

Painting was also zealously practised for 
the decoration of churches and other holy 
places, and our old cities are full of splen- 
did specimens of this art. German art in 
its entire character is grave, chaste, and 
moral, abounding with depth of thought 
and expression, like the nation itself. In 
the figures of the holy apostles and saints, 
as well as of. pious men and women gene- 
rally, who are represented in devout con- 
templation and prayer, we find expressed 
the profound sublimity of thought and sen- 
timent which would be vainly sought for 
in the works of art produced by any other 
nation, although they may, and do possess 
a superiority in finish, richness of color, 
and skilfully-deceptive representation. In 
their pictures, also, the Germans display 
that untiring industry which does not con- 
sider it too trifling to carefully represent, 
with truth and fidelity, the smallest and 
most minute decorations of the walls, fur- 
niture, or garments. It is true that paint- 
ing attained its culminating point much 
later, and the names of the most celebrated 
German and Flemish painters, who worked 
in the same spirit, belong to the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries ; although in ear- 
lier times, and by masters whose names 
are unknown, splendid pictures of subjects 
taken from sacred history were executed 
for the churches. The most celebrated of 

* After Strasburg came, in 1681, under the domin- 
ion of France, all connection between this principal 
Hiitte and the others of Germany gradually ceased to 
exist ; and the consequent disputes which arose be- 
tween these latter on the subject of each other's claims 
to superiority were eventually put an end to in 1731 by 
an imperial decree, by which all distinctions of privi- 
lege between these associations and the common class 
of architects were abolished. 



the later artists were John Van Eyck, of 
Bruges, who died in 1441, and who is con- 
sidered as the inventor of oil painting ; his 
countrymen, Hans (John) Hemling, Mar- 
tin Schon of Culmhach, in Franconia, Mi- 
chael Wohlgemuth of Nuremberg, but 
above all others Albert Diirer, who was 
born in 1471 and died in 1521, and whose 
works are characterized by vigorous feel- 
ing and profound seriousness of expression; 
and, finally, Lucas Cranach, who was born 
in 1470, and died in 1553. 

As a third art in the list of the middle 
ages, poetry was one which particularly 
flourished in the time of the Swabian em- 
perors. This derived its vigor from the in- 
spiration of the whole period of the cru- 
sades, and was in high estimation among 
the higher and lower classes. The cele- 
brated singers who knew how to elevate the 
hearts of men by their songs of the great 
deeds of ancient heroes, or by their tender 
lays of lament — here and there, however, 
refreshed by encouraging and energetic 
strains — were hospitably welcomed at every 
festival, and, richly rewarded, proceeded 
from the courts of emperors, princes, and 
counts, to flourishing cities, throughout the 
whole of Germany. Sometimes a contest 
of art was instituted, similar to those where- 
in the knights disputed for the prize of arms, 
and, before an assembly of selected and 
competent judges, songs resounded of the 
most inspiring and admirable nature. Some 
of the most celebrated poets and troubadours 
of this period are Henry of Vildeck, about 
1170, Wolfram of Eschenbach, Hartman 
of the Aue, Henry of Ofterdingen, God- 
frey of Strasburg, Walter of the Vogel- 
weide, and Conrad of Wiirzburg. But 
also emperors, princes, and noble knights 
themselves practised poetry. All the Ho- 
henstaufens from Frederick I. have left 
us poems, besides Margrave Otho with the 
Arrow, of Brandenburg, Duke Henry of 
Bresl'aw, Henry of Meissen, Duke John of 
Brabant, Count Rodolph of Neuenburg, Kraft 
of Toggenburg, and many others. One of 
the greatest and most splendid collections 
of German poems is that of the Niebehnigcn 
or Legends of Chivalry, which although 
not originally composed in this period, still 
at that time was collected together and 
formed into one entire work ; a poem as 
sublime and grand as it is sweet and touch- 
ing, and may be justly compared with the 
Homeric lays themselves. The Heldcnbuch, 



192 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



or great book of heroes, which is derived 
from the Swabian period, likewise contains 
the most beautiful poems ; and, about the 
year 1300, a counsellor of Zurich, Riidger 
of Manesse, collected the metrical lays of 
one hundred and forty Minnesingers, or 
troubadours. 

In the sciences, the period of the middle 
ages cannot, probably, be compared with 
those of later times, however superior, on 
the other hand, it may rank in the fine arts, 
inasmuch as the sciences are a fruit of 
serious reflection and of long experience, 
and one age can build upon the foundation 
laid by a preceding one ; while art, on the | 
contrary, is more a free blossom of nature, 
and a work of happy inspiration, being not j 
so much the result of deep research as it is 
of the impressions aroused by an excited 
epoch. The sciences, however, were not 
despised, but. on the contrary, zealously 
promoted by the Hohenstaufen emperors. 
When Otho, bishop of Freisingen, handed 
to the emperor Frederick I. his Chronicles, 
the emperor said : " I receive with extreme j 
pleasure the chronicles which you have j 
compiled so wisely in such good order, and 
which, hitherto obscured and concealed, ! 
you have brought to light and harmonized ; 
and I rejoice always, when freed from the 
labors of war, to read them, for I guide 
myself to excellence by the splendid deeds 
of the emperors." We have already seen 
in the life of the emperor Frederick II. 
how much he esteemed science. And 
although herein his care was directed 
chiefly to his Italian states and universi- 
ties, yet we must take into consideration 
its subsequent reaction upon Germany ; for 
all that we trace proves that Germany itself 
was occupied in the most active develop- 
ment of science and art. No period of the 
middle ages can in this respect be com- 
pared with that of the Hohenstaufens. 
The mind of Frederick II., without doubt, 
worked both powerfully and effectually 
among us for the promotion of this object. 

Science, at this period, was chiefly con- 
fined to the ecclesiastical body, the mem- 
bers of which, by their state of indepen- 
dence, were called to be its true preservers, j 
It has been customary to consider mon- 
asteries as the seat of indolence and igno- 
rance, hypocrisy and sensuality, and, in 
fact, of many other vices. But this is an j 
unjust opinion, confounding the thing itself i 
with its abuse ; and what, in the course of ' 



years, by the change of all things, was 
forced to pass away, has been at the same 
time wholly misunderstood in its earlier 
and more active form. In times when 
rude force held its sway in the world, and 
every one who could not defend himself 
was obliged to succumb, or was cast to the 
ground, the cloisters were places of refuge 
and retreat for thousands of men, who 
found therein, not only desirable asylums 
for security and repose, but also that ne- 
cessary leisure for the calm and contem- 
plative occupations of the mind, which 
silently and progressively produced the 
sciences. Without the monasteries, we 
should have possessed but little of the 
treasures of ancient literature, which they 
chiefly preserved for us ; indeed, but for 
them we should know almost nothing of 
our earlier records, and possess but a 
very meager and brief history of the 
events of former times. Before the inven- 
tion of printing, it was so difficult and la- 
borious to multiply copies of works, that 
without the leisure and the industry of the 
monks in cloisters, who, with astonishing 
and admirable patience, transcribed entire 
works in elaborate characters and with 
illuminated letters, almost all traces would 
have been lost of the primitive and the 
middle ages. Besides which, the authors 
of nearly all the historical works were 
clergymen. Their names have been men- 
tioned at the commencement of this period, 
and when we read their productions, we 
must be filled with equal esteem and ad- 
miration for the ecclesiastics of the middle 
ages. 

The warlike spirit of that epoch, how- 
ever, had an important effect upon the 
manners of the clergy. Christian, the 
archbishop of Mentz, who was frequently 
at the head of the armies of Frederick I., 
in his expeditions to Italy, and conducted 
the very obstinate siege of Ancona, in 
1174, was as valiant a warrior as he was 
a zealous priest and skilful statesman. 
He could speak six languages — the Ger- 
man, Latin, French, Brabant, Greek, and 
Italian. When, as a clergyman, he stood 
before the altar, he was the true represen- 
tative of the minister of peace, in full 
priestly dignity ; but when, again, he was 
mounted on his warlike steed, he displayed 
an equally commanding and elevated mien 
as a leader of the church militant. Under 
his sacerdotal robe he wore a coat of iron 



THE CLERGY — MONASTERIES, &c. 



193 



armor, upon his head a splendid helmet 
of gold, and in his hand a massive three- 
edged club. It is related of him that, in 
the different battles in which he fought, he 
killed nine enemies with his own hand. 

The monasteries, of the importance of 
which for the middle ages we have already 
spoken, merit here still closer observation. 
They owe their first origin to that pious 
spirit which prizes, by far, the heavenly 
above all earthly possessions ; and which, 
by severe self-denial, repentance, and mor- 
tification, in all sensual gratifications, seeks 
to make itself worthy of the blessings of a 
purer life. At first, minds thus tutored 
sought to fly from the tumult of the world, 
and retired into solitary and isolated 
places; and when several thus disposed 
were collected together, they united them- 
selves into brotherhoods, with the resolu- 
tion of practising, in a body, similar penance 
and mortification. Thus those holy men, 
Antonius and Pachonius, founded in this 
manner, in the middle of the fourth century, 
in the deserts of Upper Egypt, the first 
monasteries. By degrees, their example 
was followed in several places ; and also 
in Europe monasteries were founded., af- 
ter the holy Athanasius brought the first 
monks from Egypt into Rome. 

In the commencement of the sixth cen- 
tury, (515,) St. Benedict, of Nursia, gave, 
by the rule he formed for his monastery at 
Monte Cassino, and which was everywhere 
followed, an entire new form to monastic 
life ; and this monastery, seated upon a 
high mountain in the most beautiful part 
of Lower Italy, may be considered as the 
model of all the others in western Christen- 
dom. It has existed and operated during 
a space of thirteen hundred years, and 
above thirty popes, and a great number of 
cardinals, bishops, and ecclesiastics of the 
highest rank, have sprung from the order 
of Benedictines. Everywhere now arose 
monasteries ; partly because active monks 
settled themselves in previously unculti- 
vated districts, made them arable, and 
thus acquired a right to the land around ; 
partly because emperors, kings, and princes, 
the high clergy, and noble families, as a 
pleasing work to God, built abbeys, and 
endowed them with the ground upon which 
they were erected. Monasteries also arose 
in cities and villages, and cities formed 
and settled themselves around monasteries. 
The enthusiastic zeal excited in ancient 
25 



times for a monastic life, and the dona- 
tions which these institutions received, are 
incredible ; the monastery of Ebersberg, 
in Austria, alone received, as many as two 
hundred and twenty-eight such gifts. It 
was thought that no better use could be 
made of earthly possessions, than to give 
them to a monastery ; and the monks had, 
besides, at sick-beds, opportunities enough 
to foster and maintain this opinion. Eco- 
nomical management, and cheap and ad- 
vantageous purchases made at a convenient 
time, augmented these possessions, and 
especially so at the period of the crusades. 
The nobles who were not able to com- 
mand the necessary means for the expe- 
ditions to those distant countries, sold their 
estates, or borrowed money upon them ; 
and if they did not return, or could not 
pay back what they had borrowed, the 
property remained in the hands of the 
monastery. Subsequently too, in the time 
of violence or the Faustrecht, many free- 
men gave themselves up, together with 
their possessions, into the hands of the 
monasteries, to enjoy their protection. And 
finally, the monasteries received from the 
pope, in the thirteenth century, the privi- 
lege to retain for their own possession, the 
bequeathed property of the deceased rela- 
tives of the brethren — a productive source 
of wealth ; while, likewise, it was made 
into a law, that neither nuns nor monks 
could ever bequeath any thing to a third 
party, but were forced to leave their whole 
inheritance to the monastery they belonged 
to. The cloisters even bestowed upon 
many rich persons the title of monk, in 
order to inherit their property, and per- 
mitted them afterwards to live beyond the 
monastery, the same as before. If we 
consider all this, it is very easy to compre- 
hend how the convents, by degrees, ac- 
quired such large, and some even immense- 
riches. The example produced stimula- 
tion, and their number increased incredibly >. 
St. Bernard, of Clairvaux, who lived at 
the period of the second grand crusade, 
founded alone one hundred and sixty, and 
some cities contained even several hundred 
monasteries. 

The urgency displayed by applicants to 
be received in them was extraordinary ; 
many sought admission from a true spon- 
taneous impulse of the soul, many in order 
to find the means of living, and, lastly; 
many were persuaded and forced into them 



194 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



by their relatives. It is true, in order to 
remedy and prevent this latter abuse, the 
canon law forbid expressly that any one 
should be forced to take the vow, either by 
imprisonment or any other measure of com- 
pulsion ; besides which, it was ordained 
that a year's novitiate should always pre- 
cede taking the habit ; and, finally, that no 
male should take the vow of monk before 
his fourteenth year, nor any female before 
her twelfth year ; but this age was evi- 
dently too early, for many certainly took 
the vow without knowing what they were 
doing. Many orders fixed, also, a more ad- 
vanced age. 

The occupation of the lay brothers, ac- 
cording to the rule of St. Benedict, con- 
sisted in agricultural labor, the sciences, 
instruction of youth, transcribing of books, 
attendance on the sick, and the exercise of 
prayer and religious worship. Their mode 
of life was very severe, their dress very 
simple, while their food was restricted to 
merely the most necessary diet, and fre- 
quent fasting was strictly enjoined. Later 
orders, which took that rule as their foun- 
dation, but increased its severity, imposed 
upon their members the most rigid pen- 
ances, including corporeal castigation. The 
order of the Carthusians, which was founded 
by a German, St. Bruno, previously a 
canon at Rheims, in an inhospitable and 
desert valley near Grenoble, was consid- 
ered the most severe. Their raiment con- 
sisted not only of a rough hair skin worn 
next the flesh, as in many of the other or- 
ders, but the rule commanded expressly 
that it should be a prickly one ; and they 
were forbidden any covering for the head 
or the use of shoes and stockings. They 
fasted three times in the week, and during 
the eight holy weeks they took nothing but 
bread and water, while fat of all kinds, 
butter, oil, &c, were wholly prohibited. 
The religious exercises were not interrupted 
either by night or day, and solitude and 
melancholy silence increased the rigidness 
of this mode of life. And yet who could 
believe that notwithstanding this severity 
of the order, it numbered, two hundred 
years after its origin, no less than two hun- 
dred and eleven monasteries and nunneries ? 
Such examples may serve us as a proof 
that the spirit of monastic life, far from be- 
ing in contradiction with the manners, was 
much rather a necessary feature of that age. 
Their subsequent degeneration into worldly 



views, and the whole changed spirit of the 
period, must not cause the judgment of his- 
tory to err in its consideration of the origin 
of these institutions. 

The head of the monastery, to whom a 
blind and unconditional obedience belonged, 
was the abbot ; under him stood next the 
prior, then the deacon, the butler, the stew, 
ard, the cantor, &c. In the convents there 
were under the abbess similar female dig- 
nities. But every convent of nuns had a 
prior for religious worship, for preaching, 
confession, &c, because these functions 
could not be transferred to women. Lay- 
brothers were also found in monasteries, 
who, without having taken the entire vow 
of monks, attended to the external business 
of the monastery, in order that the others 
might not be obliged to quit the cloister or 
enclosed space of the monastery. 

The monasteries, according to the ancient 
order of church government, stood origin- 
ally under the jurisdiction of the arch- 
bishops and bishops of the diocese, and the 
abbots were consecrated by them ; they 
gave permission for the foundation of those 
institutions, authorized donations, the pur- 
chase and sale of land, &c. But ambition 
and a desire for greater independence be- 
came excited by degrees in the cloisters ; 
they soon wished to be dependent only upon 
the popes, and the latter were not unwil- 
ling to increase in this manner their im- 
mediate and extended influence. The same 
as with the cities in Germany and Italy, 
who sought to make themselves free from 
the domination of princes, and would only 
be subject to the emperor, so it was with 
the cloisters, with respect to the bishops and 
the pope. With the temporal clergy also, 
the patrons and curators, the monasteries 
by degrees stood in direct opposition. Ori- 
ginally they had nothing to do with the cure 
of souls. Shortly, however, many individ- 
uals turned to the monastery to confess, to 
have children christened, &c. The clergy 
complained of it, and several popes pro- 
hibited these incursions upon the diocese. 
But in the course of time the monks, by the 
favor of the bishops, and subsequently of 
the popes, gained in this respect also greater 
freedom, and exercised the clerical duties 
in a far more extended circle around them. 

A third great extension of their power 
originated in the circumstance, that from 
the tenth century the previously solitary 
standing monasteries became gradually 



THE CLERGY— MONASTERIES, &c. 



195 



united into large societies or congregations, 
belonging to the different principal orders. 
In the year 910, arose that of Cluny, from 
the monastery of that name in Burgundy, i 
founded by St. Odo ; in 1018, that of the 
Camaldulensians, by Romuald ; in 1086, 
that of the Carthusians ; in 1098, that of 
the Cistercians ; in 1122, that of the Pre- 
montratensians, &c. These orders re- 
ceived from the chief monastery one com- 
mon central and superior direction. All 
monasteries sent their deputies to the chief 
assembly held in this head cloister, and 
here their common affairs were deliberated 
upon and arranged, and resolutions fixed. 
The abbot of this head cloister, to whom 
the remaining abbots vowed obedience, was 
charged with the execution of these regu- 
lations, inspected the cloisters, regulated 
them, and thus exercised episcopal rights 
and privileges. 

These congregations were in reality very 
powerful associations, and infused into the 
monastic life fresh vigor and strength. In 
the beginning of the twelfth century, con- 
sequently two hundred years after its foun- 
dation, there were 2000 other monasteries 
subject to the parent monastery of Cluny. 
Its abbot received all the privileges of a 
bishop, and placed in all the dependent 
monasteries priors only from his own monks ; 
and he himself was elected by them. In 
Cluny itself there lived four hundred and 
sixty monks, and yet not one was obliged 
to remove from his own cell, nor was any 
chamber appointed for public use required 
to be cleared when, in 1245, Pope Inno- 
cent IV., with several cardinals and bish- 
ops, the king of France, with his mother, 
sister, and brother, the emperor of Con- 
stantinople, the sons of the kings of Castile 
and Aragon, all with their suites were en- 
tertained as guests in this splendid and 
spacious monastery. The order of Pre- 
montratensians, founded by St. Norbert of 
Xante, at Premontre near Laon in France, 
numbered, eighty years after its origin, 
twenty-four provincial or district directors, 
one thousand abbots, three hundred friars, 
and five hundred convents of nuns. Nor- 
bert was afterwards archbishop of Magde- 
burg, and introduced his rule into the mon- 
asteries of Magdeburg, Havelberg, Bran- 
denburg, &c, and the order spread to Bo- 
hemia and Silesia. 

In opposition and as a contrast to these , 
rich orders, which by their very wealth | 



had developed the germ of degeneration 
and indolence, there was established at the 
commencement of the thirteenth century 
the order of beggar-monks, whose first law 
was to acquire no fixed property beyond 
their monastic walls, and to seek their sup- 
port by receiving small gifts. Thus, they 
could never be troubled with a desire after 
temporal possessions in their practice of 
self-denial, poverty, and mortification — 
three essential virtues in this new order. 
Francis of Assissi, an Italian, founded, in 
1210, the order of the Franciscans, and 
Dominique Guzman, a Spaniard, that of 
the Dominicans, in 1215, and it was to this 
Guzman that the pope afterwards trans- 
ferred in particular the inquisition. In 
1238, the Carmelites, who had previously 
had their original seat upon Mount Carmel, 
in the east, came to Europe, and about this 
time, under Pope Gregory IX., they as- 
sumed the rule of St. Augustine, and 
founded the order of the Augustines. All 
these orders speedily, and at once, spread 
themselves, but it was only in the following 
centuries that their activity came into full 
operation. 

In this manner the whole empire of the 
church had divided itself into two portions; 
on the one side the whole of the monastic 
clergy, and upon the other the secular 
clergy. It is true they were both united 
in their several grades, under their superior 
and supreme head, the pope ; but this 
division of the church was not beneficial. 
Envy, jealousy, and many vexatious dis- 
putes were thereby produced. The closer 
inspection of the bishops might have kept 
the monasteries in a better state of disci- 
pline and order. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 
who belonged to the order of the Cister- 
cians, the only order which recognised the 
jurisdiction of the bishops, writes upon this 
subject thus : " The pope can by virtue of 
his power withdraw the bishop from the 
jurisdiction of the archbishop, and the abbot 
from that of the bishop, but it ought not to 
take place, for the bishops would thereby 
only become more arrogant, and the monks 
less restrainable. All superiority, all fear, 
would be removed, and the whole struc- 
ture of the hierarchy, which in wise order 
ascends to the pope, would be undermined. 
Beneath their humble demeanor and ex- 
pressions are concealed the haughty dis- 
positions of the abbots ; they plunder the 
church in order to free themselves from 



196 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



the superiority of the bishops, aDd they j 
purchase their independence so that they 
nay escape from that obedience which ! 
should be their richest ornament. Thence j 
das desire of each to rank next to and as 
immediately as possible after the pope, dis- 
solves the entire bonds of the hierarchy." j 
It has been shown how in the course of 
time these institutions which had grown 
from, and were adapted to the necessities j 
of the age, and which, retained in proper j 
limits, might afterwards, as at first, have j 
continued to fulfil their object, degenerated ' 
from the moment that their temporal exer- j 
tions entirely outweighed their intellectual 
efforts, their multiplicity having thus be- 
come ten, nay, a hundred times too great. 
For a proportionate number of men of j 
really inspired minds, who, disgusted with 
the world, desired the retirement of a mo- 
nastic life, could not possibly be found to in- 
habit the cloisters thus numerously distri- 
buted. Thence thousands against their 
wills, or urged by base motives, had 
adopted the cowl, to which they were now j 
forever bound, and this majority thus intro- 
duced the germ of ruin into every institu- 
tion they entered. Complaints of the de- 
generation of the monks, of their con- j 
tinued life of sensuality, dissipation, and ' 
other vices, became more and more fire- 
quent. The ancient reverence which had 
hitherto surrounded and hovered over these I 
places of repose and pious meditation, now 
gradually disappeared. The inhabitants ! 
of cities, who, formerly by presents and 
grants, had contributed to build and endow 
the cloisters within their walls, became 
now their enemies, when they beheld them 
stretch their arms too widely around them, ! 
and when among other rights, they found . 
them arrogate to themselves that of a free- j 
dom from all civil impost, not only for 
themselves, but likewise for their laborers i 
and mechanics. Between the princes and 
nobles on one side, and the monasteries on 
the other, there arose jealousy, contention, 
and unjust reprisals. In order to protect j 
themselves against external power, as well 
as to exercise their rights of freedom, which j 
alone depended on the empire, the monas- 1 
teries were obliged to procure and establish 
an authorized governor and protector (Schutz 
or Kast-vogt) selected chiefly from among 
the powerful nobility of the neighborhood, 
and for which service they paid him a con- 
siderable tax. But between the Vost and 



the monastery disputes often arose, and 
thus many a monastery was severely op- 
pressed by the Vogt, its own chosen de- 
fender. The contest often forced itself 
within the very walls ~of the monastery it- 
self. The monks rebelled against their 
superiors, misused and drove them away ; 
the lay brothers revolted against the whole 
monastic brotherhood, and consequently 
violence and murderous scenes of blood 
desecrated those walls originally conse- 
crated to peace. Such is the fate of every 
human institution as soon as it steps beyond 
the true limits assigned to it for the legiti- 
mate attainment of its appointed object. 

Nevertheless, we must here observe, that 
this sad degeneration in the monastic life 
occurred less in the age of the Hohenstau- 
fens than in the following centuries, when 
it becomes evident that all the institutions 
of the middle ages inclined, and in fact 
were hastening towards their fall and ruin. 

It remains now for us in this description 
of the middle ages to speak of that which 
is made its greatest objection, the misuse of 
power to obtain justice, or even without the 
least justice, to offend. Upon this account 
these times are called those of the Faust- 
recktj (fist or club law,) because the fist so 
generally decided instead of the word, and 
force had all the validity of law. Every 
prince had his fortified castle, every knight 
his strong tower, frequently upon an inac- 
cessible rock, and every city its protecting 
walls ; and confiding in these places of 
retreat, every one mocked the demands of 
the other, often when he was wrong, until 
he was obliged to yield to force, or was 
himself destroyed. Little attention was 
paid to the sentence of judges, and, fre- 
quently, even the emperor's word was not 
heeded, and thus it was that while the em- 
pire enjoyed profound peace with its neigh- 
bors, internally the most violent contests, 
small and great, raged in different places 
at once, so that in what they called the 
most ordinary state of these fatal times of 
anarchy in Germany, thousands of indivi- 
duals perished by the sword annually. 
Such a condition appears fearful to us, and 
we cannot comprehend how men could, in 
such a state, be easy and cheerful as if in 
perfect security. For it would seem that 
only those who were violently and rapa- 
ciously inclined held dominion, while peace- 
ful, tranquil men must have lived in con- 
stant fear and dread of destruction. So 



THE FAUSTRECHT— JURISPRUDENCE. 



197 



severe a judgment, however, would again 
be based upon a misconception of the spirit 
of that age, while closer observation will 
only serve to soften and mellow down the 
harsh and hideous colors of this sad picture. 

The noble lived amidst his warlike arms, 
and was always ready at a moment's notice 
to resist force by force whenever he was 
attacked ; and in so doing, he did not con- 
sider himself verging at all beyond his Or- 
is o ► 

dinary sphere ; it often, indeed, afforded him 
pleasure to be thus occasionally aroused 
from a temporary state of lethargy. It 
was a realizing proof of that glory he was 
bound to sustain, and as it was for honor's 
sake that the very best friends broke a 
lance together — often in serious contest — 
in the tournaments, so likewise in the most 
violent feuds honor was constantly the gui- 
ling star. They did not oppose each other 
in battle with the animosity and absolute 
hatred excited in enemies of later times, 
for very frequently their encounter was 
only a more serious joust at arms, in which 
the opponents measured their strength with 
each other for life and death. It was an 
ordeal of God, an open and energetic mode 
of deciding the quarrel which reason and 
argument could no longer terminate, and 
this decision was regarded as that of justice 
and good riorht. 

We have already seen that besides this, 
the cities excited by these continual wars 
of the Fehde, or Fauslreckt, between the 
princes and nobility, ^ ere aroused to a full 
development of their powers, and that, 
together with industrial activity, both man- 
ly virtue and the feeling of civil honor had 
become firmly united, and more and more 
energetically brought into action. When, 
therefore, the citizen was at home, within 
the walls of his own city, he lived in perfect 
security and full of confidence in the cour- 
age of his fellow-citizens ; and when he 
was travelling he protected and defended 
himself with his own arms, assisted by his 
numerous suite, with which, whenever 
possible, he took care to provide himself. 

The peasant was forced to suffer most 
in these feuds, and his condition was sadly 
deplorable during this period. The battle 
was most generally fought upon his ground, 
and thus his plantations became destroyed, 
while he himself was defenceless and with- 
out arms, not having even the right to bear 
them ; being held unworthy of such honor 
unless he was wholly or at least half freed. 



But, again, in many cases he found a pro- 
tection in the point of honor established in 
chivalry, which did not permit an injury 
or offence being offered to a defenceless 
man, while he likewise derived considera- 
ble compensation from the security he pos- 
sessed in being, with his sons, exempt from 
military service. Besides which, the evils 
of war were less in extent, and left much 
fewer and less disastrous traces behind than 
in our days • for what are all those minor 
mischances of the battle-field compared 
with the misery so inexpressible and in- 
calculable which a single war in the present 
time disseminates ! 

We should also err very much if we thought 
that in this period of the Faustrecht the 
law had no effect, that no judges were ap- 
pointed, or tribunals held, and that all was 
left to arbitrary will. On the contrary, 
the Fehde-recht, in its peculiar sense, was 
connected with the dispensation of justice 
and the infliction of punishment conforma- 
bly with the spirit of the age. But to per- 
ceive and comprehend this better, we must 
refer back to the primitive judicial system 
of the Germans, and prosecute its entire 
development in the middle ages. 

The German judicial system like every 
other, the object of which is to furnish a 
civil community with order and well being, 
was based upon the principle that peace 
should reign between all its members. Thus, 
whosoever had broken the peace by murder, 
fire, robbery, &c, (so did nature interpret 
and decree to the Germans — who desired 
not only justice but speedy justice.) it was 
not necessary to cite the criminal before a 
tribunal, but the offended party was at 
liberty to prosecute retaliation until the 
former made compensation, either by mon- 
ey or otherwise. Thence this ancient and 
original right of the freed man served to 
found the collective feudal system. The 
individual who had committed the crime 
might be himself attacked on the same day 
and immediately after it occurred ; but 
subsequentlv, when the feudal code became 
better regulated, a previous announcement 
of three days was necessary. When, how- 
ever, the offender offered reparation of hon- 
or and right, that is to say, a just restitution, 
there was then no longer cause to seek 
justice by force of arms. 

In the earlier periods of German antiqui- 
ty, when all justice proceeded directly from, 
and rested in the grand and mighty union 



198 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



of all the freed men. there existed no other 
law but the common law practised by the 
count, together with the community of his 
Gau or district, the Cenfgrave or centenary, 
and the Decanus or tything man, at the 
head of the communities of their jurisdic- 
tion. Every judge held regularly, and at 
certain periods of the year, his Echte Ding, 
or court of session. Every defendant was 
compelled to appear, the complaints were 
made, the judge required the verdict of the 
community, and what these decided by their 
foreman, who was called on for that pur- 
pose by the judge, the latter declared as 
sentence. The community consequently 
founded the law which became absolute for 
all similar cases subsequently, and every 
freeman took a part in its legislation. Char- 
lemagne first introduced the Schoffen, whose 
office it was to attend at every court held, 
in order to refer to ancient precedents. If 
the condemned refused to submit to the sen- 
tence, the judge himself, together with the 
whole judicial community, were obliged to 
see the sentence executed. Thus the whole 
system was based upon the equalized 
strength of the individuals, and the firm 
union of the collective community. Char- 
lemagne by his power knew how to main- 
tain order, and prevent each from taking 
the law in his own hands. Under his reign 
no private or distinct feud was heard of. 
But Louis the Pious, with his sons, soon 
afterwards gave already an example of vio- 
lence, and under the later Carlovingians the 
count lost all his judicial authority, and 
with it, likewise, vanished more and more 
the power of the communities ; for, on the 
one hand, the clergy, the monasteries, and 
the high nobility, with their vassals, began 
to assume to themselves particular privi- 
leges which removed them from the ordi- 
nary jurisdiction of the communities, and, at 
the same time, exempted them from the 
duty of making the disobedient attend to 
the sentence pronounced thereby ; and, on 
the other, the necessary general equality 
of the community was destroyed by the 
preponderating authority acquired by the 
princes, counts, and lords. 

A superior power — that of a duke — be- 
came then requisite in order to restore the vig- 
or of the courts. Ever since the first empe- 
rors of the house of Saxony, Henry and Otho, 
had created dukes and raised them to their 
proper position, the judicial courts became 
also restrengthened and improved ; inas- 



much as they by their summons issued to 
all their officials in the districts they ruled, 
and by the aid of their own vassals, were 
enabled to command the necessary respect 
being shown to their authority. The first 
Salic emperors strove, it is true, to weaken 
and overthrow the ducal authority in order 
to procure a more immediate influence for 
the imperial power, but it was exactly in 
the powerful authority invested in these 
emperors that justice and order found their 
support. But the long and unfortunate 
reign of Henry IV., who was continually 
at war with the Saxons, as well as with 
his rivals to the imperial throne, and finally 
with his own sons, was the cause of the 
abandonment of justice once more and of its 
becoming a prey to violence. 

Not but that the majority of the Hohen- 
staufens possessed dignity and personal au- 
thority enough to re-establish order, but all 
their energies being directed towards Italy, 
the inclination so general in Germany for 
the Faustrecht could therefore be put into 
practice more easily, especially as the pow- 
er of the dukes, by the jealousy of the em- 
perors, and of Frederick I. in particular, 
was now destroyed. The emperors, indeed, 
now sought to place themselves more im- 
mediately at the head of the judicial power, 
and by maintaining its dispensation them- 
selves, endeavored to cause its authority to 
be respected by their princes and counts. 
For this purpose Frederick I. established the 
Landfriede, or peace of the country, which 
was re-established by Frederick II., in 
1235 ; but the confusion in the rights and 
possessions of the princes being already too 
great, the individual princes and nobles op- 
posed each other in constant feuds. Those 
wars had acquired even a more regular 
form by the ordinance of Frederick I., which 
decreed that the declaration of war should 
be announced three days previously, and 
thus each knight was enabled to find greater 
opportunity to secure himself against the 
judicial power of his superior. 

After this law, opposition to justice, and 
private feuds which, in earlier times, owing 
to the vigor and strength of the institutions, 
existed only as exceptions, became now of 
regular and established occurrence. The 
baneful spirit of disorder took the upper 
hand at the period of the Interregnum, and 
spread its dominion everywhere around, 
while the noble chivalrio feeling of honor 
I and virtue which was still maintained 



THE REICHSFRIEDE— JURISPRUDENCE. 



199 



under the Hohenstaufens, gradually dis- 
appeared, and rude and brutal violence 
became more and more intolerant and op- 
pressive. 

Several of the emperors, whom the next 
division of our history will name, endeav- 
ored to remove and overcome these evils. 
Rudolphus, or Rodolph of Hapsburg, re- 
newed, in several diets, the law for the 
Landfrieden, (or peace of the country,) and 
strove to strengthen it by the association of 
several districts, as, for instance, West- 
phalia, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Hessia, 
Bavaria, and Swabia. This was, in real- 
ity, a new mode of giving strength to jus- 
tice, after it was found that the authority 
of the courts, the dukes, and even that of 
the emperors had successively lost all 
power. But in a country which was di- 
vided into so many petty dominions, these 
unions only fostered too easily a party 
spirit, and consequently led to much injus- 
tice. The temporal nobles and knights, 
especially in the southwest of Germany, 
took advantage thereof, to oppose and make 
war against all those powerful cities, which 
had also concluded alliances together. To 
which followed very speedily, continued 
dissensions and disputes upon the subject 
of the election of the emperors, and claims 
to inheritance in several countries : in 
Liineburg, Hessia, the Tyrol, &c. ; dur- 
ing which the nobility received greater 
weight, and could arrogate to themselves 
the right of justice. The emperor Wen- 
ceslas and his successors endeavored to 
unite all these various associations into one 
grand alliance of a Reichsfriede, (or peace 
of the empire,) and thus restore a superior 
authority, but in vain. It was not until 
towards the fifteenth century, when the 
nobility were obliged by degrees to yield 
to the power of the territorial princes, and 
when, especially, the vigor of chivalry was 
broken by the development of a new epoch, 
that, at length, a solid and durable founda- 
tion was laid for the dominion of justice, 
by the emperor Maximilian's fixed law of 
the Reichsfriede, which secured the public 
peace forever. 

We will now trace the prominent fea- 
tures of the forms of judicial proceedings, 
and of the laws in the middle ages. Origi- 
nally, the superior court of jurisdiction 
was held only in the particular county 
vvhich, in the name of the king, or under 
the Konigsbann, exercised high judicial 



authority over real property and life. In 
the centgraviates (which were called, in 
Lower Saxony and in Westphalia, Goge- 
richte) there was only a petty court of jus- 
tice, to which the nobles (Semperfreien) 
were not subject ; for, throughout the 
whole of the middle ages, we find main- 
tained the rule, that every one, to what- 
soever class he belonged, could be adjudged 
only by his equals ; so that the general 
grand principle of the administration of 
justice by the communities, from the high- 
est to the lowest, continued to form the 
basis of all judicial proceedings through- 
out Germany. The emperor could pass 
no sentence which the princes and nobles 
had not approved ; and in the class of peas- 
ants, even in the courts of law, among feu- 
datories and vassals, no lord and no supe- 
rior authority could adjudge capriciously 
and arbitrarily, inasmuch as it was neces- 
sary to have the approbation of the commu- 
nity. Justice, therefore, remained the liv- 
ing property of the people, and its code 
was formed by custom and descent, from 
among themselves. Written laws, indeed, 
were held in dread and suspicion, for then 
the proceedings would have fallen into the 
hands of those learned in jurisprudence. 
The church alone was ruled by written 
laws, and almost in every thing by the Ro- 
man code. Wherever solitary written 
laws were found, such as privileges, prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence and rights, for 
cities or particular districts, they were of 
such trifling import in their incomplete 
state, that, far from being so constituted as 
to form sources of right and fountains of 
justice, they only served as testimonies to 
prove that the true law lived exclusively 
in the people. 

The first collection of German laws was 
formed by a Saxon nobleman, Epke or 
Eike von Repgow, between 1215-18, and 
which is known under the name of Sack- 
senspiegel or Saxon Mirror. It was a mere 
private labor ; but as the collection was 
more complete than the hitherto so-called 
laws, it came by degrees into general prac- 
tice, particularly in the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries. The compiler was total- 
ly ignorant of the Roman code, and did not 
therefore adapt his composition to it, either 
in form or matter ; but those who revised 
it subsequently, introduced much of the 
Roman canon law. Anions the compila- 
tions, we must include the Schwabcnspicge! 



200 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



or Swabian Mirror, and the Kaiserrecht or 
Imperial Code, the latter of which, in par- 
ticular, contains the feudal system. 

The Roman law was evidently intro- 
duced by the clergy into Germany, and 
was adopted in the ecclesiastical courts. 
It was only in the fifteenth century that 
the municipal court? commenced referring 
to it. The reawakened taste for the study 
of Roman antiquity, in general, brought 
with it also a desire to investigate and 
make researches into the Roman law-books, 
particularly in the universities: and they 
commenced, in doubtful cases, to procure 
opinions and legal decisions, as well from 
the doctors of the universities as from the 
superior courts. The influence which the 
gradual introduction of the Roman law had 
upon the public affairs of Germany, will 
become more and more evident as we pro- 
ceed in the course of our history. 

Before we conclude our description of 
the state of judicial affairs in the middle 
ages, we will contemplate one of its most 
remarkable institutions, namely, that of the 
Vehm or Femgericht, (secret executive tri- 
bunal.) which formed itself in Westphalia, 
and which gives us a profound view of the 
spirit of that period. But for the sake of 
connection, we must previously enter upon 
and anticipate the limits of the immediate 
succeeding period. 

In Westphalia the jurisdiction of the 
princes and nobles was wholly founded 
upon the Gogeri 'elite or Centgraviates. The 
ancient tribunal, however, of the Graf or 
count had also maintained itself, although 
much diminished in authority, as the su- 
preme and royal court. The high nobility 
and the families comprising the original 
free land proprietors, who had continued 
free from fiefs and had never become the 
vassals of the dominant lords, could alone 
be chosen as Sclxqffen or ministers in this 
court : they being called on that account 
Frets chdffe?i, or free ministers and judges, 
and the court was styled a free court or 
tribunal. 

Again, as the rights of the free tribunals 
were attached to the primitive rights of the 
ancient jurisdiction of the counties, so also 
those of the SfuMherr were connected with 
the Freistuhls or free courts ; for the term 
Stuhlherr was applied to every prince, 
noble, and knight, who as judicial lord pos- 
sessed a jurisdiction which did not depend 
upon the emperor. The Stuhlherr was 



appointed to watch especially that justice 
was done. For this purpose he created a 
Freigraf or free count, who was invested 
with authority by the emperors, or dukes, 
and. after the fall of Henry the Lion, he 
was appointed by the archbishop of Co- 
logne, as inheritor of the duchy of West- 
phalia. The free count stood in the same 
| affinity to the Stuhlherr as the judge or 
Judicial lord; the FreischofTen, however, 
j were not servants of the judge, but they 
; represented the ancient community or jury, 
\ and the free count was only the president 
or foreman who maintained order in the 
assembly. All the FreischofTen present 
possessed the right to participate in pro- 
nouncing judgment ; a less number than 
seven members could nGt form a court, and 
if there were too many to enable all to 
take an immediate part in the proceedings, 
the remainder formed the audience, of 
whom, in the later and more splendid pe- 
riods of this tribunal, there were assem- 
bled hundreds and even thousands. Be- 
sides this, every free count had his clerks, 
\ who were called Fronboten, and were ap- 
! pointed to serve him especially, taking no 
| share in the decisions of the court. 

The superior Freistuhl or tribunal was 
at Dortmund, that city being a free city of 
the empire, and acknowledging no Stuhl- 
herr or judicial lord, owing, perhaps, to 
! the antiquity and celebrity of its tribunal, 
i as well as the aboriginal privileges it had 
! acquired in the time of Charlemagne. In 
Dortmund all the free counts assembled 
every year to meet a general chapter, 
where they founded Weislhumer, or prin- 
ciples of law, examined the judgments of 
the free courts, and confirmed or put them 
aside when an appeal was entered. 

As these tribunals drew their origin from 
those of the ancient county courts, it will 
be readily perceived that they exercised a 
jurisdiction over ordinary legal disputes 
which we call civil actions, as also over 
penal cases, which presuppose a crime. 
But this last division of their office, at that 
time so important, became still more so in 
the course of time, in order to enable them 
to exercise their whole power, in sup- 
pressing as much as possible the savage 
spirit existing so universally and among 
all classes, to commit the most serious 
| crimes against life, honor, and property. 
■ And as they adjudged in the name of the 
| emperor, and by the law of life and death, 



THE VEHMGERICHT, OR SECRET TRIBUNAL. 



201 



they thought that in all criminal affairs 
they could extend their jurisdiction beyond 
the limits of Westphalia, more especially 
as not another tribunal existed throughout 
the empire so authorized, from which to 
ob l ain justice against criminals. In fact, 
such influence did this tribunal command, 
that at length no cases of contention, nor 
even purely civil disputes arose which 
could not be brought before them for de- 
cision, if the defendant refused to do jus- 
tice and honor to the plaintiff ; for thence 
the crime became one absolutely confirmed 
against the sanctity of the law. 

Thus in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries the power of the Freigerichte ex- 
tended over all parts of Germany, as far 
as Prussia and Livonia ; while all com- 
plaints, even from the most distant districts, 
were obliged to be brought before a West- 
phalian superior tribunal, and it was upon 
Westphalian ground (styled in the judicial 
language the red earth) that the cited per- 
son was forced to appear. Beyond West- 
phalia no such Freistuhl could exist, and 
when the emperor Wenceslas endeavored 
to introduce one into Bohemia, the free 
counts declared that any one participating 
in such a Freistuhl incurred the penalty of 
death. Thus originally it was Westpha- 
lians alone, and of these only the ancient 
free-born Schoffen or Stuhlfreien that could 
be constituted judges in the tribunal ; but 
in the thirteenth century it was the custom 
to receive also other free, irreproachable, 
and honorable men as Schoffen. and when 
the court itself extended its jurisdiction 
beyond the boundaries of Westphalia, every 
free German could become a Freischoffe, 
and princes, counts, knights, and citizens, 
strove to attain the honor of participating 
in the privileges of Freischoffen. A Frei- 
schoffe could be cited only before a Frei- 
gericht or free tribunal, and great weight 
was laid upon his word and oath. But 
they were very careful and strict in their 
election of a Freischoffe ; he was obliged 
to prove that he was free born, of a good 
family, not suspected of any misdeeds, and 
was in the enjoyment of all his rights, and 
finally two Freischoffen were obliged to 
become his security. The reception could 
take place only in Westphalia. Even the 
emperor himself could make Freischoffen 
only upon the so-called red earth, in this 
superior court. They had among them a 
very ancient secret sign and peculiar 
26 



greeting, whereby they recognised each 
other ; whence, or perhaps from their know- 
ledge of the laws, they were called the ini- 
tiated, and in order to make any one know- 
ing or wise implied receiving him among 
the Schoffen of the superior tribunal ; even 
emperors were subjected to this reception, 

I for in the year 1429 the emperor Sigis- 
mund was solemnly received among the 

{initiated, at the Freistuhl of Dortmund. 

I We may consider these courts of justice in 
Westphalia at this brilliant moment of their 
existence, when almost all the princes, 
nobles, and knights, became Freischoffen, 
as an absolute and important association, 
which in all its ramifications spread over 
the whole of Germany, and which, at a 
time when all the other courts had lost 
their power, acted as a substitute, and con- 
stituted a barrier against the rude and 
brutal force of crime. A solemn oath 
held all the members united, and not even 
in the confessional were they suffered to 
reveal a secret of the Vehm tribunal ; nei- 
ther were the clergy themselves admitted 
into it. 

Originally the non-initiated were not ta- 
I ken at once before the secret tribunal, but 
before the ancient tribunal of the commu- 
1 nity or jury court, (the Echte Ding.) but 
that was formed by the same individuals ; 
. the forms only were less severe, and like- 
wise there every one could be present. 
But if the cited individual did not appear, 
he was then taken before the closed or se- 
cret court, so called because only those 
| initiated could be present, and any non- 
initiated one venturing to introduce him- 
self was immediately hanged. The term 
I secret here, therefore, implies closed court, 
i and does not indicate those terrible mys- 
teries which dared not be exhibited before 
the light of day. 

It is equally as fabulous that these tri- 
j bunals were held at night in woods, cav- 
erns, and subterranean vaults, although in 
j later times, when this court had become 
degenerated, it may have occurred in iso- 
! lated cases. But the place of meeting was 
■ the ancient palace court of the grafs or 
' counts, generally upon a mountain or hill, 
whence the eye could command a view of 
the entire country around, under the shade 
of lime-trees, and by the light of the sun. 
The free graf or count ascended and pre- 
! sided on the seat of justice ; before him lay 
, the sword, the symbol of supreme justice, 



202 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 



at the same time representing in the form 
of its handle the cross of Christ, and the 
next to it the Wyd, or cord, as a sign of 
right over life and death. The count then 
opened and closed the court, that is, he 
called the Schbffen around him and as- 
signed to them their places. They were 
obliged to appear bareheaded and without 
arms or armor. Upon the judges' declara- 
tion that the court was opened, peace was 
commanded for the first, second, and third 
time. From that moment the deepest si- 
lence reigned throughout the assembly, no 
one ventured to argue or converse, for by 
so doing he transgressed against the solemn 
decreed peace of the tribunal. The cited 
person, who was also obliged to appear 
without arms, stepped forward, accompa- 
nied by his two sureties or bail, if he had 
any. The complaint made against him 
was stated to him by the judge, and if he 
swore upon the cross of the sword, the le- 
gal oath of purification, he was free : " He 
shall then take a Kreuzpfennig, or farthing 
piece," says an ancient work on jurispru- 
dence, " throw it at the feet of the court, 
turn round and go his way. Whoever at- 
tacks or touches him, has then, which all 
freemen know, broken the king's peace." 
Such was the ancient proceeding with the 
genuine Freischoffen, who enjoyed par- 
ticular privileges, and who were presumed 
to have a strict love for truth and honor. 
In later times that simple straightforward 
way seems to have become quite changed, 
for we read in other ancient codes that the 
plaintiff was entitled to oppose and destroy 
the validity of the purifying oath of the 
defendant by three witnesses, which, how- 
ever, the latter could again oppose with 
six ; if the accuser appeared with fourteen, 
the defendant could swear himself free 
with twenty-one, which was the highest 
testimony. If the defendant acknowledged 
the crime, or if the plaintiff convicted him 
by oath and witnesses, the Schbffen then 
gave judgment. If the criminal received 
sentence of death he was executed imme- 
diately and hanged on the next tree ; the 
minor punishments were exile and fine. 

But if the defendant did not appear upon 
the third citation, and could produce no 
satisfactory cause of absence within a 
stipulated period, he was considered as 
having confessed his crime, or as one de- 
spising justice and peace, and, therefore, 
having placed himself beyond the pale of 



either, the sentence of the Vehm. which 
was equivalent to condemnation, was pro- 
nounced against him ; and thence these 
courts received the name of Vehmgerichte. 

The sentence pronounced by the court 
was dreadful: "As now N. has been ci- 
ted, prosecuted, and adjudged before me, 
and who, on account of his misdeeds, I 
summoned before me, and who is so hard- 
ened in evil, that he will obey neither hon- 
or nor justice, and despises the highest 
tribunal of the holy empire, I verfeme, or 
denounce him here, by all the royal power 
and force, as is but just, and as is com- 
manded by the Konigsbann, or royal ban. 
I deprive him, as outcast and expelled, of 
all the peace, justice, and freedom he has 
ever enjoyed since he was baptized ; and 
I deprive him, henceforward, of the enjoy- 
ment of the four elements, which God made 
and gave as a consolation to man, and de- 
nounce him as without right, without law, 
without peace, without honor, without se- 
curity ; I declare him condemned and lost, 
so that any man may act towards him as 
with any other banished criminal. And 
he shall henceforward be considered un- 
worthy, and shall enjoy neither law nor 
justice, nor have either freedom in, or 
guidance to any castles or cities, except- 
ing consecrated places. And I herewith 
curse his flesh and his blood ; and may 
his body never receive burial, but may it 
be borne away by the wind, and may the 
ravens and crows, and wild birds of prpy 
consume and destroy him. And I adjudge 
his neck to the rope, and his body to be 
devoured by the birds and beasts of the air, 
sea, and land ; but his soul I commend to 
our dear Lord God, if He will receive 
it." 

According to some customs, after he had 
cast forth the rope beyond the walls of the 
court, the count was obliged to pronounce 
these words three times, and every time to 
spit on the earth with the collective Scb'Jf- 
fen, as was the usage when any one was 
actually executed. The name of the con- 
demned criminal was then inserted in the 
book of blood, and the count then con- 
cluded the sentence as follows : " I com- 
mand all kings, princes, lords, knights, and 
squires, all free counts, and all free, true 
Schoffen, and all those who belong to the 
holy empire, that they shall help with all 
their power to fulfil this sentence upon this 
banished criminal, as is but just to the se- 



THE VEHMGERICHT, OR SECRET TRIBUNAL. 



203 



cret tribunal of the holy empire. And no- i 
thing shall cause them to withhold from so 
doing, neither love nor affection, relation- 
ship, friendship, nor any thing whatever in 
this world." 

The banished man was now in the con- 
dition of the criminal condemned to death, 
over whom execution lowered. Whosoever 
received or even warned him, was also 
taken before the tribunal of the free count. 
The assisting members of the court were 
bound by a terrible oath, and by a heavy 
sentence of death, to conceal the judgment 
which had been passed against any one ; 
that is to say, to make it known to nobody 
but one initiated ; and even if the con- 
demned man was a brother or father, the 
member durst not warn him thereof. Be- 
sides which, each initiated one to whom the 
sentence was authentically conveyed, was 
bound to help to put it in execution. Gen- 
erally a letter of outlawry was given to 
the plaintiff, with the seal of the free count 
and seven Schoffen, that he might pursue 
the guilty party ; the oath of three Frei- 
schoffen sufficed to confirm the sentence. 
Wherever the Verfemte, or banished man 
was found, whether in a house, in the open 
street, the high road, or in the forest, he 
was hanged at the next tree or post, if the 
servants of the secret court could obtain 
possession of him. As a sign that he was 
put to death in execution of the holy Vehm, 
and was not murdered by robbers, they left 
him all that he bore about him, and stuck a 
knife in the ground close beside him. Be- 
sides this, the Schoffen of this secret court 
possessed the privilege of hanging without 
a trial every criminal taken in the fact, if, 
faithful to the laws of honor, they took no- 
thing from him which they found about 
him, and left behind the sign of the Vehm. 

We are astonished when we contemplate 
this terrific and mighty power of the Schof- 
fen alliance, and can at the same time 
easily comprehend how the most extraor- 
dinary traditions of this Vehmgericht, or 
secret tribunal, based upon their nocturnal 
assemblies, their mysterious customs, their 
initiation and course of justice, together 
with their condemnation and execution of 
the criminal, have been preserved in the 
mouths of the people, for even the plain 
historical descriptions thereof are sufficient- 
ly striking. An association of several thou- 
sand men spread throughout the whole of 
Germany, from the highest to the lowest 



classes, (for we find examples of common 
freemen, mechanics, and citizens, being 
clothed with the dignity of a free count, 
and that even princes and knights did not 
disdain to assist as Schoffen under their 
presidency,) such a society whose members 
recognised each other by secret signs, and 
by a solemn oath were bound to support 
each other, who adjudged and punished in 
the name of the emperor and the empire, 
who reached the criminal even after an 
elapse of years, and in whatever corner he 
might seek refuge, and finally who were 
not subjected to give any account for what 
they did if only the terrific knife was pres- 
ent as evidence : what power, we repeat, 
did not this alliance command against the 
evil-minded, and what a powerful support 
and guarantee might it not have been for 
the peace and justice of the empire ? The 
prince or knight who easily escaped the 
judgment of the imperial court, and from 
behind his fortified walls defied even the 
emperor himself, trembled when in the si- 
lence of the night he heard the voices of 
the Freischoffen at the gate of his castle, 
and when the free count summoned him to 
appear at the ancient malplatz or plain, un- 
der the lime-tree, or on the bank of a rivu- 
let upon that dreaded soil, the Westphalian 
or red ground.* And that the power of 
these free counts was not exaggerated by 
the mere imagination, excited by terror, nor 
in reality by any means insignificant, is 
proved by a hundred undeniable examples, 
supported by records and testimonies, that 
numerous princes, counts, knights, and 
wealthy citizens, were seized by these 
Schoffen of the secret tribunal, and in exe- 
cution of its sentence, perished by their 
hands. 

Such power placed in human hands with- 
out the protecting check of publicity and 
responsibility could not long exist without 

* We must add here, that the summons was execu- 
ted by two Schoffen who were the bearers of the free 
count's letter. If they did not succeed in finding the 
accused, because he was living either in a city or a for- 
tress, where they could not safely enter, they were au- 
thorized to execute the summons in the night. They 
stuck the letter, enclosing a farthing piece, in the panel 
of the gate of the castle, and cut off three chips from 
the same gate, which they handed to the free count as 
a testimony that they had delivered the summons, hav- 
ing, when leaving the gate, cried out to the sentinel on 
the walls that they had deposited there a letter for his 
lord. If the accused was a man without any regular 
place of residence, and if he could not be met with, he 
was summoned at four different cross roads, where at 
each point, the east, west, north, and south, they at- 
tached a summons, enclosing hi each the royal petty 
. com. 



THE MIDDLE AGES— RUDOLPHUS L OF HAPSBURG. 



misuse. In the great development and ex- 
tension of the association, it could not be 
avoided, but that unworthy individuals 
should he received as members, who used 
the power confided to them for the sole satis- 
faction of their revengeful and baser pas- 
sions. At the end of the fifteenth century 
many complaints arose in several parts of 
the empire, and particularly on the part of 
the clergy, against these free courts ; and 
we find that the whole spirit of modern 
times be^an to work against them far more 
than these charges upon isolated events. 
The power of the lords of the soil had now 
become increased and confirmed ; they 
could not endure that their subjects should 
be judged by a strange, although originally 
imperial tribunal. Thence arose alliances 
of princes, nobles, knights, and cities, 
against the Westphalian courts, and when 
the law for the lasting peace of the land, 
the new imperial chamber of justice, and 
a new criminal court were introduced, the 



I study of law and jurisprudence became 
I substituted for a knowledge of the ancient 
customs ; and when crimes against the 
peace of the land and against obedience to 
the authorities ceased, then did the power 
of the secret tribunal evaporate of itself 
without any formal abrogation, so that 
it is equally difficult to trace the last as it 
is to fix the first year of its existence.* 



* In the sixteenth century, the association contended 
! for its rights and privileges, and the struggle still coii- 
j tinued in the seventeenth century, although much 
, weakened and the scene confined to Westphalia. In 
I the eighteenth century there were left onlv a few 
| traces, the nuns of the past : its recollections' and its 
signs, however, still continue to exist among the peas- 
ants of certain provinces in Westphalia. At Gehmen, 
in Minister, the secret tribunal was only extinguished 
entirely by the French legislation in 161 i ; and even to 
the present day, some of the free peasants who have 
: taken the oath of the Schoffen, meet annually at a par- 
; ticular spot around the Frei-stuht. and it has been im- 
possible to extract from them the secret oath. The 
, principal signs are indicated by the letters S. 8. G. G., 
i which signify stock (stick.) stein (stone,) gras (grass.) 
' grein (tears:) but we cannot trace the mysterious 
meaning these words convey in connection with the 
I Vehrngericht. 



FIFTH PERIOD. 

FR03I RUDOLPHUS I. OF HAPSBURG TO CHARLES V. 



1273 



The sources of the history of tins period are again 
still more scanty than in that of the Hohenstaufens, 
consisting chiefly of special chronicles rather than of 
general historical works, constituting one entire and 
continuous representation of events, added to which 
they are all, or for the greater portion, written in the 
Latin tongue. The first we have to mention are those 
works of eeneral history which appear in the form of 
chronicles or annals, and which present but a meager 
portion of German history. The most important are : 

1. Hermann, a monk of Attaich, known under the 
name of Henricus Sterv: Chronicle 1147-1300. 

-2. Annales Colmarienses, 1-211-1303 ; in the collec- 
tion of tJistisius. 

3. Matthias of Neuenburg ; Chronicle as far as 1353, 
continued by Albert of Strasburg (Albertus Argenti- 
nensis) to 1378 ; in Urstisius. 

4. John Vitododuranus; Chron. 1215-1348; inFccard. 

5. Gobelinus Persona, deacon of Birkefeld ; Review 
of the V\ orld (Cosmodromium) to 1418 : in Aleebom. 

6. Dieterich Enselhusen ; Chronicle to the year 14-20 ; 
in Leibnitz and Menken. 

7. Andreas, a Presbyterian of Ratisbon ; Chronicle 
to 144-2 ; in Eccard. 

8. Werner Role wink of Laer, a Carthusian monk in 
Cologne ; Chronicle to 1476, continued by Hans Lind- 
ner to 1514: in Pistorius. 

9. Hermann Korner, Domin, in Lubeck ; Chronicle 
to 1435 ; in Eccard. 

10. Hartmann Schedel, a doctor in Nuremberg; 
Chronicle to 149-2 ; printed separately. 

Hi John Xauklerus, professor in Tiibigen; Universal 
History, to 1500 ; printed separately. 



1520 



[ ' 12. John of Trittenheim, (Joannes Trithemius,) 
I from the vicinity of Treves, abbot of Sponheim and 
; V\ iirzburg, who died in 1516 : his works are very im- 
portant, and have been edited by Freher. The most 
valuable among them is the Chronicle of the Monas- 
tery of Hirschau in Wurtemberg (published at St. 
i Gallen in 1630; Chronic. Hirsaugiense) 830-1514; in 
winch the historian has interwoven the whole history 
j of Germany. 

13. Albert Kranz, canon in Hamburg, who died in 
1517, wrote the history of Northern Germany, in three 
parts : Metropolis, Saxonia, et Yandalia ; a learned 
man, and, for his time, an independent thinker. 

As especial and entire works on Germany may be 
mentioned : 

14. The State letters of the Emperor Rudolphus I.; 
edited by Gerbert, 177-2, and Bodmann, 1806. 

15. The Biography. &c, of the Emperors Rudolphus 
L, and Albert 1. 5 written by Gottfried of Ensningen, by 
desire of Magnus Engelhard, a citizen of Strasburg. 

16. Albert Mussatus, professor in Padua, and who 
died hi 1330, wrote De Gestis Henrici VH. Imp., and 
History of Italy, after the death of Henry \ II. 

17. Caroli IV ., Commentarius de vita sua ad filios. 

18. .Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini, subsequently Pope 
Pius II., and who died in the year 1464, produced : 

a. The history of his own times from 1405-63, which 
he caused to be written by his own private secretary, 
J. Gobelin, of Bonn. 

b. The history of the ecclesiastical council of Basle, 
' written by himself ; as also 

c. The history of the Emperor Frederick III., and 

I d. Various minor works, among wl .ich the Descrir- 



RUDOLPHUS L— HIS GOOD AND NOBLE CHARACTER. 



205 



tio de Ritu, Situ, Moribus et Conditione Germanise, I 
and numerous letters, all of winch have been collected 
and repeatedly printed. 

19. Pertz's ^cripta re rum Austriac. contains many 
valuable sources lor the history of the Austrian empe- , 
rors. 

20. J. Joach. Miiller has collected the most impor- 
tant transactions of the diets of the Germanic empire, 
especially of those under Frederick III. and Maximil- 
ian L, published in Jena, 1709, and subsequently. 

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centimes we find 
historical works in the German language become 
mere frequent : 

•21. Ottocar of Hornegk wrote a Chronicle in rhyme, ! 
which contains the entire epoch of the Interregnum 
and the history of the Emperors Rudolphus, Adolphus, 
Albert, and Henry VII., as far as 1309 ; a work which 
although not strictly historical, is nevertheless worthy 
to be referred to as a history of those times. It is re- | 
printed in Pertz's History of Austria. 

2-2. Jacob of Konigshoven, an ecclesiastic in Stras- 
burg, who died hi 1420, wrote a Chronicle of Alsace 
and Strasburg in the Swabian dialect, which was ed- 
ited by Schilter, and published with his notes in 1698. 

23. Eberhard Windeck, of Mentz, private secretary i 
to the Emperor Sigismund, wrote a biography of that 
monarch ; in 3Ienken. 

24. J. Rothe, domin. in Eisenach, wrote a Chronicle 
of Thuringia, in the low Saxon dialect, as far as 1434 ; 
continued by an anonymous writer to 1440. 

•25. The Limpurgian Chronicle from 1336-89, which 
coutains much, especially of the history of manners, 
customs, <tc, and has been several times reprinted. 

•26. Conrad Bothe, chronicler of the Saxons to 1489, 
in the low German dialect ; in Leibnitz. 

•27. Diebold Schilling, about 1480, history of the wars 
of Burgundy : very well written. 

■25. Melchior Ptinzing (of Nuremberg, born in 1481, 
Imperial Counsellor, and subsequently Provost in 
3Ientz) sang the history of the Emperor Maximilian 
L, under an adopted title : " Geuerlichkeiten and Ge- | 
schichten des loblichen streitbaren Helds und Ritters 
Tewrdanks." Nuremberg, 1517, and subsequently 
often reprinted. 

29. 3Iarcus Treizsauerwein, private secretary to the 
Emperor 3Iaximilian I., has presented us likewise 
with a description of that monarch's great deeds in his 
work : der Weiskunig, 1514 : and for which the empe- 
ror himself furnished much of the materials. 

30. Bilibald Pirkheimer (of Eichstadt, born 1470, 
Counsellor in Nuremberg, and subsequentlv Imperial 
Counsellor, died in 1530) wrote his : Hist, belli Helvet- 
ici, and Currus triumphalis, honori Max. I. inventus ; 
together with many other works. 

31. Finally, we must mention two works by Sebas- 
tian Franks! (born 1500, died 1545,) the Zeitbuch, 1531, 
and Teutsche Chronik, 1538. 



CHAPTER XII. 



■lmperors of different houses. — 1273-1347. 

Rudolphus I. of Hapsbursr, 1273-91— Adolphus I. of 
Nassau, 1292-98— Albert I. of Austria, 1298-1308— 
Switzerland — Confederation of the Swiss — Gessler — 
William Tell— Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 1303-13— 
Frederick of Austria, 1314-30, and Lewis of Bavaria, 
1314-47— Switzerland— the Battle of 3Iorsarten, 1315 
—The Battle of Miihldorf, 1322— The First Electoral 
Alliance, 1338— Death of Lewis, 1347. 

The state of commotion in Germany- 
continued to grow daily more violent ; and 
when, in 1272, Richard of England died, 
and Alphonso took not the least interest in 
the German empire, the princes at length, 
in the year 1273, held an imperial diet at 



Frankfort, in order to choose an emperor 
who should meet the views of every one. 
It was necessary that he should be great 
and wise, in order that he might restore 
the imperial dignity ; but at the same time 
not powerful, lest the princes should have 
reason of apprehension for the security of 
their own power. To unite both requisites 
was a difficult matter ; however, good for- 
tune determined the election to the advan- 
tage of the country. In Switzerland lived 
Count Rudolphus of Hapsburg, whose ter- 
ritories and subjects were not very exten- 
sive or numerous, but who by his valor, 
prudence, and integrity, had obtained the 
respect of the higher orders, and of the 
people generally. He had been formerly 
the companion and friend of the emperor 
Frederick II.. who in the year 1213. had 
personally stood godfather to him, and in 
one of his campaigns in Italy, possibly 
after the glorious battle at Cortenuova, had 
conferred upon him the order of knight- 
hood. During the turbulent time of the 
Interregnum, he lived on his family es- 
tates, and defended, to the utmost of his 
power, all who required his assistance 
against the oppression and injustice of the 
rapacious knights. He was for a long 
time the protector and governor of the cities 
of Zurich and Strasburg, and of the towns 
situated at the foot of the Alps of St. Gott- 
hard. In his manners he displayed the 
natural simplicity and frankness of a good 
and noble man ; and in a letter addressed 
to the pope, the archbishop of Cologne, 
when speaking of him, says : " He reveres 
the church, he is a lover of justice, a man 
of prudent counsels and piety, beloved of 
God and man, possessing an agreeable 
form and countenance, and which although 
of a stern expression, still when he speaks 
is invested with an air of affability which 
inspires confidence : he possesses besides, 
a hardy constitution, and in his wars 
against the faithless he has always been 
successful/' 

He was more especially held in high 
esteem by Werner, archbishop of Mentz, 
for when on one occasion this prelate took a 
journey to Rome for the purpose of receiv- 
ing his archbishop's robe, deeming the 
passage through the mountains of Switzer- 
land unsafe, he besought Count Rudolphus 
to escort him from Strasburg to the Alps 
and back. This Rudolphus did with all 
the chivalric faith of a true knight. During 



206 



THE CORONATION— RUDOLPHUS AND OTTOCAR OF BOHEMIA. 



the journey the archbishop became gradu- j 
ally acquainted with his great and rare 
virtues, and when he was about to leave his \ 
noble defender, he said, that he only wished | 
to live long enough to be able in some de- 1 
gree to reward him for his services ; and 
this opportunity had now arrived. He so 
urgently recommended Count Rudolphus 
of Hapsburg for the imperial dignity, 
that the German princes elected him at > 
once to the throne of the empire. 

Rudolphus, who little expected such an 
elevation, was at that moment engaged in 
war with the city of Basle, in order to re- 
instate in that city, that portion of the no- 
bility who called themselves the " Sterners," 
and who had been expelled by the other 
party, the " Psittichers." It was at midnight 
that the burgrave of Nuremberg, Fred- 
erick of Hohenzollern, Rudolphus's bro- 
ther-in-law, arrived at the camp, and 
brought the unexpected intelligence. Ru- 
dolphus, at first, did not believe it ; but 
when the marshal of the empire, Henry of 
Pappenheim, arrived, he sent the burgrave 
into the city, with an offer of peace to the 
citizens, he being now, as he said, the more 
powerful party. They accepted it with 
gladness, and were the first to congratulate 
him upon his elevation. He then went to 
Frankfort, and thence to Aix-la-Chapelle, 
where he was publicly crowned. After 
the coronation the princes present, accord- 
ing to the ancient custom, rendered homage 
to the new emperor for their estates. It so 
happened, that there was no sceptre at 
hand, probably because, owing to the many 
foreign emperors, and the consequent 
changes in the government, the state jewels 
were dispersed ; great concern was, there- 
fore, manifested, as to what the emperor 
could possibly use for performing the cere- 
mony of enfeoffment. Rudolphus there- 
upon removed the difficulty, and snatching 
up a crucifix, he employed that instead of 
the sceptre : " For," said he, " a symbol by 
which the w r orld was redeemed, may well 
supply the place of a sceptre language 
which pleased all present. 

The new emperor began his reign with 
great rigor, but at the same time with such 
paternal benevolence, that the meanest of 
his subjects experienced the good results 
therefrom : his new dignity effecting no 
change in the greatness and firmness of his 
character ; and even in his outward ap- 
pearance he remained as simple and unos- 



tentatious as before. So little did he regard 
external display and magnificent apparel, 
that he did not hesitate, especially in his 
great expeditions, to wear, equally with his 
companions in arms, an inferior cloak, and 
even with his own hands to repair his own 
doublet. Once only we find, by his ac- 
counts, that he bestowed a large sum of 
money upon dress for himself, his consort, 
and children, which occurred on the occa- 
sion of his first interview with the pope. 

In order that he might at once heal and 
eradicate the disorders of the kingdom, he 
sent the following communication to all the 
vassals and loyal subjects of his realm : " I 
now intend, by the blessing of God, to re- 
establish peace throughout this country so 
long distracted, and to take under my pro- 
tection against farther tyranny all those 
who have hitherto groaned under oppres- 
sion ; to promote which object I confide in 
the efficient co-operation of my estates." 

He suited the action to the word, and 
travelled throughout the countries of Fran- 
conia, Swabia, and the borders of the 
Rhine, and wherever he met with a peace- 
breaker who would not conform to order, he 
punished him with all the severity of the 
law. This was the case especially with 
regard to the more petty robbers and dis- 
turbers ; but Rudolphus clearly perceived, 
that if the imperial dignity was to be 
clothed with its original and proper impor- 
tance, the great princes must likewise be 
compelled to perform their duties, and pay 
him due homage. King Ottocar, of Bo- 
hemia, however, would hear nothing of any 
such subjection to the emperor ; he was a 
much more powerful prince than the count 
of Hapsburg, possessing in addition to Bo- 
hemia, also the Austrian estates, which, after 
the extinction of the ducal house of Baben- 
berg, he had obtained partly by inheritance 
and partly by money and force of arms, 
and he by no means felt bound to yield. 
Moreover, the Austrian estates complained 
bitterly of his tyranny and oppression. 
Rudolphus, therefore, commenced by sum- 
| moning Ottocar to appear at the imperial 
diet of Nuremberg, in 1274, there to take 
i the usual oath of allegiance. But the 
j king came neither then nor to a second diet 
at Wurzberg ; and to a third held at Aus;s- 
burg, in the year 1275, he only sent 
Bernard, bishop of Seckau, as his repre- 
sentative, who was, however, so daring as 
to begin a Latin speech in the presence of 



RUDOLPHUS'S GRAY DOUBLET — OTTOCAR'S HUMILIATION. 



207 



the assembled princes ; in which he en- 
deavored to prove that the emperor Ru- 
dolphus's election was not legitimate. 
Rudolphus however interrupted him, say- 
ing, " My lord bishop, if you have any 
affairs to settle with my clergy, speak by 
all means in Latin, but if you have to say 
ought touching me or the privileges of my 
empire, speak as is the custom, in the lan- 
guage of the country," and the princes, 
when they understood that he intended to 
impeach Rudolphus's election to the em- 
pire, could scarcely refrain from turning 
him out ; but the bishop saved them the 
trouble by departing of his own accord, and 
he hastened away from Nuremberg. 

The ban of the empire was now pro- 
nounced against the rebellious Ottocar ; but 
he was so insolent and faithless, that he 
ordered the heralds who had brought to him 
the declaration of the ban, to be tied up at 
the gates of Prague. He, however, soon 
suffered the punishment due to him. Ru- 
dolphus, in the year 1276, suddenly made 
an attack upon Austria, and subdued the 
country as far as Vienna, which he be- 
sieged. Ottocar encamped on the opposite 
side of the Danube, thinking himself se- 
cured by the width of the river ; but Ru- 
dolphus, to the astonishment of all, so 
quickly threw a bridge across, in order to 
attack and capture the king in his strong- 
hold, that the latter, being greatly alarmed, 
immediately offered peace. He was obliged 
to resign Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and 
Carniola. And for the ratification of peace 
a marriage was contracted between the 
Bohemian crown prince, Wenzeslas, and 
one of the six daughters of Rudolphus, and 
another between the son of the emperor 
and a Bohemian princess. Ottocar then 
came to Rudolphus, in his encampment, to 
obtain the feoffment of his estates. This 
scene did not pass without the humiliation 
and shame of the proud king. He had 
noped by the splendor of his royal retinue 
to eclipse the unostentatious emperor, but 
Rudolphus availed himself of this very cir- 
cumstance in order to humble him : " The 
king of Bohemia has often laughed at my 
gray doublet," said he, " but to-day my gray 
doublet shall laugh at him." Accordingly, 
arrayed in his plain and simple attire, and 
seated upon the imperial throne, he re- 
ceived the king, who, glittering in gold and 
purple, was now obliged, in the presence of 
all the bishops and princes, to humbly sup- 



plicate on his knees for pardon, and to do 
homage for his kingdom of Bohemia and 
Moravia. 

Hereupon the princes of the empire, as 
usual after a terminated campaign, re- 
turned home ; but Rudolphus, who by no 
means trusted the proud king, remained in 
Austria with his faithful Alsatian and 
Swabian knights, who continued attached 
to him from the time when, under his or- 
ders as count of Hapsburg, they fought 
with him in so many battles. And, in 
reality, very shortly afterwards Ottocar 
recommenced hostilities, thinking that Ru- 
dolphus had now no competent forces with 
him. But the emperor with his small but 
valiant band boldly marched against his 
adversary, and maintained a most sangui- 
nary battle, on the 26th of August, 1278, 
at Marchfeld, on the other side of the 
Danube. The victory was long doubtful, 
and Rudolphus himself was in great dan- 
ger, for among the Bohemian knights seve- 
ral had agreed and sworn to attack and 
destroy him. One of them, Henry of 
Fullenstein, sprang upon him with his 
couched lance, but the emperor avoided 
I the stroke, and dexterously thrusting the 
point of his own spear through the aper- 
ture of his antagonist's helmet, he pierced 
his head, and he fell dead from his horse. 
At the same moment, however, a gigantic 
Thuringian knight, who also belonged to 
the conspirators, stabbed the horse of Ru- 
dolphus, which fell to the ground, and its 
royal rider with difficulty protected him- 
self with his shield from being trampled 
under foot, until one of his own knights 
brought him another horse. Being again 
mounted, and his general, Berthold Kap- 
pler, bringing up now the rear-guard, he 
once more dashed against the enemy, 
who could no longer resist the attack, but 
was completely put to flight. Neverthe- 
less, although deserted by his army, Otto- 
car, as Rudolphus himself testifies, fought 
bravely to the last ; until, with his horse, 
he was struck to the earth and killed by a 
knight of Styria, whom he had formerly 
much injured and oppressed. When peace 
was restored, the marriage between the 
two royal houses was celebrated, and Bo- 
hemia was governed in trust for the chil- 
dren of Ottocar by the margrave of Bran- 
denburg. 

Rudolphus, however, with the consent 
of the German princes, transferred Aus- 



208 



INTERNAL TRANQUILLITY— DEATH OF RUDOLPH! S I. 



tria, as imperial fief, to his own house ; 
it was, in fact, a country reconquered by 
his arms for the German empire : and one 
of the electoral princes, in a letter he 
wrote in approbation of this arrangement, 
said — " That it was only just that Rudol- 
phus should convey over to his children, if 
he thought fit, that principality which he 
had reconquered for the empire with so 
much sacrifice of his own blood." Ac- 
cordingly, at an imperial diet held in 
Augsburg in 1282, the emperor took sol- 
emn possession thereof, and in the presence 
of all the princes and nobles of the empire, 
he gave to his sons Albert and Rudolphus, 
the countries of Austria, Styria, Carniola, 
and Vienna ; but Carinthia he gave to 
Meinhard, count of Tyrol, whose daugh- 
ter his son Albert had married. Thus the 
emperor Rudolphus became the founder 
of the powerful house of Austria. 

These affairs being settled, he was again, 
although far advanced in years, zealously 
engaged in seeking to promote the tran- 
quillity of the empire. He required the 
counts, nobles, and cities of the several 
countries throughout the empire to take an 
oath to preserve the public peace for the 
term of five years ; and knowing well 
that all who nourish evil intentions are 
never sufficiently bound by their word, he 
himself journeyed through' all the pro- 
vinces, and routing the freebooter knights 
from their castles and strongholds, com- 
pletely destroyed them. Thus, on one 
expedition to Thuringia, he razed sixty-six 
such places, and executed twenty-nine of 
these brigand nobles ; among those of the 
most troublesome princes whom he pun- 
ished was Count Eberhard of Wurtem- 
berg, and whose motto was, " The friend 
of God and enemy of the world ;" him he 
besieged in his own city of Stuttgard, and 
forced him to yield and to raze with his 
own hands the walls of that his actual 
place of residence. On the other hand, 
he suffered other persons of rank to build 
fortresses for their defence against the 
freebooters, as in the case of the bishop of 
Paderborn, w T ho in 1290 was permitted to 
build two castles upon his domain. 

Hence the emperor Rudolphus was so 
fully employed in Germany, that he never 
seriously contemplated going to Italy in 
order to be crowned king. He was also 
accustomed to say that " Italy resembled a 
lion's den. in which it was true many tra- 



! ces might be found of those emperors who 
had entered it, but very few, if any, of 

I those w T ho had quitted it." Nay, so little 
did he follow out the plans of former kings 
with regard to Italy, that in a negotiation 
with the pope, Gregory X., he ceded all 
the imperial right of interference within 
the domain of the Church as in the present 
day. Hence he could congratulate him- 
self in beholding that destructive cause of 
incitement removed winch impelled the 
emperors to make their expeditions into 
Italy. 

Towards the latter end of his reign, Ru- 
dolphus was anxious, at an imperial diet 
held at. Frankfort in 1291, to have his own 
son Albert recognised by the princes as 
emperor of Germany ; but the nobles, jeal- 
ous and tired of the government of Rudol- 
phus, which had already become too vigor- 
ous and firm for them — inasmuch as it 
prevented them from following their own 
selfish interests — thinking that Germany 
would cease to be an elective kingdom if 
the son were allowed to succeed his father, 
refused their consent to the proposal. Dis- 
pleased with this ingratitude Rudolphus 
took his departure in disgust, and proceeded 
to Basle. 

He had now attained a great age, and 
suffered much from infirmity and disease ; 
so much so that, during the last year of his 
life, his physicians had only prolonged his 
existence by artificial means. One day, 
while he was sitting at the chess-board, 
they announced to him the near approach 
of his death. " Well then," he said, " let 
us away, my friends, to Spires, to the tomb 
of the kings !" Accordingly he was care- 
fully conveyed to the travelling equipage, 
and with his train set off and journeyed 
along the Rhine ; he did not, however, 
reach Spires, but died on the road, at Ger- 
mersheim, on the 30th of September, 1291, 
aged seventy-four. 

His memory was so universally revered 
throughout Germany, that for a long time 
( after his death it was common to say : " No, 
I no, that is not acting with the honesty of 
! Rudolphus !" He was a warrior from his 
boyhood, and one of his dearest wishes as 
| a youth was that he might have the com- 
mand of a German army of 40,000 infantry 
! and 4000 cavalry, for with such a force, 
! he said, he would have marched against 
jand faced the whole world. 
! Several of the princes were not unfavor- 



ADOLPHUS OF NASSAU— HIS DEATH— ALBERT I. OF AUSTRIA. 209 



able to Albert of Austria, the son of Ru- 
dolphus, but Archbishop Gerhard of Mentz 
understood so to arrange matters that his 
own cousin, Count Adolphus of Nassau, 
was chosen emperor. Adolphus was in- 
deed a brave and valiant knight, and pos- 
sessed many amiable qualities, but for such 
a station he had neither sufficient tact, nor 
adequate power and influence. He held 
only the moiety of the territory of Nassau, 
and his property was so insignificant that 
he could not even cover the expenses at- 
tending the coronation ; and when he tried 
to extricate himself from this difficulty by 
imposing a tax upon the Jews in Frankfort, 
he was opposed by the mayor of that city ; 
Archbishop Gerhard, therefore, was obliged 
to mortgage his ecclesiastical estates in his 
favor. 

As emperor, he sought to follow in the 
footsteps of Rudolphus, by maintaining the 
peace of the land, and at the same time en- 
deavoring to aggrandize his own house ; 
but it was impossible for him to succeed in 
either of these objects, and in the latter es- 
pecially he employed such means as pro- 
duced disaffection and disgust in the public 
mind. In the first place, in order to obtain 
money, he promised King Edward I. of 
England his aid in troops against Philip 
of France, in return for a considerable sum. 
This aid, however, although the money was 
paid, was not required, as the war between 
the two kings was suspended for that time. 
The money, however, Adolphus devoted to 
the purchase of fresh lands. Just at this 
period a profligate margrave, Albert the 
Base, held his sway in Thuringia, and 
abandoned his amiable and virtuous wife 
Margaret, the daughter of the emperor 
Frederick II., in order to marry Cuni- 
gunde of Isenburg. The unhappy mother, 
when obliged to take leave of her children, 
in the anguish of separation, bit the cheek 
of her son Frederick, who from this cir- 
cumstance is styled in history " Frederick 
with the bitten cheek." This unnatural 
and truly base father sold the hereditary 
elates of his two sons by the first marriage, 
to the emperor Adolphus, and presented the 
money to Albert, the son of Cunigunde. 
Subsequently, however, Frederick and 
Dietzmann, the two sons of Margaret, hav- 
ing come to manhood, fought bravely for 
their inheritance, their people having re- 
mained faithful to them ; so that the em- 
peror found himself obliged to wage an un- 
27 



righteous war against them — he whose 
primary duty it was to maintain with all 
his power and influence right and justice 
towards all. The brothers, however, re- 
gained a portion of their lands. 

Such unworthy proceedings had brought 
down upon Adolphus the hatred of Ger- 
many ; besides this, the fickle-minded arch- 
bishop, Gerhard of Mentz, was also dissa- 
tisfied with him, because he found that he 
was deceived in the hopes he had cherished 
of making- him subservient to his own in- 
terests. At his suggestion, therefore, a new 
diet of all the princes and nobles was held, 
and Adolphus was there deposed : inasmuch 
as he had desolated the churches, received 
pay from a prince (the king of England) 
inferior to himself, and had likewise dimin- 
ished the empire instead of extending it, and 
finally had not promoted and maintained 
the peace of the country. Albert of Aus- 
tria was therefore chosen to replace him. 
This was the first instance in which the 
electoral princes, without the instigation of 
the pope, dethroned an emperor of their 
own accord. The two rival sovereigns ap- 
pealed to arms, marched against each other, 
and met at Worms, where, in 1298, they 
fought the decisive battle. Adolphus was 
completely overthrown, and fell in, the con- 
test mortally wounded — as some say, by 
the hand of Albert himself. 

This Albert was by no means of a kind, 
friendly disposition like his father ; on the 
contrary, he was a severe, austere, and 
despotic ruler ; besides, even in his exter- 
nal appearance he was disfigured by the 
loss of an eye. It is true his severity to- 
wards the archbishop of Mentz was just,, 
for the emperor not being disposed to con- 
sult his will in every thing, the archbishop 
had menacingly said, " that he had yet 
more emperors in his pocket ;" and actually 
adopted means for the election of another... 
But Albert very soon brought him to rea- 
son, and obliged him to sue for mercy. In 
other matters, however, his actions were 
not always guided by justice. His aim; 
was to bring under his subjection several 
other countries, in which he partly suc- 
ceeded ; and his eyes were now turned to- 
wards Thuringia, Bohemia, and Holland,, 
when all his enterprises were suddenly 
annihilated by death. In the spring of the 
year 1308, he went to his hereditary estates 
on the borders of Switzerland, in order to 
re-establish peace among the insurgent 



210 



ALBERT'S ASSASSINATION— SWITZERLAND— GESSLER. 



Swiss, and to levy great forces to enable 
him to carry on the contemplated war 
against Bohemia. He had with him also 
his young nephew, John of Swabia, the son 
of his brother Rudolphus, from whom, al- 
though he was now out of his minority, he 
withheld the share he inherited of the Haps- 
burg estates. In vain did the ambitious 
youth repeatedly beg for his patrimony : 
the king always refused. Finding, there- 
fore, all his just demands in vain, he, with 
four knights, who also nourished a secret 
hatred against Albert, determined at length 
to assassinate him. On the 1st of 3! ay. 
1303, and in the tenth year of his reign, 
the emperor set out from Stein near Baden 
through Argau, in order to return to the 
camp at Reinfeld, where his court was as- 
sembled. They came through the deep 
valleys to the ferry across the Reuss at 
Windisch. Here the conspirators pressed 
forward with a view of entering the same 
boat with the emperor ; and thus, having 
separated him from his attendants, they 
crossed the stream together. Having reach- 
ed the shore, they remounted their steeds 
and proceeded for some distance, through 
the vast cornfields, at the base of the hills, 
on the highest of which towered the mighty 
castle of Hapsburg, when suddenly rushing 
upon the emperor, Duke John of Swabia 
buried his lance in his neck, loudly ex- 
claiming : " Such is the reward of injus- 
tice !" At the same time Rudolphus of 
Balm stabbed him with his dagger, and 
Walter of Esehenbach divided his head 
with his sword. The king sunk to the 
earth powerless and bathed in his blood. 
A poor woman, who had witnessed the 
deed, hurried to the spot, and in her arms 
the emperor Albert breathed his last. The 
conspirators decamped and separated from 
each other immediately after the tragedy ; 
and, tormented by their guilty consciences, 
never afterwards met or saw each other 
again. One of them, Rudolphus of Wait, 
was taken and broken upon the wheel on 
the spot where the deed of blood was com- 
mitted ; the others, as well as the duke 
himself, ended their days in obscurity and 
misery. 

It was during the year in which King 
Albert was murdered, that the foundation 
of the Swiss confederacy was laid. The 
history of this vigorous, industrious, and 
freedom-loving people, who inhabit many 
greater and smaller tracts of country at the 



foot of, and amidst the lofty chains of moun- 
tains which run between Germany, France, 
and Italy, belongs also to the history of 
Germany : for the origin of the Swiss na- 
I tion is entirely German, and it is only on 
I the borders of this country and France that 
! the French language is spoken. The chief 
cities in the districts towards Swabia, Berne. 
Zurich, Freiburg, Soleure. &rc, were origi- 
nally, and continued for a long period to be 
imperial free cities : and the Waldst'adte. 
or forest towns, Schwyz, Uri, and Unter- 
wald, were likewise under the immediate 
protection of the empire. Their form of 
government was very ancient, and seemed, 
as it were, fresh from the hand of nature. 
The same as among the ancient Germans, 
the whole community of freemen exercised, 
under their Landammann or president, the 
greatest power ; and the strength of their 
constitution lay entirely in the combined 
will of the people. The emperor of Ger- 
many however, as they belonged to the 
empire, had among them his Vogts or at- 
tendants, who attended to the collection of 
taxes, the coinage and stamping of monev, 
and matters by no means burdensome. 

Albert, who was anxious to extend the 
power of his house, proposed that they 
should renounce their connection with the 
imperial state, and place themselves under 
the protection of his powerful house, pos- 
sessing as it did such extensive patrimo- 
nial possessions in their immediate vicinity, 
which meant, in other words, that, instead 
of remaining longer Germans, they should 
become Hapsburgians, or Austrians. They, 
however, regarding his acts with a suspi- 
cious eye, refused to agree to his proposal : 
upon which the emperor, in his turn, re- 
nounced them, permitting, and even en- 
couraging the intendants to oppress and 
levy upon the people severe and cruelly un- 
just exactions. He treated these compar- 
atively little known and obscure moun- 
taineers with derision and contempt. He 
appointed as his representatives two Yogts : 
Hermann Gessler of Bruneck, a haughty, 
overbearing nobleman, who possessed, n<£ar 
the town of Altorf, in Uri, a castle or strong 
fortress, in which he used to force the in- 
habitants of the neighborhood to obedience ; 
and Beringer of Landenberg, who dwelt at 
the castle of Sarnen, in Unterwald : to 
those Albert added several other officers, 
who performed the functions of unter-vogts 
or sub-intendants. 



THE SWISS CONFEDERATION— WILLIAM TELL— DEATH OF GESSLER. 211 



But three patriotic and noble-minded 
Swiss, who felt and deeply participated in 
the misery endured by their native land, 
while deprived of its ancient freedom, uni- 
ted together in order to overthrow and crush 
the tyrannical power of these imperial 
Vogts. 

The names of these fearless and magnan- 
imous men were : Werner StaufFacher of 
Schwyz, Walter Fiirst of Attinghausen in 
Uri, and Arnold of Melchthal in Unterwald. 
They knew well that their hardy country- 
men, bold and undismayed in the defence 
of their rights, would readily take part 
with them. Arnold of Melchthal espe- 
cially, however, had grievous cause for re- 
sentment, inasmuch as the intendant, Lan- 
denberg, for some very trifling circum- 
stance, had most unjustly taken from him 
a team of fine oxen, and when his father 
complained of it, Landenberg's officer re- 
plied, contemptuously : " If peasants wish 
to eat bread, let them draw the plough 
themselves." Arnold, incensed at the 
shameful act itself, as well as indignant at 
the fellow's insolence, broke the servant's 
arm with the stick he held in his hand, and 
knowing but too well the cruel character 
of the Vogt, took flight and secreted him- 
self. The tyrant, unable to find him, or- 
dered the eyes of his venerable father to be 
plucked out — an instance of savage cruelty 
but too frequently presented at that time in 
this opprsssed country. 

These three patriots now uniting together, 
met regularly during the silent hour of 
night at Rutli, a small meadow in a lonely 
place, between high rocks on the banks of 
the Lake of Lucerne. At the same time 
they were busily engaged in enlisting their 
friends into the noble cause, and on the 
night of the Wednesday before Martinmas, 
m the year 1307, each brought with him 
to this place ten fellow-patriots, men of up- 
right, resolute mind. When these thirty- 
three good and true men were assembled 
at the Rutli, filled with the recollection of 
their former liberty, and united together 
by the perils of the times in the closest bonds 
of friendship, the three leaders lifted up 
their hands to heaven, and swore in the 
name of the Supreme Being that they 
would manfully combine in defence of their 
common liberty. The other thirty mem- 
bers, following the example of their chief, 
and raising their hands to heaven with 
equal ardor and enthusiasm, pronounced 



the same oath. The execution of their 
plan, however, was reserved for the first 
day of the ensuing new year ; and separa- 
ting now, they each returned to their cot- 
tages, where in the mean time they pre- 
served the most strict silence, and put up 
their cattle for the winter. 

Meanwhile, the Vogt or Governor, Her- 
mann Gessler, was shot by William Tell, 
a citizen of Uri, and a native of Burglen, 
son-in-law of Walter Fiirst. How that 
free and brave man refused, at the com- 
mand of the cruel Vogt, to do homage to 
a hat, the symbol of his tyranny, how he 
was obliged to shoot an apple from the top 
of his son's head, and how he escaped from 
the threatened incarceration by leaping out 
of a boat in the midst of a heavy storm, on 
the Lake of Lucerne, and finally of his 
shooting Gessler at Kiissnacht — all this is 
well known, and having continued to form 
the theme of universal praise, has been 
celebrated by the poet and painter, both in 
ancient and modern times, down to the 
present moment. And although this event 
took place before the hour destined to liber- 
ate the country, and without the interfer- 
ence of the oppressed people, it nevertheless 
strengthened the courage of the confeder- 
ates, and was hailed as the harbinger of 
their emancipation by all the sturdy natives 
of that noble and majestic country. 

Early in the morning of the first day 
of the year 1308, when Landenberg, the 
Vogt, was proceeding from the castle to 
attend mass at Sarnen, he was met by 
twenty men of Unterwald with calves, goats, 
sheep, fowls, and hares, which, according 
to the custom of the mountaineers, they 
brought for his acceptance as a new year's 
gift. The Vogt, pleased with their present, 
desired the men to convey the animals into 
the court of the castle. As soon, however, 
as these twenty patriots had entered within 
the gates, one of them blew a horn, at which 
signal each of them drew forth a steel blade 
concealed beneath his doublet, and fixed it 
upon the end of his stick, while thirty more 
of their comrades rushed down the hill 
through the wood of Erlen, and joining them 
in the castle, they all took possession of 
the place, and made the whole garrison 
prisoners. Landenberg, who having heard 
the tumult, had fled from Sarnen, across 
the fields, towards Alpnach, was pursued 
and taken ; but as the confederates had 
agreed to shed no blood, they having first 



212 HENRY VII. OF LUXEMBURG— HIS DEATH— FREDERICK AND LEWIS. 



made him swear to quit Switzerland for- 
ever, and never return to it, allowed him 
to depart and seek refuge at the court of 
his emperor. 

By similar stratagems to that employed 
in the taking of the castle of Sarnen, many 
others were captured and demolished, and 
the various imperial Vogts, with their de- 
pendents, sent beyond the borders ; so that 
messengers arrived from every quarter at 
the Lake of Lucerne, with the good news 
of success. On the following Sunday, the 
7th of January, the Swiss met together, 
and again pledged themselves to the ancient 
oath of confederacy. The next and most 
immediate danger which threatened them 
was from King Albert, who was resolved 
to avenge himself upon them for their con- 
duct. From this, however, they were in a 
few months rescued by the arm of Duke 
John of Swabia, and his confederates. 
Nevertheless, they had still to sustain some 
dreadful struggles for their newly-acquired 
freedom. 

After the death of Albert I. the German 
princes remained true to their principle, 
not to choose several emperors from the 
same house in succession, and therefore as 
chivalric virtues in their estimation sur- 
passed all other, they elected Count Hen- 
ry of Luxemburg, who was known to be a 
valiant, manly hero and knight. His reign 
in Germany was too short to permit him 
to do much for its welfare ; nevertheless, 
brief as it was, he showed by his conduct 
that he possessed sufficient courage and 
nobleness of mind to render himself worthy 
of the ancient imperial crown. He like- 
wise made an expedition to Italy,* whither 
no emperor had gone since Conrad IV. ; 
and there he testified his noble and chival- 
ric principles by effecting a reconciliation 
between the Guelfs and the Ghibelins, thus 
again uniting together, under the ascen- 
dency of the government, those whose 
minds had been distracted with hatred and 
discord ; but the violence of the parties 
soon again broke forth, and Henry himself 
sunk, probably their sacrifice. After being 
crowned at Rome, he died suddenly in the 
midst of their contention, in an expedition 
against Robert, king of Naples, at Buon- 

* Dante was among the first to do homage to him on 
his arrival, and presented him with a letter and a La- 
tin discourse upon the imperial dominion, in which he, 
as a Ghibelin, highly extolled it, and invited Henry to 
make a vigorous use of his power. 



conventi, near Sienna, on the 24th of 
August, 1313, as was thought by poison. 

He acquired for his house the kingdom 
of Bohemia, and by this means laid the 
foundation of its greatness. In Bohemia, 
Ottocar's grand-daughter Elizabeth was 
left as the last survivor of the ancient royal 
race. In a spirit of hatred to the Haps- 
burgian house, which, after this princess, 
possessed the next claim upon Bohemia, 
the nobility gave this heiress in marriage to 
John, the son of the emperor, and with her 
the house of Luxemburg obtained the royal 
crown of Bohemia, to which was after- 
wards added also the imperial crown. 

In the new election of emperor the 
princes were far from being unanimous ; 
the one party, with the archbishop of Mentz 
at their head, chose Lewis of Upper Bava- 
ria ; the other, led by the archbishop of 
Cologne, selected Duke Frederick of Aus- 
tria, surnamed the handsome, because of 
his fine and noble form. Lewis was crown- 
ed at Aix-la-Chapelle and Frederick at 
Bonn, with the real insignia of the empire. 
Thence a new war broke out in Germany ; 
everywhere there was violent opposition. 
The greatest number of towns, especially 
those in Swabia, were for Lewis, and, as 
might be expected, the Swiss people also ; 
on the other hand, the nobility were chiefly 
for Frederick of Austria. Moreover, Fred- 
erick had a powerful ally in the person of 
his brother, Duke Leopold, who was a 
brave knight and a good general. This 
prince resolved in the first place to avenge 
the honor of the Austrian house upon the 
Swiss people, and he forthwith advanced 
into their country, accompanied by a nu- 
merous retinue of knights. He threatened 
to trample these boors under his feet, and 
provided himself with an abundant supply 
of ropes for the execution of their rebellious 
chiefs ; for he had no idea of the astonish- 
ing feats which an oppressed people are 
capable of performing in the cause of their 
freedom, however unskilled in the ordinary 
tactics of war. 

The duke divided his army into two di- 
visions, and advanced from Aegeri to Mor- 
garten, towards the mountains of Schwyz. 
The heavy cavalry, consisting of knights 
clad in complete iron armor, the pride and 
flower of the army, formed the van-guard, 
for the known heroism of the duke had at- 
tracted the whole of the ancient nobility 
of Hapsburg, Lenzburg, and Kyburg, to 



SWITZERLAND— THE BATTLE OF MORGARTEN. 



213 



join his ranks, together with the Vogt of 
Landenberg, and the male branches of Gess- 
ler's family, all burning to revenge his death. 

But the confederates, when they received 
the news that the enemy was approaching, 
did not in the least waver in their courage 
and heroism, but prepared at once for bat- 
tle. On that same night four hundred men 
from Uri landed at Brunnen, in Sch wyz, and 
a few hours afterwards they were joined by 
three hundred men from Unterwald ; they 
then all marched across the fields, and joined 
the main body in Schwyz. There they 
were gladly welcomed by a venerable pa- 
triot, Rudolphus Redin, of Biberegg, so 
aged and infirm that he could scarcely 
totter, yet so skilled and prudent in war, 
that the people, as he now drew up their 
plan of attack, gladly listened to his sage 
advice, which they scrupulously followed : 
" Our grand aim, my sons, must be," said he, 
" as we are so inferior in numbers, to pre- 
vent the duke from gaining any advantage 
by his superior force." He then showed 
them how they must occupy the heights of 
Morgarten and the Sattel mountain, in or- 
der to surprise the duke's army in the 
narrow pass, and falling upon its flank, 
thus divide and cut it off. 

The small but united band of patriots, 
after they had knelt down, and implored the 
help of God, according to ancient custom, 
went forth to the number of thirteen hun- 
dred, and gained the summit of the Sattel 
mountain, near the Einsiedeln boundary. 
Here they were joined by an unexpected 
body of fifty men, who on account of some 
dispute had been banished from Schwyz, 
but who on being made acquainted with 
the danger that threatened their country, 
forgot their quarrel, and repaired to Mor- 
garten, resolved to sacrifice their lives for 
their native land. 

On the 16th of November, 1315, the 
host of well-accoutred horsemen com- 
menced the ascent of the mountains under 
the ruddy rays of a morning's sun, in the 
reflection of which their forest of glittering 
spears and lances extended as far as the 
eye could reach. The van now entered 
the pass, and the avenue, which was hedged 
in with mountains and water, soon became 
filled with the close ranks of the cavalry. 
At this moment the aforesaid fifty exiled 
Schwyzers, shouting aloud, rolled down 
from the heights of Morgarten huge frag- 
ments of rock in quick succession on the 



enemy. When the 1300 Swiss who were 
posted on the summit of the Sattel moun- 
tain, beheld the confusion now produced 
among the ranks of the horsemen in the 
pass beneath, (near the Lake of Aegeri,) 
they quickly descended, and in a firm, 
united body, made an overwhelming attack 
upon the enemy's flank, committing every- 
where the most sanguinary execution with 
their iron-pointed clubs and halberbs. Many 
of the nobles and knights, the flower of the 
Austrian nobility, fell, two of the Gesslers 
were slain, and Landenberg was pierced to 
death. Duke Leopold himself narrowly 
escaped from the vengeance of those hardy 
mountaineers, previously held by him 
in such contempt, but now become his vic- 
torious pursuers, and was with difficulty 
saved by a peasant acquainted with the 
roads, who conducted him through narrow 
by-passes as far as Winterthur, where he 
at length safely arrived in the greatest de- 
jection and fatigue of mind and body. 

Thus the whole Austrian army, in spite 
of all its chivalric bravery and superior 
discipline, was completely annihilated by a 
small body of peasantry, who, however, 
although simple and rude by nature and 
condition, aroused at length from their for- 
mer state of slavery and oppression, became 
at once ennobled by their innate love of 
liberty and patriotism ; so that already 
within the short space of an hour and a 
half, by their united courage and tact, they 
succeeded in trampling upon their haughty 
and tyrannic foe, and obtaining over him a 
glorious triumph. After this happy day 
the confederates renewed their ancient 
bond of amity, whose basis was, that all 
should be ready in defence of one, and one 
in defence of all ; and the emperor Lewis 
in several letters confirmed the liberty of 
the Swiss. 

In Germany, however, the war between 
Frederick of Austria and Lewis of Bava- 
ria still continued with undiminished fierce- 
ness. Many provinces were desolated with 
fire and sword, until at length, in the year 
1322, a decisive action was fought at Miihl- 
dorf in Bavaria. Frederick very indis- 
creetly allowed himself to be drawn into 
that battle, without awaiting the arrival of 
his brother Leopold, who was advancing 
to the spot with assistance. The battle 
co/nmenced ar sunrise, and lasted ten 
hours. Frederick himself fought bravely 
at the head of his body-guard, equipped in 



214 



THE BATTLE OF MUHLDORF— FREDERICK AND LEWIS. 



a splendid suit of gold armor, and bearing 
aloft upon his helmet, glittering in the 
sun's rays, the imperial eagle ; while 
Lewis, on the contrary, did not appear at 
all on the field of battle. At noon, Lewis's 
brave and experienced general, Seyfried 
Schweppermann of Nuremberg, ordered 
his army to wheel round, and thus the 
Austrians had the sun, dust, and wind full 
in their face, while at the same time, as 
directed by Schweppermann, the bur- 
grave of Nuremberg fell upon them from 
behind with five hundred cavalry. This 
body, for the purpose of deceiving the ene- 
my, carried Austrian colors and banners, 
so that Frederick and those with him were 
so deceived that they felt assured Duke 
Leopold had at that critical moment ar- 
rived with his desired aid. When, how- 
ever, they discovered their mistake, they 
were speedily thrown into disorder and put 
to flight, and Frederick, whose horse was 
stabbed, was, with his brother Henry, taken 
prisoner. When he was presented by the 
burgrave of Nuremberg to Lewis, he was 
received by the latter with the words : 
"My cousin, we are glad to see you." 
Frederick, however, made no reply, but 
with his eyes fixed upon the ground re- 
mained completely silent. He was con- 
veyed to the strong fortress of Traussnitz, 
in the Upper Palatinate.* Lewis was now 
the sole ruler of Germany, but Frederick's 
brother Leopold, and other princes, would 
not recognise him, but still carried on war 
against him ; while in addition to this, 
Pope John XXII. excommunicated him for 
having taken part with the duke of Milan, 
against him. Lewis determined, there- 
fore, in this emergency, to effect a recon- 
ciliation between himself and the house of 
Austria. Accordingly he went in 1325 to 
Frederick, who was still imprisoned in the 
castle of Traussnitz, and concluded a treaty 
with him, in which Frederick renounced 
all claim to the empire, and agreed to some 
other severe conditions, after which he was 
set at liberty, having, however, through his 
imprisonment become so much changed in 
his appearance, that his relations scarcely 
recognised him, while his wife Elizabeth 

* It is related that the victorious army, after the 
battle, were without any provisions, having merely a 
small supply of eggs, which, on being distributed 
among them, left but one for each man. The empe- 
ror Lewis on hearing this exclaimed : " Well, give to 
every soldier his egg, but to the brave Schweppermann 
give two !" as a proof that to him alone was due the 
honor of the victory. 



of Aragon had, during this interval of two 
years and a half, so incessantly wept tears 
of grief and lamentation on his account, 
that she had become totally blind. Fred- 
erick on his part employed every means 
to carry into effect the stipulations of the 
treaty ; he made his abdication known 
throughout the empire by public docu- 
ments, and exhorted every one to submit 
to Lewis. Neither the pope nor Leopold, 
however, felt themselves bound by the 
contract, but, on the contrary, proceeded 
in every possible way to show their hostil- 
ity to Lewis. The two princes then gave 
an example of fidelity and friendship, which 
redounds to their honor. Frederick main- 
tained his friendship with Lewis, paying 
no regard either to the representations of 
his brother, nor to those of the pope, who 
even offered to release him from the obli- 
gations of his oath to Lewis, the latter being 
excommunicated ; while Lewis, appreci- 
ating this magnanimity of character in 
Frederick, and remembering their mutual 
friendship in early life, they having grown 
up together, resolved formally to share the 
empire of Germany with him. Frederick 
came to him at Munich, and Lewis offered, 
as he was just on the point of making an 
expedition on behalf of his son Lewis in 
Brandenburg against the Poles, to intrust 
the defence of his own country against 
Leopold to his hands. That expedition, 
however, was not made, and the two kings, 
on the 5th of September, 1325, at Munich, 
entered publicly into an alliance : " They 
would both conjointly bear the title of a 
Roman king, call and regard themselves 
as brothers, and in their dispatches and 
other documents their signatures and seals 
should be affixed alternately. They would 
grant enfeoffments in their joint capacity, 
and would both together as one person pre- 
side over and govern the Roman empire, 
over which they had been appointed and 
set apart." The two friends pledged them- 
selves anew, ate at one table, and lived 
affectionately together, as they had done in 
their childhood. 

Pope John, who knew nothing of the 
German character, and who considered 
such good faith unprecedented, wrote to 
King Charles of France, to whom it might 
appear equally novel : " This incredible 
example of friendship and confidence was 
confided to me on the best authority, in a 
communication from Germany." 



THE FIRST ELECTORAL ALLIANCE. 



215 



Frederick, however, did not long con- 
tinue to take a part in the government ; 
for, greatly depressed by his many suf- 
ferings, he retired into solitude, and spent 
the remainder of his life in quiet medita- 
lion, at the castle of Guttenstein, where he 
died in the year 1330, his amiable and af- 
flicted consort having preceded him a short 
time before. 

The house of Austria, as well as the 
pope, remained still inimical to Lewis of 
Bavaria, and did all in their power to op- 
pose him; so that his whole reign pre- 
sented one scene of confusion and anarchy, 
and this emperor, whose kind and noble, 
although less powerful mind, would in 
happier times have rendered him an ex- 
cellent ruler, was not able, in the rage of 
such distraction, to direct the helm. It is 
difficult to say what degree of blame at- 
taches to him, or how much was owing to 
the perplexity of his situation ; but his 
measures appear to have been often inde- 
terminate. At one time he adopted the 
language of entreaty, at another he em- 
ployed the means of resistance ; now, he 
united with the king of Bohemia, then with 
the king of England, and at last even with 
the king of France ; and, in order to get 
rid of the anathema, he sent to the pope 
more than seven ambassadors ; but all was 
in vain. For the popes resided no longer 
at Rome, having for a considerable time 
held their seat at Avignon in France ; they 
were therefore in subjection to the kings 
of France, who, not being upon good terms 
with Germany, were rejoiced at the dis- 
union which there prevailed, and prevent- 
ed a reconciliation taking place between 
the pope and the emperor, as Pope Benedict 
XII. himself privately acknowledged, with 
tears in his eyes, to the German princes. 
In like manner, King John of Bohemia, 
when he had secured himself against 
Austria, showed himself hostile to the house 
of Bavaria, whose growing greatness he 
sought to oppose as much as possible. 
This daring and adventurous prince, who 
was incessantly traversing Europe on 
horseback, like a courier, used his influ- 
ence in throwing the torch of discord into 
Italy, producing there the most sad dissen- 
sions, while he likewise succeeded in con- 
firming both the pope and the king of 
France still more strongly in their hatred 
against the emperor Lewis. 

In the year 1388 the German electoral 



princes, in order to preserve the security 
of the empire, held a diet at Reuse, on the 
Rhine, and made there the famous treaty 
known by the name of the first electoral 
alliance. In this they solemnly declared 
that as the holy Roman empire had been, 
and still continued to be attacked in its 
honor, burdened and oppressed in its rights 
and possessions, they would unite to de- 
fend it, and courageously support it with 
all their strength and power against every 
aggressor. Besides which, this protest 
was solemnly approved by all the other 
estates in an imperial diet, when it was 
declared : " That the imperial dignity and 
power were immediately derived from and 
depended upon God, and that as a matter 
of right and ancient custom, the moment 
an individual was elected emperor, that 
moment he must, by reason of his elec- 
tion, be regarded as a true king and Ro- 
man emperor, without any need of con- 
firmation by the papal see." This impe- 
rial decision was made known to the pope 
in a special communication, and from this 
moment commenced the strong opposition 
made against the papal see. 

Had Lewis now possessed sufficient 
firmness of character to have availed him- 
self of this declaration made by the diet, 
and thereupon have based his power ; if, 
above all, he had understood how to con- 
fide in the fidelity and constancy of all his 
subjects, as did in ancient times his impe- 
rial predecessors, he might still, notwith- 
standing all the hostility of foreigners, 
have enjoyed a prosperous reign. But as 
he was deficient in that greatness of soul, 
so necessary to bring into happy realiza- 
tion the great objects in view, the princes 
became more and more inimical towards 
him, so that, at a diet held at Reuse in 
1344, they again brought heavy com- 
plaints against him, and censured his mal- 
administration of the affairs of the empire. 
This ill-will, however, of the princes to- 
wards the emperor originated chiefly in 
the jealousy with which they regarded the 
gradual aggrandizement of his house. For 
by his marriage with the daughter of the 
count of Hennegau, Holland, Zealand, 
and Friesland, he had acquired a title to 
all these countries, inasmuch as there was 
no male heir ; and, again, when the line 
of male descendants to the territory of An- 
halt-Brandenburg became extinct, he made 
over, in 1323, to his son Lewis, the Bran- 



216 



LEWIS DEPOSED— HIS DEATH— CHARLES IV. 



denburg possessions, and afterwards gave 
this same son in marriage to Margaret, of 
Maultasch. the heiress of Tyrol. By this 
last acquisition he made the house of Aus- 
tria still more hostile towards him. while 
in the two previous cases he brought down 
upon him the enmity of the Luxemburg- 
Bohemian house, and that of the king of 
France. 

The opponents of Lewis, especially Pope 
Clement VI., carried their animosity at 
length to such an extent that a number of 
the princes, at an assembly held in the 
year 1346, chose as German emperor, 
Charles, the son of John, king of Bohemia, 
who was also margrave of Moravia ; a 
prince who was brought up at the French 
court, his father having a great predilec- 
tion for France. This emperor, however, 
proved to be no blessing to Germany. 
When after being proclaimed at Reuse, he 
mounted the so-called imperial throne 
erected there, in order to present himself 
before the people for the first time, and 
while the Vivat Rex resounded on every 
side, the imperial banner, which had been 
elevated on the bank of the Rhine, fell into 
its waters, and, in spite of every exertion 
made to save it, sunk to the bottom — an 
event which was regarded by all as an evil 
omen. Neither did he enjoy any popu- 
larity while Lewis lived ; the latter, how- 
ever, in the following year, 13-47, died of 
apoplexy while hunting a bear. The spot 
where he fell from his horse, in the vicini- 
ty of Fiirstenfeld, near Munich, is still 
called the Kaiserwiese or emperor's mead- 
ow, in recollection of the event. Lewis 
was the last emperor excommunicated by 
the popes. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EMPERORS OF DIFFERENT HOUSES 1347-1437. 

Charles IV. 1347-1378— Wenceslas, 1378-1400— Switzer- 
land— The Battle of Sempach. 1386— Leopold of Aus- 
tria—Arnold of Winkelried— His Heroism and Self- 
Devotion— Wenceslas deposed— Rupert of the Palati- 
nate, 1400-1410— Sigismund, 1410-1437— Grand Coun- 
cil of Constance— John Huss and the Hussite V\ ars— 
Death of Sigismund, 1437. 

At this time there were in Germany 
three powerful houses, which, if they had 
been united, could easily have subdued all 



[ the others ; but they were so far from act- 
ing in concert together, that they, on the 
contrary, opposed each other. These were 
j the house of Luxemburg, which possessed, 
' in addition to Bohemia and Moravia, also 
1 part of Silesia and Lusatia ; that of Ba- 
I varia, which had acquired Brandenburg, 
i Holland, and the Tyrol ; and that of Aus- 
j tria. which, besides its hereditary estates, 
| possessed likewise much of the Swabian 
territory. 

The house of Bavaria could not forget 
that Charles IV. had been the enemy of 
Lewis : accordingly, in conjunction with 
the archbishop of Mentz and other princes, 
; it sought to procure and establish a rival 
| king in opposition, and at length, after King 
J Edward of England, and the Margrave 
Frederick of Meissen, had rejected the 
crown, it found in the person of Count Giin- 
ther of Sehwarzburg, a brave, powerful, 
and upright man. who accepted it, as he 
declared, solely for the welfare of the em- 
pire, and who would have been a very 
important rival to Charles, if he had not 
suddenly fallen sick, and soon after died — 
as he himself thought, of poison. Charles, 
therefore, now reigned alone and for a 
lengthened period. Much was expected 
from him, as he was cunning and skilful 
in his enterprises, and was likewise mas- 
ter of many languages. Nevertheless, 
however well he succeeded in promoting 
the interests of his hereditary lands by va- 
rious useful regulations, still he was, as it 
were, but a step-father of the German 
empire, and his heart was not devoted to it. 
The last existing remains of the imperial 
estates, which in some degree still con- 
tributed to preserve the dignity of the 
empire, were sold by him similar to the 
unworthy head of a family, who turns his 
real property into money, in order that he 
may the more readily enjoy it. 

His reign presented a series of many 
great calamities, which certainly could not 
be imputed to him, and were in fact beyond 
his control. Already at its commence- 
ment, Germany, like many other countries 
of Europe, was visited with the most terri- 
ble disasters. The same as in the summer 
of 133S, ten years previously, innumerable 
hosts of locusts had flocked from the east, 
and covered a part of Europe so dreadfully, 
that they completely obscured the light of 
the sun, and Hungary, Poland, Austria, 
and other places, became entirely deso- 



DREADFUL VISITATIONS— THE JEWS— THE GOLDEN BULL. 217 



lated, and famine raged among mankind ; 
so likewise in the year 1348, a succession 
of even still greater afflictions followed. 
On the*l7th of January in this year the 
sun was eclipsed, and on the 25th a great 
earthquake was felt over nearly the whole 
of Europe. Cities and villages were over- 
whelmed, and buried their inhabitants un- 
der their ruins. The shocks during this 
year were several times repeated, and in 
the following one, a great plague, which 
was brought into Italy by the ships trading 
in the east, raged throughout that country, 
and soon extended its desolation over the 
whole of France and Germany. History 
presents no parallel to the terrible scenes 
of misery presented in this epoch. In the 
large cities the dead were numbered by 
hundreds of thousands, and in many cases 
the survivors scarcely amounted to a tenth 
part of the previously-existing population. 
Thousands of families became wholly ex- 
tinct, whole streets uninhabited and laid 
waste, and no living being, nor even do- 
mestic animal was to be found : nay, some 
travellers who were going from Italy to 
Bohemia, found whole cities and villages 
without a single living inhabitant of anv 
sort. 

These calamities had the effect of awa- 
kening to reflection many who were pre- 
viously sunk in sin ; for the age which had 
preceded this had been extremely corrupt. 
In this state of despair, penances of every 
description were again put into force, and 
especially the use of the scourge was again 
put in requisition. Hundreds and even 
thousands went in procession from city to 
city, and practised their flagellations in 
the market-places, walking with their backs 
bare, singing, and at the same time flogging 
themselves and each other with knotty 
thorny whips. The leaders of the proces- 
sion were often obliged themselves even to 
check by stern command the rage with which 
the infatuated penitents lacerated their flesh. 
Even children were infected with a passion 
for these inflictions, and took part in these 
scenes. As these proceedings were found 
to be the result of mere fanaticism and 
madness, accompanied by extravagances 
of every description, the pope at last inter- 
dicted them on pain of excommunication ; 
but it was only with difficulty that they 
could be suppressed. 

Meantime, as if that epoch was to be 
one distinguished alone for its wild disor- 
28 



ders and excesses, the former persecution 
of the Jews was also renewed. Among 
the people the opinion had become more 
and more prevalent that the Jews had been 
the originators of the late great plague, by 
poisoning the springs and rivers, for the 
purpose of exterminating the whole of 
Christendom. The ancient animosity was 
revived, and became more and more em- 
bittered ; the authorities were unable to 
restrain the fury of the people, and through- 
out Switzerland, in all the cities along the 
Rhine, and generally throughout Germany, 
the massacre of the Jews was so dreadful, 
that many of them in their despair destroy- 
ed themselves in their own houses. The 
mildest treatment they received was that 
of having their property confiscated, and 
being banished the country. The princes, 
and especially the pope and bishops, at last 
interested themselves in behalf of this per- 
secuted people, and saved the small rem- 
nant of those as yet left untouched. His- 
tory, however, leaves unmentioned whether 
the emperor Charles contributed his share 
towards the general good during this time 
of distress. 

The most important work effected by 
him for Germany was published in an im- 
perial edict called the Golden Bull, (thus 
called from the seal of gold affixed to it,) 
the institution of a fundamental law of the 
empire, enacted in the year 1358, which 
determined and regulated the rights and 
privileges of the seven electors, the mode 
of precedence in electing the emperor in 
the diet of Frankfort, and at the coronation 
at Aix-la-Chapelle, and some other regu- 
lations ; among the rest it was decreed that 
after a proclamation made three days pre- 
viously, the right of warfare should be de- 
clared and enforced. 

But it was not by such regulations affect- 
ing the external and less essential objects, 
that the dignity of the empire could be 
restored ; on the contrary, division, jeal- 
ousy, and selfishness were excited more 
than ever by the advantages which he se- 
cured especially to the electoral houses ; 
so that from the time of the Golden Bull 
may be dated the dissolution of the imperial 
dominion, rather than its re-establishment. 
The seven electoral princes who had al- 
ready, for nearly an entire century, exer- 
cised the right of voting, included the arch- 
bishops of Mentz, Treves, and Cologne, 
together with the king of Bohemia, the 



218 CHARLES'S AGGRANDIZEMENT— PETR ARC A— CHARLES'S DEATH. 



duke of Saxe-Wittenberg, the margrave 
of Brandenburg, and the count palatine of 
the Rhine. 

Charles labored with ability and extra- 
ordinary success for the aggrandizement of 
his own house. By his first consort Anna, 
princess palatine, he secured to his house 
the upper palatinate, and by his second 
wife Anna, of Schweidnitz and Jauer, he 
again transferred to it the possession of the 
entire southwest line of the beautiful ter- 
ritory in Silesia, along the borders of Bo- 
hemia ; while already his father John and 
himself subsequently, having both gradu- 
ally succeeded, partly by fraud and partly 
by force, in subjecting all the other princes 
of Silesia to the dominion of Bohemia, he, 
by a royal decree in 1355, united the whole 
of Silesia and Lower Lusatia to Bohemia. 
In like manner he became possessed of the 
margraviate of Brandenburg from the 
house of Bavaria, by which it had been 
only shortly before acquired under the 
emperor Lewis ; for, availing himself of 
their weakness and total want of energy, 
he induced the Margraves Lewis the Ro- 
man, and Otho, to conclude a treaty, ac- 
cording to the terms of which, passing 
over their cousins of the house of Bavaria, 
the margraviate should be transferred to 
the house of Luxemburg in the event of 
both margraves dying without any heir. 
Soon after Lewis died, and the imbecile 
Otho made over, even during his life, in 
1373, the government of his own country 
into the hands of the emperor, shortly after 
which, in 1379, the former died, despised 
and forgotten. Thus Charles, solely bent 
upon the aggrandizement of his house, uni- 
ted Brandenburg to the kingdom of Bohe- 
mia, and by this means, quite contrary to 
all the institutions of Germany, he made 
one German electorate dependent upon an- 
other. Henceforth likewise, he took as 
warm and paternal an interest in the newly 
acquired country as he did in his own he- 
reditary estates ; ruling over a range of 
beautiful tracts of country, extending from 
the confines of Austria, near the Danube, 
to Pomerania. Nevertheless, Charles, as 
so often happens to the selfish, was all this 
time working for strangers. His son Sigis- 
mund already mortgaged the margraviate 
of Brandenburg to the family of Hohen- 
zollern, and by that laid the foundation for 
the greatness of that house ; while the 
greater part of his other lands fell to the 



house of Austria, which was destined to 
rise still higher, after having been so much 
injured by him. At this time also that 
house obtained a great increase of territory 
in the county of Tyrol, where the Bavarian 
lineage, introduced by the emperor Lewis, 
had become extinct, and the house of Wit- 
telsbach approached its end. 

Charles proceeded also to Italy, but not 
as it became the successor of the great 
emperors, who had by their bravery obtain- 
ed the sovereignty of that country ; for he 
was obliged, in order that the pope might 
confirm his election to the Germanic em- 
pire, to submit to the disgraceful stipula- 
tion, that when he came to Rome in order 
to be crowned, he would only remain one 
day in that city, and quitting it before 
night, forthwith retire from the pope's ter- 
ritories. Accordingly he made his entry 
into Rome on Easter day, 1355, was crown- 
ed, and under pretence of going out to 
hunt, left the city on the same day and 
hastened out of the country. The Romans, 
not knowing the cause, were not a little as- 
tonished at his abrupt departure, and Pe- 
trarca, the celebrated poet, who by his an- 
imated letters had called upon him to reas- 
sume the ancient glorious imperial sway, 
now wrote to him : " What would his an- 
cestors, the ancient German emperors, have 
said, if they had met him on the Alps re 
treating so ignobly V 

Towards the close of his life, his great 
fondness for France induced him to visit 
that country once more ; and, immediately 
after his return to Germany, he died in the 
year 1378. 

Charles IV. had already induced the 
princes to nominate as emperor after his 
death his son Wenceslas. But actuated in 
like manner, as his father had been, by 
that egotism and avarice, which ever aim- 
ed at his own interest, the son, although 
naturally endowed with good qualities, but 
without energy, and wholly given up to 
sensual gratification, especially to drinking 
and the chase, achieved nothing important 
either for Germany or even for his own he- 
reditary lands. 

The times were, at this moment, in a 
state of dreadful anarchy. The imperial 
government had lost all its dignity. Reli- 
gion was at its lowest ebb, and Christen- 
dom was divided into parties ; instead of 
one, there were two popes, one at Rome, 
the other at Avignon ; both thundered forth 



THE SWISS AND OTHER CONFEDERATIONS. 



219 



against each other their bans of excommu- 
nication ; and in their wrath, each anathe- 
matized whole communities and countries 
that happened to adhere to his opponent. 
Long and vainly did the most upright and 
judicious men of the day raise their voices 
against the destructive vices of their time, 
which were spreading far and wide, and 
all urged a general assembly of the Chris- 
tian council ; but Wenceslas, whose busi- 
ness it was as emperor to convoke such an 
assembly, had neither the will nor energy 
of mind sufficient to enforce it. 

Under his reign there arose throughout 
Germany an increasing number of confed- 
erations among individual members of the 
empire for mutual protection ; which was a 
proof of the prostration of the supreme pow- 
er, and served still more to weaken and 
destroy it. The most powerful of these 
associations was that of Swabia, which con- 
sisted of thirty-four, and afterwards, even 
of forty-one cities, including likewise several 
princes. On the other hand, various simi- 
lar societies, formed of the nobles, were 
not less flourishing, when, as a matter of 
course, contests and battles upon a large as 
well as small scale were the order of the 
day. The Swabian towns followed the ex- 
ample of the Swiss confederacy, which be- 
came more and more extensive, including 
even in its alliance several of the chief 
towns of Switzerland, Berne, Zurich, So- 
leure, and Zug, and already adopted the 
name of confederates. Thence, as in times 
of discord and hatred, no class keeps within 
the bounds of moderation, or adheres to jus- 
tice, it is to be presumed that the com- 
plaints made by the princes and nobility, 
viz. that the towns had unlawfully de- 
prived them of the services of such of their 
people as were bound to serve them, by 
affording them protection and granting them 
the privileges of citizens, were in many 
cases reasonable and well-founded. In 
consequence, therefore, of these grievances, 
a new war broke out between the nobility 
of Austria and the Swiss. 

Duke Leopold of Austria, in heroism and 
arrogance equal to the Leopold who fought 
at Morgarten, was incensed against the 
Swiss, because in their alliance they had 
included several towns and villages which 
were subject to him, as for instance : Entli- 
buch, Sempach, Meyenberg, and Reichen- 
see. There was certainly good foundation 
for complaint, but Austria likewise was not 



free from blame ; for these places had been 
severely oppressed by its avaricious and 
inhuman agents; while the duke, contrary 
to the stipulations made, had imposed taxes 
on the frontiers of the Swiss, which checked 
their commercial intercourse. Duke Leo- 
pold vowed he would chastise the whole of 
the inhabitants, the originators and promo- 
ters of, as he styled it, unrighteous and un- 
lawful warfare, and swore to destroy their 
offensive alliance. The hatred towards the 
free peasantry and citizens became so gener- 
ally violent among the nobility, that within 
a few days no less than one hundred and 
sixty-seven of the nobles, both spiritual and 
secular, joined in denunciations of war, 
breathing utter destruction against the con- 
federates. The letters of war were brought 
to the assembled confederacy by twenty 
distinct expresses, that their terror might be 
perpetually renewed. On the evening of 
the day of St. John the Baptist, a messenger 
from the court of Wurtemberg arrived with 
fifteen declarations of war ; these letters 
were scarcely read when the messenger of 
John Ulric of Pfirt, and of eight other no- 
bles arrived with letters to the same pur- 
pose, and he had scarcely finished when 
the letters of the lords of Thurn and of all 
the nobles of Schaffhausen came to hand. 
Finally, on the following day eight more 
messengers arrived with forty-three such 
declarations of war. 

The confederates had no other aid to look 
or hope for but that of their own faithful 
union and persevering courage ; undismay- 
ed, however, they awaited the commence- 
ment of the contest with indescribable impa- 
tience. The cry of war and the din of hos- 
tile preparation resounded throughout the 
country, and already four days previously 
all the population capable of bearing arms 
were equipped and ready. The term of 
the armistice having expired, the war be- 
tween the, federal peasantry and their nobles 
now burst forth, and within a week or two 
many a strong castle — so long the terror of 
the frontiers — was levelled and razed to 
the ground by the brave confederates. 

Duke Leopold now, with a numerous 
force, including many distinguished knights 
and auxiliaries from all his states, marched 
from Baden through Aargau by Sursee for 
Sempach, in order to punish, as he said, 
with the rod of iron its citizens for their 
inflexible adherence to the confederates. 
But on his arrival there he found the con- 



220 



ARNOLD OF WINKELRIED— HEROISM AND SELF-DEVOTION 



federates already collected on the heights, 
prepared and burning with impatience to 
receive him. Unwilling to await the arri- 
val of his foot-soldiers, and afraid lest the 
cavalry might be thrown into confusion in a 
mountain engagement, he commanded all 
the nobles, knights, and the entire body of 
horsemen to dismount to the number of 
several thousands, and joining their ranks 
as closely as possible, like an impenetrable 
wall of iron, he ordered them to rush for- 
ward and charge the confederates spear in 
hand. When the baron of Hasenburg, a 
veteran warrior, perceived this order of bat- 
tle, and contrasted it with the position com- 
manded by the Swiss, he at once tried to 
dissuade the proud duke and his nobles from 
adopting this plan of attack, adding, as he 
cautioned them, that pride never served any 
good purpose, " that they had better wait 
until the infantry marched up." They, 
however, only derided him, and cried aloud, 
" Der Hasenburg hat ein Hasenherz !"* 
(Literally, " Hasenburg has a hare's- 
heart.") Some of his nobles having repre- 
sented to the duke how necessary it was 
that he should restrain his ardor, while they 
tried to persuade him to keep in the rear of 
the army, he only smiled a reply ; but when 
they continued to urge him to adopt their 
suggestions, he exclaimed impatiently : 
" What ! shall Leopold be a mere looker-on 
and calmly behold his knights die around 
him in his own cause ? Never ! here on 
my native soil with you, I will conquer or 
perish for my people !" Saying which, he 
placed himself at the head of his troops. 

As long as the enemy remained on horse- 
back, it appeared too dangerous to the con- 
federates to descend and stand the charge 
of such a body of cavalry on level ground ; 
but when they beheld them quit their sad- 
dles, and form in ranks as foot-soldiers, the 
mountaineers forthwith abandoned their 
elevated position, and marched down into 
the plain below. Their numbers were : 
400 men from Lucerne, 900 from the 
Waldstadten, and about 100 from Glaris, 
Zug, Entlibuch, and Rotenburg. Some 
were armed with short weapons, others 
carried halberds, with which their forefa- 
thers had fought in the pass at Morgarten ; 
and some again, instead of a shield, had 

* A play upon the baron's name, Hasenburg, hare's- 
stronghold, literally interpreted ; Hase, hare ; Burg, fort, 
or stronghold ; and Herz, heart. Hasenherz, hare's- 
heart, or heart of a hare. 



only a small board bound to their left 
arm. 

This small, but firm and united body of 
brave men, now fell upon their knees and 
prayed to God, according to their custom, 
while the nobles on the opposite side buck- 
led on their helmets, and the duke then 
created several knights. It was then the 
season of harvest, when the sun shone with 
full power, and the day was extremely 
sultry. The confederates now precipitated 
themselves with great impetuosity upon the 
impregnable phalanx of shields ; but not a 
man yielded to the shock. The Swiss fell 
one after another ; and the company of Lu- 
cerners, especially, fought with impatient 
and enthusiastic rage, seeking to make a 
road between the forest of spears, but in 
vain. Numbers lay bleeding around, and 
their force began to waver. The enemy 
then moved his extended body of men round 
in the form of a half-moon, thinking to en- 
circle the few courageous Swiss. But the 
scene of this dreadful moment of approach- 
ing destruction to the confederates was un- 
expectedly changed, by a brave knight, 
Arnold of Winkelried, in Unterwald, who 
suddenly, in a voice of thunder, exclaimed 
to his comrades : " I will open a passage 
to freedom, faithful and beloved confede- 
rates ! Protect only my wife and chil- 
dren !" And with these words, rushing 
from his ranks he threw himself upon the 
enemy, and seized with both arms as many 
of the enemy's spears as he was able, bu- 
ried them in his body, and sank dead to the 
ground, while the confederates rushed for- 
ward through the breach, over the body of 
their heroic and self-devoted compatriot. 
The Austrians gave way ; and, in endeav- 
oring to stop the breach, became, in their 
confusion, so crowded, that many of them 
died in their armor, unwounded, but suffo- 
cated and overwhelmed with heat and ter- 
ror. Meantime, the chief banner of Aus- 
tria was sinking for the third time to the 
ground, when Ulric, a knight of Aarburg, 
seized it, bore it aloft, and defended it, un- 
til, after a desperate struggle, he was mor- 
tally wounded, crying out with his last 
breath : " Save Austria, rescue !" At this 
moment, Duke Leopold, pushing through 
the crowd, received the banner from his 
dying hand ; it once again appeared aloft, 
covered with blood, waving in the hand of 
the duke. But he was now surrounded by 
the Swiss, who pressing close upon him, he 



THE SWISS TRIUMPHANT— WENCESLAS DEPOSED. 



221 



exclaimed, as he saw all his brave warriors 
falling around him : " Since, then, so many 
nobles and knights have ended their days 
in my cause, thus let me also honorably 
follow them !" and, vanishing from the 
sight of his few remaining adherents, he 
plunged, in the madness of grief and de- 
spair, amidst the hostile ranks, seeking his 
death. In the pressure of the crowd he 
fell to the earth ; and while he was strug- 
gling in his heavy armor to raise himself 
upon his feet, he was discovered by a citi- 
zen of Schwyz, to whom Leopold, quite 
helpless, called out, " I am the prince of 
Austria !" The man, however, either did 
not hear or believe him, or, perhaps, think- 
ing that, in war, all distinctions cease, forth- 
with killed him. The body of the duke 
was found by a knight, Martin Malterer, 
who bore the banner of Freiburg in Breis- 
gau ; he stood petrified, and the banner fell 
from his hand. He threw himself upon 
the body of the prince, in order that it 
might not be trampled upon by friends and 
enemies, and in this situation he awaited 
and received his own death. 

The Austrian troops, in a state of utter 
dismay and terror, now gave the signal for 
retreat, and all the cavaliers flew to regain 
their horses. But they were too late ; their 
attendants had already mounted them, and 
saved themselves by flight. All therefore 
that remained for them now, oppressed with 
their ponderous armor, rendered still more 
intolerable by the scorching rays of the 
sun, and exhausted with thirst and fatigue, 
was to avenge their prince, and sell their 
lives at as dear a rate as possible. Thus, 
there perished altogether six hundred and 
fifty-six counts, barons, and knights, to- 
gether with thousands of their vassals. 

Such was the issue of the great battle of 
Sempach, fought on the 9th of July, 1386 ; 
by this victory, and another at N'afels, 
the confederates of Switzerland so weak- 
ened the power of Austria, that in the year 
1389, by the mediation of the imperial 
cities on the Lake of Constance, a seven 
years' peace was agreed to, by which 
means the Swiss preserved all they had 
acquired, while Austria retained only its 
chief possessions in Aargau and Thurgau. 

In the cities of Germany the passion for 
war was again awakened by the successes 
of the Swiss. The ancient hostility between 
the nobles and citizens was resumed, par- 
ticularly in Swabia, on the Rhine, and in 



the Wetteraw. But these cities did not 
command the favorable passes of the moun- 
tains, neither were the citizens equal to the 
peasants of Switzerland. They were beat- 
en in several contests, among others by 
Count Eberhard of Wurtemberg, between 
Weil and Doffingen, also by the Count 
Palatine Rupert, near Worms. In 1389 
tranquillity was in some degree restored by 
the peace proclaimed at Eger. This was 
a sad period of disaster for Bavaria, Swa- 
bia, Franconia, and the whole of the Upper 
Rhine. It is related in the Chronicle of 
Konigshoven, that more persons were de- 
stroyed at that time than had been for seve- 
ral centuries before. Most of the country 
people were obliged to remain throughout 
the winter in the fortresses and cities. In 
many parts not a single village or house 
was to be found within ten miles of the 
cities and strong castles : so much desola- 
tion had been produced by fire and sword. 

The emperor Wenceslas had not suffi- 
cient energy and authority to settle, by the 
imperial decision, the existing differences 
between the nobility and the cities ; be- 
sides which he came but seldom to Ger- 
many, and after the year 1391, he only 
visited it at the end of six years. The Bo- 
hemians, who were likewise dissatisfied 
with him, owing to the cruel acts he had 
committed at various times, which together 
with his other infirmities, made him only 
the more hated and despised, imprisoned 
him in the castle of Prague, where he re- 
mained until he was liberated by his 
younger brother John. This was an addi- 
tional cause of his downfall in Germany, 
and at length, in the year 1400, the princes 
proceeded to depose him. The charges 
against him were : " that the holy Roman 
empire, the holy church, and all Christen- 
dom, instead of finding in him comfort, 
protection, and succor, had, on the contra- 
ry, been rent asunder, abused and shame- 
fully abandoned by him ; that all this had 
been repeatedly and fearlessly represented 
to him, but he had neither restored peace to 
the church, nor had he felt any concern at 
the many feuds and tumults of the empire, 
so that no one knew where to seek redress, 
protection, and security. Since, therefore, 
all remonstrances had failed, the princes 
could not do otherwise than conclude that 
he no longer cared for the welfare of the 
empire, and thence they, the princes, ne- 
cessarily forbade him henceforward to have 



222 



RUPERT— SIGISMUND I. — GRAND COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 



any share in the government of the Ger- 
manic nation, and accordingly they de- 
posed him, the said Emperor Wenceslas, 
as negligent and unworthy." On the fol- 
lowing day they elected Rupert of the 
palatinate, as emperor. 

In the succeeding year, Wenceslas, who 
still held possession of Bohemia, was again 
taken prisoner by his brother Sigismund, 
and confined for nineteen months at Vien- 
na. 

Rupert, an active and brave man, en- 
deavored to re-establish the imperial dig- 
nity ; but the existing state of disorder was 
already too great, and his government of 
too short a duration to allow him to gain 
this object. He was likewise unsuccess- 
ful in an expedition to Italy, and he died, 
without having effected any thing of im- 
portance, in 1410. 

The princes now elected Sigismund, the 
brother of Wenceslas, to fill the imperial 
throne, and in certain respects, this emper- 
or was the most distinguished of the house 
of Luxemburg. His appearance was ma- 
jestic and graceful. He was tall and well- 
formed, and his manly countenance, shaded 
by light brown ringlets, rendered him one 
of the handsomest princes of his day. He 
possessed a lively spirit and an acute mind, 
and being master of six languages, may be 
considered altogether as a monarch of su- 
perior intellectual acquirements. He had 
a degree of open honesty and true hearted- 
ness in his disposition, which won the 
hearts of all ; combined with a genuine 
love for all that was good and meritorious. 
Nevertheless, with all these good qualities 
and brilliant endowments, his resolution 
and power of action did not correspond in 
proportion. He was changeable and un- 
decided, and wholly incapable of realizing 
and maintaining the great designs he con- 
templated. Besides all this, however, he 
was a bad economist, always squandering 
away what he possessed, and consequently, 
perpetually in difficulties. Sigismund di- 
rected his first attention to the great schism 
existing in the church ; there being one 
pope in Italy, another in France, and a 
third in Spain, whence each pronounced 
the ban of excommunication against his 
opponent, and those who sided with him. 
Finally, in the year 1414, the celebrated 
council of the church was held at Con- 
stance, and perhaps there never was a 
council more numerous and brilliant. Be- 



sides the pope, there were present the 
patriarchs of Constantinople, Grado and 
Antioch, twenty-two cardinals, twenty 
archbishops, ninety- two bishops, one hun- 
dred and twenty-four abbots, one thousand 
eight hundred of the lower clergy, numer- 
ous doctors of science and masters of arts ; 
as likewise the graduates of the universi- 
ties of Paris, Orleans, Cologne, Vienna, 
and others ; about one thousand six hun- 
dred princes, nobles, counts, and knights, 
with their retinues ; so that altogether the 
number that attended this grand council 
exceeded 100,000. 

Of the three popes, the only one present 
was John XXIII., from Rome, who had 
convoked the assembly in the hope that his 
two opponents would be deposed, and he 
himself confirmed. The council, however, 
notwithstanding the opposition of the Ital- 
ians, determined at once to dispense with 
all three, that the evil might be struck at 
the root. It was agreed that not only 
bishops and abbots should have a vote, as 
had been hitherto the custom, but that like- 
wise doctors of divinity, as well as of the 
canon and civil law, together with the 
princes and their ambassadors, and lastly, 
all the priests present, should share in this 
privilege ; and that the votes should not be 
given individually, as formerly, but ac- 
cording to the nation ; so that each of the 
four principal nations — Germany, Eng- 
land, France, and Italy, should have each 
one vote ; (the Spaniards had not yet ar- 
rived.) For if the votes had been taken 
individually, the Italians, whose number 
was by far the most considerable, would 
have outvoted all the others. The Ger- 
mans, as is stated by a contemporary of 
that period, were distinguished on this im- 
portant occasion, for their determination, 
vehemence, and persevering remonstrances 
in support of their claims ; the English for 
their boldness and acuteness ; the French 
for their ostentation and self-importance ; 
and the Italians for their finesse, stratagem, 
and partiality. 

But the English and the Germans were 
united in their decision upon the deposi- 
tion of the popes, and the French soon af- 
terwards joined with them. John XXIII., 
being present, was the first to sign the ab- 
dication ; he tried to avoid it, but at length 
he yielded, and, kneeling before the altar, 
publicly read his consent to abdicate. The 
emperor Sigismund and all present were 



THE THREE POPES— DEPOSED BY THE COUNCIL 



223 



filled with joy ; the emperor even rose and 
kissed the feet of the pope, and thanked 
him in the name of the Christian world, 
for setting such a glorious example of self- 
control. But John had only yielded in ap- 
pearance; for he had already conferred 
with his friend, Duke Frederick of Aus- 
tria, and concerted with him the necessary 
measures for his flight. Accordingly, the 
duke made arrangements for a grand tour- 
nament, which took place on the 20th of 
March, 1415 ; and, while the attention of 
all present was directed to the festival, the 
pope hastened away, disguised as a postil- 
ion, to Schaffhausen, which still belonged 
to Austria. The duke followed him quickly 
afterwards ; and, during the night, several 
hundreds of Italian and Austrian prelates 
likewise arrived. The pope hoped to re- 
tain possession of his authority, even 
against the will of the council. But the 
assembled fathers of the church from Ger- 
many, England, and France, together with 
the emperor Sigismund himself, were too 
serious in their decision. The council, 
under the presidency of the emperor Sigis- 
mund, declared : " That its power being 
derived immediately from Christ, and being 
superior to the pope, its decrees, without the 
authority of the pope, should reunite and 
reform the church." The greatest severity 
was shown to all those who had taken their 
departure ; Duke Frederick was excom- 
municated by the council, and outlawed by 
the emperor ; and, finally, at his command, 
the imperial troops under Burgrave Fred- 
erick of Nuremberg, and the Swiss, seized 
the hereditary estates of the duke, and de- 
prived him of the chief portion of them. 
Aargau, and the ancient castle of Haps- 
burg, were conquered by the Bernese. 
About ten years after this, however, the 
emperor again received the duke into his 
favor, and returned to him such of the lands 
as were at the control of the empire ; the 
Swiss, however, never restored the terri- 
tories they had gained, but retained pos- 
session of Aargau and all the rest. 

The pope, who had been deprived of the 
protection of the emperor, was obliged to 
submit to the decrees of the council ; he 
was brought back from Freiburg in Breis- 
gau, whither he had fled, to the small town 
of Ratolfszell, near Constance, there to re- 
ceive his final sentence, as follows : " That 
as he had publicly and criminally availed 
himself of the privileges and estates of the 



Roman church, and as he had, moreover, 
brought down scandal upon Christianity by 
his immorality, he was thenceforth deposed 
from the papal chair." John submitted to 
his sentence, was kept in custody until the 
year 1419 at the castle of Heidelberg, and 
then at Mannheim, where he was liber- 
ated, and soon afterwards died as cardinal- 
bishop of Frascati. 

The second pope, Gregory XII., who 
was eighty-eight years of age, and whose 
seat was in France, immediately declared 
his readiness to resign his office, if the 
peace of the church required it ; and ac- 
cordingly he voluntarily resigned in that 
same year, 1415, and was made cardinal- 
bishop of Porto. 

But Benedict XIII. was not to be per- 
suaded ; his seat was in Spain. The em- 
peror Sigismund himself undertook, at the 
request of the council, a journey to Spain 
for the purpose of inducing the old man to 
yield ; but he failed. King Ferdinand of 
Aragon, however, who had hitherto ad- 
hered to him, withdrew his protection, and 
now the council without further ceremony 
deposed him. 

Thence was accomplished the grand and 
principal design of the ecclesiastical coun- 
cil, and thus terminated the ruinous schism 
of the church, which had lasted during 
forty years ; and they were now able to 
proceed to the election of a new pope. But 
the assembled fathers had another impor- 
tant object in view, viz., the reformation of 
the church itself. Complaints were made 
about many abuses which had crept in : 
the immorality of the clergy, simony, and 
especially the increasing pretensions of the 
papal chair, had now become excessive. 
These abuses the assembled heads of the 
church were anxious in the name of their 
several countries to sweep away, while, at 
the same time, they were ready to secure 
to the pope all due respect, obedience, and 
also many just revenues from all coun- 
tries. 

The Germans, and at their head the em- 
peror himself, were extremely anxious for 
a thorough reformation of the church. But 
the Italians, who derived the greatest 
benefit from the large sums of money 
which poured into Rome from the other 
countries, endeavored to frustrate their de- 
sign, and thought the best course they 
could adopt for that purpose would be to 
induce the council, in the first place, to 



224 



THE NEW POPE, MARTIN V. 



choose a pope who might afterwards, as he 
thought fit, undertake the reform of the 
church. The Germans, on the contrary, 
who perceived what was meant by this art- 
ful proposal, very justly required that the 
new pope should be chosen afterwards, 
and that the first condition of his election 
should be, that he would abide by and con- 
firm the new constitution of the church. 
Their reasons were perfectly just and 
rightly founded ; nevertheless, the Italians 
succeeded in winning over to their party 
the French and the Spaniards, who had in 
the mean time arrived, and as the English 
had received command from their king to 
support the cardinals, the Germans stood 
alone, and were of course at last obliged 
to yield. 

The new pope was accordingly elected ; 
he was by birth an Italian, Otho of Colon- 
na, and took the name Martin V. He was 
an extremely clever man, and understood 
how to evade most ingeniously almost all 
the regulations which the council had con- 
templated for the curtailment of the papal 
power. The other powers now awakened 
from their slumber, and the French, in 
particular, applied to the emperor Sigis- 
mund to take up the matter. But he an- 
swered them : " When we Germans de- 
sired the reformation to take place before 
the pope was elected, you Frenchmen 
were not satisfied, but were determined 
first to have a pope. Now you have one, 
as we have ; go and require from him your 
reformation of the church." 

The pope, who knew well that in order 
to be conquered, enemies must be first di- 
vided among themselves, began to nego- 
tiate with the nations separately, since 
each nation had made its own proposals for 
the reformation, and hence arose the par- 
ticular concordates. 

Thus the great object which the council 
had in view, viz., to effect the reformation 
of the entire constitution and administra- 
tion of the church and its clergy, was in a 
great measure defeated. How much more 
happy would have been the results if the 
desired reform could have been effected ! 
People consoled themselves with the ex- 
pectation that henceforth every ten years 
general councils would be held ; but what 
is not done at the right time remains for- 
ever undone — the projected decennial coun- 
cils were never held. 

When. Pope Martin had thus obtained all 



his wishes, he, on the 22d of April, 1418, 
closed the council, and on the 16th of May, 
clothed in a golden papal robe, with a 
white mitre, rode out of the city upon a 
horse covered with scarlet, under a splen- 
did canopy. Sigismund went before, lead- 
ing the horse by the bridle, and thre^ 
princes, who walked on either side of and 
behind the horse, bore its covering. Such 
was the termination of the great Council of 
Constance, which had continued nearly 
three years and a half. 

This council also judged in another 
matter, and by its decision produced the 
most important results. 

The emperor Charles IV. had founded 
the University of Prague, and it was soon 
attended by students from all the neighbor- 
ing countries. But Charles had granted 
to the Germans especially many and great 
privileges there, with which preference the 
Bohemians became dissatisfied, and thence 
King Wenceslas was induced, in the year 
1409, (he being then still king of Bohemia,) 
to deprive the Germans of those privileges. 
Exasperated at this, thousands of foreign 
students with their teachers abandoned 
Prague, and established or enlarged other 
high schools; among others Leipzig, In- 
golstadt, and Cracow. John Huss, the 
most zealous and learned of the Bohemian 
professors, was at this time rector of the 
university. He soon embraced and pro- 
mulgated principles at variance with those 
hitherto held, being those maintained by 
the celebrated divine, John WyclifFe, who 
lived about thirty years before Huss. He 
preached against the corrupt state of the 
morals of the clergy, and maintained that 
it was contrary to scripture that they should 
have temporal riches ; he also rejected all 
monastic orders, and in his zeal condemn- 
ed them severely. These and similar doc- 
trines were propounded by Huss ; he also 
resolutely opposed indulgences, and being 
accordingly charged with heresy, he was 
cited to appear before the judicial chair of 
the pope at Rome. He did not obey the 
summons, and was excommunicated. But 
he had already gained a large party of ad- 
herents, even the king, Wenceslas himself, 
had for a time taken him under his protec- 
tion ; and in Prague, as in other parts of 
Bohemia, great contention arose, ending in 
scenes of bloodshed ; among others who 
took a prominent share therein was Jerome, 
a professor of theology in Prague, and a 



JOHN HUSS AT CONSTANCE— THE HUSSITE WARS. 



225 



strong adherent and associate of Huss. 
Huss was now summoned before the coun- 
cil at Constance, and this time he obeyed 
the call : the emperor Sigismund having, 
at the request of his brother Wenceslas, 
furnished him with a safe conduct. But 
the emperor did not act in this case as 
Charles V. in that of Luther at Worms 
did, a century later ; on the contrary, he 
suffered himself to be persuaded that there 
was no necessity for him to keep his impe- 
rial word, being told that his word must not 
prejudice the interests of the Catholic faith, 
and interrupt the spiritual judge in the 
performance of his functions; also that he 
who opposed that faith forfeited every claim 
to protection. Sigismund accordingly suf- 
fered Huss to be arrested, and promised 
not to meddle with the affair at all. 

They required Huss to recant all his 
doctrines on pain of being condemned to 
die at the stake as a heretic. He chose 
the latter, and was, on the 6th of July, 
1415, like his friend Jerome of Prague, 
eleven months afterwards, publicly burnt 
at Constance. They both died with a for- 
titude admired even by their enemies. 
Their ashes were cast into the Rhine, in 
order that they might not serve as an ob- 
ject of veneration for the Bohemians. 

The news of these proceedings created 
great excitement and tumult in Prague, for 
the Bohemians attributed the execution of 
Huss to the hatred of the Germans, and 
became only the more attached to his prin- 
ciples. They even went still farther ; 
fresh teachers published new doctrines to 
those advanced by Huss, and a certain 
Jacob of Miess, in particular, who main- 
tained that the sacrament must be distrib- 
uted in both forms, obtained many follow- 
ers. The partisans of this new doctrine 
met together upon a mountain, which was 
afterwards called Mount Tabor, and 
whence they assumed the name of Tabor- 
ites. King Wenceslas did not venture to 
interfere with these assemblies, for their 
members sometimes amounted to as many 
as 40,000 ; and, as usually happens in 
similar cases, their zeal increased in pro- 
portion to their growing numbers, and ac- 
cording to the violence with which they 
were condemned as heretics by the pope 
and church. Shortly afterwards they went, 
in solemn procession through Prague, with 
the chalice carried before them, and Wen- 
ceslas, who thought himself no longer safe, 
29 



abandoned the city, and died almost imme- 
diately after he had left, in 1419. 

On one occasion, when the Hussites 
were marching through Prague, and were 
just passing the senate-house, some one 
having thrown a stone thence which struck 
one of their priests, they furiously stormed 
the house, and threw out of the window 
thirteen of the senators, who were received 
by the enraged mob on their pikes, and 
murdered : such was the sanguinary sig- 
nal of the revolt. Under the guidance of 
Ziska, who had acted as leader in the 
storming of the senate-house, the multitude 
roamed about the country, pillaging and 
destroying the monasteries, torturing the 
priests, and laying waste the possessions of 
the Catholics. 

Sigismund, who, after the death of Wen- 
ceslas, had become the legitimate king of 
Bohemia, demanded the assistance of the 
German empire against the Hussites, and 
collected a considerable army. He enter- 
ed Bohemia in 1420, and besieged Prague ; 
Ziska, however, repelled the attack brave- 
ly, and the king was obliged to conclude 
an armistice and quit the country. In 
1427, the German princes made another 
attack with four bodies of troops ; but their 
dread of the Hussites — rendered by their 
religious enthusiasm almost unconquerable 
— had become so great, that the soldiers 
no sooner saw them than they fell into 
confusion and retreated. Another army, 
which was estimated at 100,000 men, and 
advanced upon them in 1431, met with 
the same fate ; it was so completely beaten 
at Riesenberg, that 10,000 men were killed 
upon the spot, all the artillery and baggage 
lost, and Cardinal Julian himself with diffi- 
culty saved his life ; being minus his car- 
dinal's hat, his insignia, and the papal bull 
against the Hussites. The Hussites, on 
the other hand, made attacks upon Meis- 
sen, Saxony, Brandenburg, Franconia, Ba- 
varia, and Austria, and their career of 
desolation became more and more fearful. 
One of the dogmas held by the Taborites 
was, viz. : " That when all the cities of 
the earth should be burnt down and redu- 
ced to the number of five, then would come 
the new kingdom of the Lord ; therefore, 
it was now the time of vengeance, and God 
was a God of wrath." 

At length, however, affairs changed for 
the better. Great endeavors were used to 
bring about an accommodation between the 



226 



DEATH OF SIGISMUND I.— ALBERT II. OF AUSTRIA. 



church and the Hussites, and this was at 
length effected at a council held at Basle. 
The Hussites were allowed to partake of 
the sacrament in both kinds of form, yet 
on condition that the priests should teach 
the people that Christ was perfect in each. 

The greater part of the Bohemian people 
cheerfully entered into this arrangement ; 
but two parties, more exalted and fanatic, 
namely, the Taborites and the Waisen, 
under the direction of Procopius the Great 
and Procopius the Little, would hear noth- 
ing of moderation or of any agreement. It 
came eventually to open war between them 
and the moderate ones, when the latter 
gained a. great victory, in which the two 
leaders of the former perished, and the 
emperor Sigismund succeeded at length in 
obtaining his recognition as king of Bo- 
hemia ; an event, however, accomplished 
only a few months before his death, which 
took place in 1437, he being sixty-nine 
years of age : having reigned fifty-one 
years as king of Hungary, and twenty- 
eight years as emperor of Germany. 

This emperor, notwithstanding his nu- 
merous and wealthy possessions, was often 
in the greatest pecuniary embarrassment, 
produced chiefly by his frequent journeys, 
which were enormously expensive. On 
this account he mortgaged, in 1417, the 
territory of Brandenburg, (which, under 
Charles IV., had fallen to the house of 
Luxemburg,) together with the elective 
franchise and the office of archchamber- 
lain, connected therewith, to the burgrave 
of Nuremberg, Frederick of Hohenzollern, 
for 400,000 gold florins, which sum the 
latter had lent to him at various times. 
■On the 8th of April, 1517, the ceremony 
of enfeoffment was performed at Con- 
stance ; by which the house of Hohenzol- 
lern became possessed of that country, and 
included among the great electorates. By 
•similar means, Frederick the Warlike, 
margrave of Meissen and landgrave of 
Thuringia, obtained from the emperor Si- 
gismund, for 100,000 marks, the Saxon 
electoral dignity, and the circle of Witten- 
berg, after that branch of the house of An- 
halt, which had possessed Saxony, Witten- 
berg, and the electoral crown, had become 
extinct. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA. 

Albert II., 1438-1439— His Death— Frederick III., 1440 
-1493— The Council of Basle, 1448— ^Eneas Sylvius— 
The Turks— Belgrade— Defeat of the Turks— The 
Diets— The Emperor besieged in Vienna— His Reso- 
lution—His Brother, Duke Albert— The Count Pala- 
tine of the Rhine— His Hostility — Defeats the Imperi- 
alists—Albert of Brandenburg, the Achilles of Ger- 
many — Feuds of the Nobles and Cities — Nuremberg 
— The Nobles Defeated — Austria and Burgundy — 
Charles the Rash — His Ambition — Attacks the Swiss 
—Defeated at Murten— The Battle of Nancy— His 
Death— Mary of Burgundy— Marries Maximilian of 
Austria — Her Death — The Emperor Frederick a Fu- 
gitive — His Return — Maximilian, Roman King — The 
Laws — Their Improvement — Frederick's Obstinacy 
and Refusal— Maximilian Appealed to— The Swa- 
bian League— Death of Frederick III., 1493— Prussia 
—The Teutonic Knights— Their Decline and Fall- 
Prussia under Polish Sway, 1466. 

After the death of Sigismund, the 
princes, in 1438, elected an emperor from 
the house of Austria, which, with scarcely 
any intermission, has ever since occupied 
the ancient throne of Germany. Albert II. 
of Austria, who, as son-in-law of the late 
emperor Sigismund, had become at the 
same time king of Hungary and Bohemia, 
was a well-meaning, distinguished prince, 
and would, without doubt, have proved of 
great benefit to the empire ; but he died 
already in the second year of his reign, 
after his return from an expedition against 
the Turks. Perhaps there never was a sov- 
ereign so lamented by high and low, rich 
and poor, as was Albert II. 

In the year 1431, during the reign of 
Sigismund, a new council was assembled at 
Basle, in order to carry on the work of re- 
forming the church as already commenced 
at Constance. 

But this council soon became engaged in 
many perplexing controversies with Pope 
Eugene IV., whom they even deposed, and 
instead of whom they appointed Duke Fe- 
lix of Savoy, under the title of pope Felix 
V. The principle that a general ecclesi- 
astical convocation was above the pope, and 
was the supreme legislative authority in the 
church, was most solemnly maintained at 
Basle, as it had before been at Constance. 
The Germans, for a time, took no part in 
the dispute ; at length, however, under the 
emperor Albert II., they formally adopted 
the chief decrees of the council of Basle, at 
a diet held at Mentz in the year 1439. 
From the imperial states there were pre- 
sent, the three spiritual electors in person, 
with the ambassadors from the emperor and 
the remaining states ; besides these c&me 



FREDERICK III.— THE COUNCIL OF BASLE— THE TURKS. 



227 



ambassadors from the kings of France, 
Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, to advise 
with the Germans upon the constitution of 
the church. The patriarch of Aquileja 
appeared as representative of the council. 

Among the resolutions then adopted were 
such as materially circumscribed the ex- 
isting privileges of the pope. Instead of 
the enormous sums of money which were 
annually paid by all the higher clergy to 
Rome,* the pope was to receive a fixed in- 
come, (provisio ;) and the German princes 
contributed, as voluntary aid, only the 
eighth part of that which had hitherto been 
paid into the papal treasury on a vacan- 
cy occurring among the clergy. In like 
manner, the pope in future was not to make 
any clerical appointments beyond his own 
territory, while the free elections were re- 
stored to the chapters. Finally, the coun- 
cil made regulations for the election of the 
pope, fixed the number of cardinals, and 
determined the qualifications necessary. 
The principle laid down was, that propor- 
tionally from every country in relation 
with Rome, the pope should be surrounded 
by an equal number of cardinals, who, be- 
ing especially acquainted with the peculi- 
arities of each nation, would be able to place 
the point in debate in its proper light, " in 
order that," as the council expresses it, 
" the cardinals may, in fact, be, what their 
name imports, the hinges (cardines) upon 
which the doors of the church may rest and 
move." At that time a great obstacle was 
already presented against the establishment 
of peace between the people and the church, 
inasmuch as the cardinals, whose office it 
was to act as counsellors of the pope in 
the direction of the Christian republic, were 
in the majority chosen from among the 
Italians. 

These and other decisions, calculated to 
give important privileges and considerable 
independence to the German church, were, 
in a great measure, annulled by Albert's 
cousin and successor, Duke Frederick of 
Austria, who was elected by the princes 
after him in the year 1440, as Frederick 
HI;, and by the Vienna Concordate (for- 
merly falsely called the Aschaffenburg 
Concordate) with Pope Nicholas V., in the 
year 1448 ; whence the council of Basle 

* The emperor Maximilian I. maintained, even in 
subsequent times, that the pope drew from the German 
empire an income exceeding a hundred-fold that re- 
ceived by the emperor himself. 



broke up in the same year, after it had been 
assembled seventeen years, without having 
accomplished its original object. The anti- 
pope, Felix V., voluntarily abdicated his 
office. The man who was chiefly instru- 
mental in giving this turn to the affairs of the 
church, was the former secretary of the em- 
peror Frederick, Mne&s Sylvius, of the house 
of Piccolomini, in Sienna, one of the most 
distinguished men of his day. He had him- 
self been formerly secretary of the council 
of Basle, and the most zealous vindicator 
of the rights of the councils ; but if, when 
his ambition was flattered by the prospect 
of a more splendid career in attaching him- 
self to the papal chair, he asserted its dig- 
nity against the danger which threatened it, 
he showed himself well able to induce his 
emperor and several German princes to fa- 
vor the interests of the pope. He himself 
afterwards became Pope Pius II., but soon 
after died in 1462. 

Frederick, the emperor, was a prince who 
meant well, but, at the same time, was ot 
too quiet and easy a nature ; his long reign 
presents but little that was calculated to 
distinguish Germany or add to its renown. 
From the east the empire was endangered 
by the approach of an enemy — the Turks, 
against whom no precautionary measures 
were adopted. They, on the 29th of May, 
1453, conquered Constantinople, and put an 
end to the Grecian dominion, after it had 
maintained its sway nearly 1000 years 
longer than that of the Romans had endured 
in the west. They then made their way 
towards the Danube, and very nearly suc- 
ceeded also in taking Hungary. Frederick, 
as well as the pope, tried to raise a crusade 
against them, but these enthusiastic times 
had gone by, and none would now take the 
cross. 

That any measures were at all taken 
against the enemies of the Christian name, 
was to be attributed solely to the pope, 
Calixtus III., who fitted out, at his own 
expense, a fleet of 16 galiots, and for that 
purpose did not even spare the riches of 
his treasury ; while his legate, John Cap- 
istran, a man who, in appearance and 
glowing eloquence, resembled Peter the 
Hermit, the preacher of the first crusade, 
succeeded in inspiring with holy zeal for 
the common cause of Christendom, at least 
some thousands of poor citizens, peasants, 
and monks, and appeared with them in 
1456, at that most critical moment, when 



228 



THE CRUSADE— THE TURKS OVERTHROWN — HUNGARIA. 



the sultan Mahomet II., with 160,000 
men, was besieging the fortress of Belgrade. 
This fortress, once taken by the enemy, 
Hungary must be lost, and the passage to 
Vienna opened for him, as the young king, 
Wladislas of Hungary, as well as the 
emperor Frederick and the German prin- 
ces, were not prepared for war, and instead 
of acting were deliberating. Then it was 
that Capistran, with his forces very in- 
adequately provided with pikes, flails, and 
hay forks, which he had brought in boats, 
attacked the Turkish fleet on the Danube, 
which surrounded Belgrade, and made his 
way into the city. The Hungarian com- 
mander-in-chief, John Hunnyades Cor- 
vinus, had also collected some forces, and 
with the crusaders repelled the furious 
attacks of the Turks. However, he did 
not venture to touch their well-intrenched 
camp, and even forbade every attack upon 
it under pain of death ; but the ardent 
zeal of the crusaders was not to be re- 
strained, and Capistran, when he saw this, 
placed himself at their head with a staff 
in one hand and a crucifix in the other, 
and stormed three Turkish intrenchments 
one after the other, while Hunnyades now 
coming up with the cavalry, fell upon the 
rear of the enemy who was completely put 
to rout. Their intrenchments were after 
a severe contest taken, together with all 
their artillery and an immense booty, and 
Mahomet being wounded, fled with such of 
his army as remained. Upwards of 20,000 
Turks fell in the battle, and the sultan's 
power was for many years crippled. 

This deliverance Christendom owed to 
the enthusiastic courage and the patriotic 
valor of a monk and a Hungarian noble- 
man, while the kings and princes remained 
inactive or engaged in petty negotiations. 
If this victory had been followed up by the 
union of vigorous force, the Turkish power 
might, perhaps, have been wholly de- 
stroyed ; but nothing was done, and even 
the two heroes who might have achieved 
something more, died in the same year, 
1456, exhausted by their super-human 
exertions. 

The Hungarians, on the death of the 
son of the emperor Albert II., Wladislas 
Posthumus, in the year 1457, without leav- 
ing an heir to the throne, chose Matthias, 
the son of John Corvinus, as king, being 
resolved not to elect one from among the 
Austrian princes. The Bohemians like- 



wise selected a private nobleman for their 
king, George Padriabrad, and thus the 
Austrian house found itself for a time 
rejected from holding possession of either 
of these countries. " Singular is the 
fact," says ./Eneas Sylvius in his Bohe- 
mian history, " that both those kingdoms 
should have become transferred from the 
most noble princely houses to those of com- 
mon noblemen !" 

In Germany, meantime, there existed 
numberless contests and feuds, each party- 
considered only his own personal quarrels, 
or pursued his own private interest, and 
when a diet was resolved upon and assem- 
bled for determining an expedition against 
the Turks, they were for some months dis- 
cussing how much money and how many 
troops each was to contribute, ultimately 
postponing the whole affair until the next 
year. Generally, at the German diets, 
little was done of any importance. The 
emperor and princes were seldom person- 
ally present, but sent their ambassadors, 
whose chief concern was not to forego any 
thing for the interests of their masters. 
Frequently many of those were sent who 
were well versed in the Roman law, which 
was now very extensively studied ; these 
came with their specious speeches, and 
already 7 prepared with a hundred different 
reasons, by which to prove that too great 
a portion of the burden of the whole was 
laid upon the particular prince or im- 
perial city they represented. They were 
engaged in discussing who should contri- 
bute least towards the welfare of Ger- 
many ; and, therefore, nothing that was 
great or noble could be accomplished. 
Then began, also, the unhappy practice 
of no longer speaking intelligibly, briefly, 
and pithily ; but communicating by tedious 
writings and counter-statements. And 
when it was thought that an affair was at 
length settled, perhaps an ambassador 
would rise and say, as an excuse for not 
concluding the business, that he had no 
farther instructions, and thus, until his 
new instructions were received, a delay of 
many months might intervene. Thence it 
happened, that from that time, scarcely 
at any diet a single valid, conclusive reso 
lution was adopted ; they were always 
postponing the business in hand for the 
decision of a future assembly, and even 
then another final meeting was adjudged 
necessary. How different, and far better 



FREDERICK BESIEGED IN VIENNA— ALBERT OF BRANDENBURG. 229 



was it, when the princes in former times | 
were present in person, and when more 
was done in one hour's cordial conference 
than in after years in weeks and months. 
What, however, had operated much to 
change the form of the diets was, that in- 
stead of that equalized right enjoyed by 
those who formerly attended, there were 
now introduced three gradations of form : 
that of the electors, the princes, and the 
cities. By the Golden Bull, the first col- 
lege had acquired very important privi- i 
leges, and was wholly separated from that 
of the princes and cities ; while the latter, | 
for a long period, commanded only a vote 
in the council, but no co-determinating 
voice. 

The emperor could not give any weight 
to public measures ; scarcely could he 
maintain his dignity among his own sub- 
jects. The Austrian nobility were even 
bold enough to send challenges to their 
sovereign ; while the city of Vienna re- 
volted, and his brother Albert, taking 
pleasure in this disorder, was not backward j 
in adding to it. Things even went to such ; 
Era extremity, that, in 1462, the emperor 
Frederick, together with his consort and 
son, Maximilian, then four years of age, 
was besieged by his subjects in his own castle 
of Vienna. A plebeian burgher, named 
Holzer, had placed himself at the head of 
the insurgents, and was made burgomaster, 
while Duke Albert came to Vienna person- 
ally to superintend the siege of the castle, 
which was intrenched and bombarded. 

The emperor, on this occasion, showed 
himself firm and resolute ; he encouraged 
his small garrison of 400 men to make the 
bravest resistance, and called aloud from 
the walls, " This spot will I defend until it 
becomes my grave !" 

The German princes, however, could 
not witness with indifference such disgrace- 
ful treatment of their emperor, and they 
assembled to liberate him. George Padria- 
brad, king of Bohemia, was the first who 
hastened to the spot with assistance, set the 
emperor at liberty, and effected a reconcil- 
iation between him and his brother. The 
emperor, however, was obliged to resign 
to him, for eight years, Lower Austria and 
Vienna. Albert died in the following year, 
after he had inflicted the merited punish- 
Hient upon the burgomaster Holzer, who \ 
had endeavored to betray him to the empe- \ 
ror ; the traitor was quartered alive. 



In the Germanic empire, the voice of the 
emperor was as little heeded, as in his he- 
reditary lands. Frederick the Conqueror, 
count palatine of the Rhine, who, by suc- 
cess of arms, had enlarged the palatinate 
by one third, after Frederick had pronounced 
the ban of the empire upon him, was suf- 
fered to build at his castle at Heidelberg, a 
strong tower, which he called his " Defi- 
ance to the emperor." (Truiz Kaiser.) 
This very count palatine ventured publicly 
to take under his protection, Diether. arch- 
bishop of Mentz, the head of the party in 
Germany who sought to curtail the privi- 
leges of the pontiff, after Pope Pius II. had 
deposed and excommunicated him. The 
emperor Federick, on the contrary, wished 
to carry into effect the sentence of the pope, 
and committed to the Margrave Albert of 
Brandenburg, and Count Ulric of Wurtem- 
berg, as his generals, the direction of the 
imperial war against the count palatine and 
his confederates ; the two generals, how- 
ever, failed. The army of the Wurtem- 
bergian chief was totally routed by the 
count palatine, near the village of Secken- 
heim, and Ulric himself, with the margrave 
of Baden, taken prisoner ; and in the same 
year, the ally of the count palatine, "Duke 
Lewis of Bavaria, attacked Albert of Bran- 
denburg with equal success not far from 
Giengen, in Swabia, and captured the im- 
perial banner. The Archbishop Diether, 
however, subsequently submitted of his 
own accord to the sentence of the pope, 
and resigned the archbishopric into the 
hands of Adolphus of Nassau, who had 
been nominated by the pontiff. 

Another memorable feud during the reign 
of Frederick, was that of many princes 
and nobles, under the leadership of the 
aforementioned Margrave Albert of Bran- 
denburg, (who from his strength and prow- 
ess, was called the German Achilles,) 
against the city of Nuremberg in Franconia. 

Nuremberg was then one of the most 
flourishing and powerful cities of entire 
Germany ; the ancient animosity between 
the free citizens and knights broke out, in 
the year 1449, into a great war. Seventeen 
of the greatest princes of the empire, the 
electors of Brandenburg and Meniz, Wil- 
liam of Saxony, Otho of Bavaria, Albert 
of Austria, &c, declared war against the 
city. On the other hand, seventy-two im- 
perial towns took part with Nuremberg, and 
the Swiss also sent S90 men. This deso- 



230 CHARLES OF BURGUNDY— HIS CONFERENCE WITH FREDERICK. 



lating war — which especially affected the 
rural districts, wherein two hundred vil- 
lages were burnt to the ground — lasted 
eight years. Eight times were the nobility 
victorious ; but in March, 1456, the army 
of the margrave was totally beaten near 
Pillerent ; the victory being mainly gained 
by the Swiss ; and the margrave, who now 
saw that even princely power availed not 
against the strong walls and opulence of 
the cities, gladly made peace with Nurem- 
berg.* 

The feudal system raged under Frede- 
rick's reign to such an extent, that it was 
pursued even by the lower classes. Thus, 
in 1471, the shoeblacks in Leipsic sent a 
challenge to the university of that place ; 
and the bakers of the Count Palatine 
Lewis, and those of the margrave of Ba- 
den defied several imperial cities in Swabia. 

The most important transaction in the 
reign of Frederick, was the union which 
he formed with the house of Burgundy, and 
which laid the foundation for the greatness 
of Austria. 

Charles the Rash, duke of Burgundy, 
was one of the richest and most celebrated 
princes of his time. He governed the 
beautiful countries which are situated at 
the mouths of the rivers Rhine and Scheldt, 
and which are known by the common name 
of the Netherlands ; he also held dominion 
over the territory and dukedom of Bur- 
gundy. This prince might have rendered 
himself the most happy of all his royal 
contemporaries. But his proud, ambitious 
mind aimed at greater things, even the im- 
perial crown itself; he was glad, therefore, 
when the emperor Frederick III. proposed 
to give his own son, Maximilian, in mar- 
riage to his only daughter, Mary, who 
afterwards became the heiress of the beau- 
tiful lands of Burgundy. But when he 
perceived that the emperor did not intend to 
sacrifice to him the succession to the em- 
pire, he demanded of him, at least, the 
royal title ; preceding emperors having also 
made kings of the dukes of Bohemia, as 
feodal-princes of the empire. For the pur- 

* This battle is celebrated in a poem, called " The 
Battle of Nuremberg," written by Hans Rosenpliit, an 
heraldic painter of Nuremberg. The warlike, intrepid 
spirit of the free citizens is there vividly expressed, and 
the description of the princes taking to flight, does not 
want for point and ridicule. A Low-German poem of 
the time commemorates the celebrated battle of Soest, 
in 144-4, when Dietrich, the archbishop of Cologne, 
with 70,000 men, made an attack upon that city but 
was at last obliged to retreat in disgrace. 



pose of negotiating this matter, they agreed 
upon a conference at Treves, in the year 
1473. The rich duke appeared with more 
than imperial splendor, and Frederick, who, 
through the disordered state of his finances, 
was reduced almost to penury, met him in 
a very poor and mean condition. This 
striking contrast in their appearance was, 
no doubt, mortifying to the emperor ; and 
he, especially, was displeased with the 
proud, assuming behavior of the duke ; for 
so certain did the latter feel of obtaining 
the royal title, that he had actually brought 
with him the jewels for his coronation, and 
had made great preparations for the august 
festival. But how must he have been shock- 
ed, when the emperor suddenly, without 
having crowned, nay, without even having 
taken leave of him, took his departure from 
Treves, under the cool pretext that his 
presence was urgently required at Cologne, 
on account of the disagreement there ex- 
isting between the archbishop and his chap- 
ter. Full of indignation, and now by no 
means disposed for the projected marriage 
with the house of Austria, the duke 
likewise left Treves immediately after- 
wards. 

Nevertheless, this meeting was not 
attended without its important effects. 
Charles had, on this occasion, become 
much prepossessed in favor of the young, 
chivalrous son of the emperor ; and on 
his return he gave his daughter a descrip- 
tion of his merits, in the most glowing 
colors : her heart was so captivated, that 
without having even seen Maximilian, she, 
from this time, cherished a secret attach- 
ment for him, and soon afterwards, in a let- 
ter she sent direct to the young prince, she 
betrothed herself to him. 

The dispute between Archbishop Rupert 
of Cologne, and his chapter, had become 
so serious, that the latter now fixed its seat 
in the city of Neuss, and openly opposed 
him. The archbishop sought the assist- 
ance of Charles the Rash, and he, gladly 
embracing the opportunity, and no doubt 
already considering himself as prince of 
the Rhine, marched forth with an army of 
60,000 men, and encamped before Neuss. 
The city, however, defended itself with the 
greatest heroism and glory : eleven months 
did the duke remain before it, during which 
he made fifty-six vain assaults, and lost 
upwards of 15,000 men ; and, at last, 
when the emperor Frederick approached 



THE SWISS —BATTLE OF MURTEN — CHARLES'S DEFEAT AND DEATH. 231 



with an imperial army to succor the city, 
and Charles was unable to effect any thing 
by nine more assaults, which he made in 
one day, he was obliged to conclude a 
treaty through the means of the pope's 
legate, which, although unattended with 
any advantage, brought him nevertheless 
no disgrace. Neuss yielded to him, but 
only in appearance ; for he withdrew the 
same day he entered, and resigned it into 
the hands of the legate of the pope, who 
was to hold dominion over it until affairs 
were settled between the archbishop and 
the chapter. 

The restless duke soon afterwards at- 
tacked Rene, duke of Lorraine, whose 
country he wished to annex to his own. 
He conquered the chief city, Nancy, was 
there acknowledged, and wished now to 
direct his arms against the Swiss, so that 
his dominions might descend from the 
sources of the Rhine to its mouth. In 
vain did the Swiss represent to him that 
their entire country was not so valuable as 
the trappings of his horses ; regardless of 
their remonstrances, he invaded Switzer- 
land, and made so sure of a victory, that 
he ordered the garrison of Granson, which 
he had taken, to be suspended on the trees. 
The Swiss then advanced against him, and 
took heavy vengeance for this act ; for 
although his army was three times more 
numerous than their own, they totally de- 
feated it, and captured his entire camp, 
filled as it was with implements of war and 
immense treasures.* He fled from the 
field, accompanied by only five of his re- 
maining attendants. Enraged at this de- 
feat, he equipped a new army of 60,000, 

* In order to show the wealth of the proud duke, we 
will just specify some of the principal spoils made 'by 
the Swiss. In his tent, which on the outside was hung 
with armorial shields of gold and pearls, they found the 
golden throne upon which he sat on solemn occasions ; 
his ducal hat of yellow velvet, thickly studded with the 
most precious jewels and pearls ; the golden fleece, the 
order which his father had instituted ; the great seal 
of Burgundy, in gold, weighing a pound ; together 
with the golden chaplet of his father, having jewel 
drops, cabinets of relics, a valuable prayer-book, &c. 
The dining-room was well stored with golden and sil- 
ver goblets, dishes, and plates, besides four hundred 
travelling trunks, containing the most precious golden 
and silver embroidery, which the soldiers sold for a few 
pence. The gold was distributed in hats. The largest 
of the duke's jewels, equal in size to the half of a wal- 
nut, and the value of which he estimated at the price 
of an entire province, was picked up on the road by a j 
Swiss, and sold by him for a florin. Pope Julius IL 
purchased it afterwards of the citizens of Berne for 
20,000 ducats, and it yet shines as the chief jewel in the 
papal crown. A second jewel of the duke,' which was 
taken, is in the French crown, and a third is in the 
imperial treasury at Vienna 



and in the same year, 1476, he marched a 
second time against them. 

The armies met at Murten. Hans of 
Hallwyl, who led the confederates, ordered 
them, before the battle, to kneel down and 
offer up their prayer, as their fathers had 
been accustomed to do ; and while they 
were praying, the dense clouds which had 
hitherto overhung the sky with blackness, 
now parted, and the sun cast its bright 
genial beams on the suppliant multitude. 
This luminary appeared to them, at this 
awful hour, as a messenger from Heaven, 
and a sure pledge of victory ; and in this 
assurance, rendered more strong and in- 
trepid in the cause, they fell so bravely 
upon the enemy that he was put to the rout, 
and the field was covered with the bodies 
of 20,000 Burgundians, which were col- 
lected and deposited in the charnel-house 
of Murten, with the superscription, " This 
memorial has been left behind by the 
martial host of the mighty duke of Bur- 
gundy." 

In the following year, 1477, on the 5th 
of January, a cold winter's day, there was 
another sanguinary battle at Nancy, in 
which the warlike duke at last met with 
his death. 

The united armies of Lorraine and Swit- 
zerland completely defeated his troops ; 
and he himself, who, in the din of war, 
after fighting bravely and honorably for 
his house, had been struck down, was found, 
scarcely known, among the slain, late on 
the following day. 

His death inspired the crafty French 
king, Louis XL, with the hope of acquiring 
new and more glorious countries ; he em- 
ployed every means to gain for his eldest 
son, Mary, the heiress of Burgundy ; but 
the people of the Netherlands held in bitter 
dislike every thing French ; and when the 
ambassadors from the emperor Frederick 
arrived, and, to the astonishment of every 
one, presented the autograph letter and 
ring, which the Princess Mary had pre- 
viously sent to the Archduke Maximilian, 
the people were delighted, and Mary de- 
clared openly and freely : " Him have [ 
fixed upon in my mind, him will I have for 
my husband, and none other." Thereupon, 
Maximilian went to the Netherlands and 
was united to Mary of Burgundy. He 
soon found opportunity to prove to his new 
subjects his valor and discretion in their 
wars against the French king ; for the lat- 



232 



FREDERICK A FUGITIVE — HIS RETURN. 



ter, who regarded the young prince as an 
insignificant adversary, and relied upon his 
own superior power, had by force of arms 
made a conquest of various parts of Bur- 
gundy. Maximilian, however, bravely made 
head against him, and defeated his avari- 
cious enemy at Guinegast, in 1479, and 
would to a certainty have reconquered from 
him every portion of the estates of Burgundy 
still in his possession, but for the sad loss 
he sustained in his beloved Mary, who died 
in the year 1482, in consequence of a fall 
from her horse while chasing herons. The 
zeal of the Netherlanders then grew cold 
in the protracted war, and Maximilian was 
obliged to leave his beautiful inheritance in 
the hands of the French. 

In these battles the emperor Frederick 
could afford his son no assistance ; he was 
hard pressed in his own hereditary lands, 
partly by the Turks, who made their way 
into Carinthia and Carniola, and even to 
Salzburg ; and partly by Matthias, king of 
Hungary, who, in 1485, took possession of 
Vienna itself ; and all regard for public 
honor being now diminished, the Germanic 
empire could with great difficulty be induced 
to make any exertions on behalf of its em- 
peror. The latter having made his escape, 
was compelled to wander a fugitive through 
his land, seeking a temporary asylum in 
some of the convents and cities, where he 
was charitably furnished with the necessi- 
ties of life ; nay, sometimes he was glad to 
beg a lift on the high road from some peas- 
ant driving his team of oxen. Nevertheless, 
even in this state of degradation, his feeling 
of dignity never forsook him ; by himself, 
and those few scattered sympathizing sub- 
jects by whom his sovereignty was still ac- 
knowledged, he was regarded as the source 
of justice and authority in his extensive 
empire. This undauntedness of opinion 
and conviction now gradually operated in 
his favor, and produced once more a union 
of the princes of the empire, while he suc- 
ceeded in effecting what his great ancestor 
in all the fulness of his power had been 
unable to accomplish ; inasmuch, as in the 
year 1486, the whole of the assembled 
princes, influenced especially by the rep- 
resentations of the faithful and now venera- 
ble Albert, called the Achilles of Branden- 
burg, elected Maximilian, the emperor's son, 
king of Rome. 

Indeed, about this period a changed and 
Improved spirit began to show itself in a 



remarkable degree in the minds of many 
throughout the empire, so that the profound 
contemplator of coming events might easily 
see the dawn of a new era. Universally 
was it felt that the time was come for the 
re-establishment of the imperial power on 
stronger foundations. But as this power 
could alone no longer subsist as a central 
point of dominion over the Christian world, 
it was necessary to rest it upon the basis of 
a constitution, for which indeed all the ele- 
ments of a grand system of community 
were already at hand, could they only be 
brought to bear in happy combination. 

The diets were regarded as the focus of 
jurisdiction and administration ; an im- 
perial court of justice was already estab- 
lished ; a register, by which every member 
of the empire was bound to give his name 
for the general defence of the empire, had 
been established in the war against the 
Hussites. Thus, if these institutions could 
only be brought into thorough operation, 
good order, and the proper government of 
the empire would be secured. 

In order to promote this grand object 
great activity was shown, especially towards 
the latter part of the reign of the emperor 
Frederick. In the year 1486, the decree 
of the Landfriede, or peace of the country, 
was renewed, although still accompanied 
with certain clauses which in many cases 
sanctioned self-defence or private warfare. 
In the year 1489, the forms of council at 
the diets were more firmly regulated and 
fixed, according to the three colleges in ro- 
tation, viz. the electors, princes, and cities. 

It was held desirable likewise, that to 
the imperial tribunal there should be added 
another imperial chamber, furnished with 
the vigorous power of the executive, in or- 
der to maintain the law of the Landfriede, 
possessing equally with the emperor him- 
self the right of pronouncing the imperial 
ban against all disturbers of the peace of 
the country, with authority to adopt and 
regulate the necessary measures for its 
execution. But on this point the old em- 
peror, who clung to the ancient system, re- 
mained extremely obstinate, being deter- 
mined not to yield any portion of his own 
power and authority. The colleges were 
therefore forced for the present to wait and 
be satisfied with receiving from his son 
Maximilian, the recently elected king of 
Rome, the promise that he would use every 
exertion with his father to bring into op- 



THE SWAB I AN LEAGUE — PRUSSIA UNDER POLAND. 



233 



eration the proposed institution. It was 
well known, of course, that he would not 
succeed in gaining the object desired ; but 
it was believed, that by this expression of 
feeling, he himself would, when he came 
into power, feel bound to bring it kito effect. 
How he acted in this respect we shall find 
in the history of his reign ; all, at least, 
were satisfied in having only gained some- 
thing. 

It was at this period, likewise, that in 
another respect, a very powerful alliance 
was formed, by which in the municipal 
territories of Germany the preservation of 
peace would be materially promoted. This 
was the Swabian league, which, in 1488, 
under the mediation of the emperor, was 
effected with the more immediate object of 
opposing the violent and overbearing power 
of the dukes of Bavaria, who had seized 
and held possession of Ratisbon, and by 
whom several other imperial cities were 
now threatened. At first, a considerable 
body of knights and many of the cities 
combined together, under the direction of 
a select council of the confederates, for 
common defence against every enemy, and 
for the preservation of the peace of the 
country. These were soon joined and 
headed by the neighboring princes, es- 
pecially Wurtemberg and Brandenburg. 
Against this formidable body Albert of Mu- 
nich soon found he was unable to contend, 
and accordingly, he was forced to give up 
Ratisbon, and, indeed, soon afterwards 
joined the league himself. 

These last years were the best in the 
whole life of the emperor, and yielded to 
him in return for his many sufferings, that 
tranquillity which was so well merited by 
his faithful, generous disposition. He died 
on the 19th of August, 1493, after a reign 
of 54 years. 

The emperor lived long enough to obtain, 
in the year 1490, the restoration of his 
hereditary estates by the death of King 
Matthias, by means of a compact made 
with Wladislas, his successor. 

Frederick was the last emperor who was 
in person invested with the Roman imperial 
crown in Rome ; this took place on the 
19th of March, 1452. 

During the reign of Frederick III., a 
neighboring country, which was conquered 
and peopled by the Germans, and which 
subsequently became more closely united 
30 



with the German empire; viz., Prussia, 
became subject to the sovereignty of Po- 
land. How, during the reign of Frederick 
II., the knights of the Teutonic order en- 
tered Prussia, and there founded a govern- 
ment under which the cities and country 
gloriously flourished, we have already seen. 

This prosperity continued until the fif- 
teenth century. The commercial towns 
of Danzig, Thorn, and Elbing, obtained 
such greatness, that the first-mentioned 
town could (according to iEneas Sylvius) 
command a force of 50,000 men, and the 
chronicles also relate of a peasant, who 
when, about the year 1400, he entertained 
the grand-master of the order, Conrad of 
Jungingen, placed round the table as seats, 
twelve tuns, of which eleven were com- 
pletely, but the twelfth only half filled with 
gold. He even offered them to the grand- 
master as a present, who, however, ordered 
the twelfth to be quite filled, in order that 
it might be said, that in Prussia there ex- 
isted a peasant who possessed twelve tuns 
filled with gold. 

But already, under this grand-master, 
the dominion of the order began to fall into 
decay. It had become too rich — luxury 
and vice enervated the prowess of its mem- 
bers; injustice and oppression estranged 
the people from their rulers, and when now 
the rising power of the Polish kings was 
directed against the order, they exhibited a 
total relaxation of their ancient power. In 
a great battle at Tannenberg, in 1410, the 
knights were completely beaten by King 
Wladislas Jagello. It is true they ob- 
tained moderate terms at the peace of 
Thorn, in 1416 ; yet the old evils con- 
tinued. Besides this there were internal 
broils ; the nobility and cities of the coun- 
try entered into an alliance against the 
knights, and chose, in 1454, Casimir III. 
king of Poland for their protector. After 
a war of twelve years, at the second peace 
of Thorn, in 1466, the order was obliged 
to resign to Poland part of the country, to- 
gether with Culm, Marienburg, Elbing, 
and other places ; and to acknowledge for 
the portion left to them the feodal right of 
the Polish crown. The country had suf- 
fered indescribably from the desolating 
war ; of twenty-one thousand large vil- 
lages, only three thousand were left, and the 
order had become reduced to a mere sha- 
dow of its former greatness. 



234 



MAXIMILIAN I.— HIS CHARACTER. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Maximilian I., 1493-1519— His Mental Acquirements 
and Chivalric Character — His Government — Italy — 
Charles VIII. and Lewis XII. of France— Switzerland 
— The Venetian Republic — The League of Cambray [ 
— Maximilian's Honorable and Consistent Conduct ! 
— The Battle of the Spurs— Union of Hungary and : 
Bohemia— Internal Administration of Affairs— Per- j 
petual Peace of the Land — End of the Faust-Recht I 
— The Imperial Chamber and Aulic Council — Oppo- 
sition of the States — The Emperor Triumphant — 
State of the Country— The Nobles, Cities, and 
Peasantry — Gotz of Berlichingen, &c. — Death of the 
Emperor Maximilian, 1519 — Events of his Reign, and ! 
End of the Middle Ages— Discovery and Use of ; 
Gunpowder — Artillery and Fire-arms— Invention of 
Printing, 1457. 

During the preceding century Europe 
had become fully prepared for great 
changes, which, when they had once un- 
folded their results, would produce a com- 
plete revolution in the condition of na- 
tions. The invention of gunpowder had 
already begun so to alter the science of 
war, that chivalry, which for centuries had 
predominated throughout the middle ages, 
was now approaching its end. The art 
of printing, in connection with the inven- 
tion of paper, had created a new medium 
for the communication of thought, by 
which, with the rapidity of lightning, the 
human mind might be agitated from one 
end of Europe to the other. The discovery 
of a new quarter of the globe, and a sea 
passage to the East Indies, altered entirely 
the former course of commerce, and trans- 
ferred the great power thereby gained to 
nations, which, among the rest, had hitherto 
been but little mentioned or known. Fi- 
nally, political economy, as it now arose, 
and came especially from France and 
Italy, assumed quite another form — it made 
honor and good faith give way to interest ; 
and this was now the principle upon which 
states acted in their alliances, so that in the 
conduct of nations towards each other there 
appeared to prevail a law different to that 
which is recognised by individuals. 

During this period of fermentation, so 
fertile in invention, it may be said of the 
emperor Maximilian, that he stood forth 
amid the new forms as a dignified image 
of olden time, since in him again, and for 
the last time, was personified chivalry in 
all its glory. As this in its great features 
was equally elevated and amiable, so did 
Maximilian unite with bravery, dignity, 
and decision of character, the gentleness 
of a child ; and as the warm imagination 
of the middle ages prompted to the most 



astonishing and unprecedented adventures, 
so also in the exploits of Maximilian we 
find predominating valor, enthusiasm, and 
sometimes temerity. 

One of his most favorite, because the 
most daring, pastimes, was that of hunting 
the chamois, and on these excursions he 
often ran into such hazard that his friends 
trembled for his life ; in like manner did 
he sport with danger in wrestling-matches, 
where, with his own hand, he conquered 
the very lion itself, the same as on the 
field of battle, where many an antagonist 
was doomed to lie at his feet. At the 
same time, the emperor, amid his other 
avocations, found time for the arts and 
sciences, and acquired knowledge to a de- 
gree which would excite admiration, even 
from those whose whole life is directed to 
such pursuits. He spoke nearly all the 
European languages then in vogue, and 
left behind him several works which he 
had written in German. He acquired the 
art of forging armor, w 7 hich he did with 
his own hand ; was much attached to all 
that was learned and scientific, and in con- 
versation he was so intellectual, affable, 
and kind, that every one recognised in him 
the accomplished man. He was never 
known to allow an oath or a blasphemous 
word to pass his lips, while his noble mind 
and heart were constantly, even amid the 
most bitter insults, inclined towards mercy. 
His outward appearance was also in per- 
fect keeping with the character here de- 
picted, being tall and muscular, and of a 
truly royal carriage. In his younger years 
his flaxen hair flowed in ringlets down to 
his shoulders, his blue eyes expressed 
glowing ardor, mixed with kindness, and 
his high forehead and aquiline nose fin- 
ished the expression of majesty in his 
features. His natural fervor and vivacity 
of character Maximilian derived from his 
mother, Eleanor of Portugal, a princess 
endowed with an amiable and noble dispo- 
sition, but who died unhappily too soon, 
being scarcely thirty years of age. It 
must also be said to the honor of his father, 
that he bestowed great care upon the edu- 
cation of his son from childhood upward, 
by providing for him excellent masters, as 
well as by his own personal instructions. 

Maximilian's first appearance in public 
life resembles the opening of a romance 
of chivalry. Love and honor called him 
forth, while yet a youth, to the field, and 



DECLINE OF CHIVALRY — ITALY — CHARLES VIII. 



235 



he then already gave signs of his noble 
and courageous disposition in a contest at 
arms which he maintained in the most 
honorable manner, with the artful and 
more experienced king of France, Lewis 
XI. But in the course of his career, all 
did not succeed as this his first essay in 
life. The time was gone by, when a bold 
chivalric venture brought with it the neces- 
sary successful results. Instead of, as in 
ancient times, rushing into an enemy's 
country, accompanied by vassals, sum- 
moned at a moment's notice, and after the 
termination of a short but glorious cam- 
paign, speedily returning home, it was 
necessary now to keep up a mercenary 
army. It was no longer the preponder- 
ance of spirit and individual strength, 
which ensured success to great enterprises, 
but all was decided by the superior com- 
mand of external resources ; and our val- 
iant, noble-minded emperor, who at an 
earlier epoch would have governed as 
gloriously as the most renowned and pow- 
erful of his ancestors, now, for want of 
these advantages, stood far behind the art- 
ful, cold-calculating kings of France and 
Spain. He knew not, as they did, the 
importance of such external resources, and 
especially money ; he wasted large sums 
away without reflection, so that whenever a 
critical and decisive moment arrived, these 
means were wanting, and his troops for 
lack of pay were disbanded.* 

These observations explain Maximilian's 
life, and his incongruity with the age in 
which he lived ; nevertheless, mindful, 
however, of the ancient honor of the im- 
perial dignity, he pursued the grand object 
of maintaining, so far as he was able, 
justice, peace, and order throughout Eu- 
rope, and that, too, less by force of arms, 
than by the dictates of wisdom and reason ; 
of protecting the church, and finally, di- 
recting the united power of Christendom 
against the universal enemy, the Turks. 
And truly did he succeed in adding more 
influence to the imperial dignity than it 
had possessed for centuries : he even con- 
templated the bold design of attaining the 

* While yet a boy, Maximilian once expressed this 
disposition, when his father presented him with a plate 
of fruit and a purse of money. Maximilian kept the 
fruit, and gave the money away to his servants. " That 
boy will become a spendthrift !" sighed his father. But 
Maximilian replied: "I wish not to be a king over 
money, but over the people, and all those who possess 
money." 



papal crown, and thus, by uniting in his 
own person the two chief dignities of 
Christianity, promote the peace and wel- 
fare of the world. This is no fiction, for 
it is proved by documents and the auto- 
graph letters of the emperor, which show 
that in the year 1511 he had made serious 
preparations for his election as pope in the 
event of the death of Pope Julius II., who 
was then dangerously ill, but who after- 
wards recovered. And if we duly con- 
sider the actual state of the world at that 
time, the idea of the emperor was not so 
chimerical and impossible as it might at 
first appear ; besides which, a main diffi- 
culty that might have presented itself from 
the fact of his marriage, was obviated by 
the recent death of his second consort 
Bianca. Maximilian, however, in this case, 
as in fact in almost all the other acts of 
his life, did not duly estimate the extent of 
his external resources ; the idea was too 
grand in contrast with the limited means 
of accomplishment, and thus his enter- 
prises generally did not succeed, as the 
history of his life will now more particu- 
larly show. 

The external operations of Maximilian 
were directed almost exclusively to Italy. 
Here the French kings, whose power had 
materially increased by the total expulsion 
of the English from the French territory, 
as well as by annexing to the crown the 
great fiefs of Burgundy, Brittany, Provence, 
and Anjou, persisted in their efforts to 
withdraw that country, broken up already 
by factions, from its allegiance to the em- 
peror, and, as much as possible, to bring it 
under French subjection. 

Hence Charles VIII. sought out and pro- 
duced the ancient claims of the house of 
Anjou to the kingdom of Naples, where a 
collateral lineage of the Aragonian family 
reigned. With an army which he had lev- 
ied hastily he invaded Italy, and in 1495 
speedily gained possession of Naples. This 
success was greatly owing to the use of 
metal cannons, which, drawn by horses, 
followed the troops ; those hitherto used 
being only of heavy iron, employed merely 
in sieges. 

As soon, however, as the Italians had 
somewhat recovered from their first alarm 
they united together, friends and foes, 
against the French ; the emperor, the pope, 
and the king of Aragon, Ferdinand the 
Catholic, promised also their aid ; so that 



236 



LEWIS XII.— MILAN 



—THE VENETIANS. 



the king of France was forced to abandon 
his conquest as quickly as he had made it. 
It was on this occasion that the emperor 
Maximilian negotiated and settled defini- 
tively the highly important marriage of his 
son Philip, who already possessed the Neth- 
erlands, with Joanna, the daughter of the 
king of Spain. This son, Philip, had been 
born to him by his beloved Mary of Bur- 
gundy, and the issue of Philip's marriage 
with Joanna of Spain, was the subsequent 
emperor, Charles V., who reunited and 
held the half of Europe under his sway. 

The French, however, would not allow 
themselves to be entirely discomfited by 
the failure of their first attempt upon Italy. 
The successor of Charles VIII., Lewis 
XII., resolved to conquer Milan, to make 
up for the loss of Naples. He founded his 
claims upon ancient family alliances with 
the house of Visconti, and made a hostile 
attack upon the reigning duke, Louis Mo- 
roni. With the aid of the Venetians, to 
whom he promised a portion of the booty, 
he, in the year 1500, soon made a con- 
quest of the entire duchy, and the unfor- 
tunate duke was obliged, after ten years 
confinement, to end his days in a dungeon 
in France. The king now directed his at- 
tention again to Naples, united with Fer- 
dinand of Aragon, and both shared togeth- 
er that kingdom, to which neither had any 
right. On this occasion, however, Lewis 
was forced to experience that one artful 
man may be cheated by another more art- 
ful than himself, inasmuch as the Spanish 
kino;, by means of his general, Gon salvo 
of Cordova, soon expelled the French from 
Naples, and retained the kingdom for him- 
self. 1 

The emperor was wrong to allow for- 
eign nations thus to run loose upon Italy ; 
that unhappy country, unable to maintain 
its independence, ought at least, under im- 
perial protection, to have been secured 
against such arbitrary treatment. And, 
indeed, Maximilian would gladly have as- 
serted his ancient rights of sovereignty, but 
unhappily he was not supported by the 
Germanic empire, and his power was too 
much restricted. He was compelled, there- 
for, to allow King Lewis to hold posses- 
sion of Milan, who, however, so far honored 
the imperial dignity as to consent to retain 
the duchy as a fief of the empire. 

While the French established themselves 
in Italy, Maximilian made another attempt 



— the last that was made — to bring the 
Swiss once more under the dominion of the 
empire. The ancient hatred of the nobil- 
ity, especially in Swabia, became now 
again manifested against the Swiss peas- 
antry. This time it was called forth by 
an insignificant quarrel of the Austrian 
government in Tyrol with the confederates 
of the Grisons. The chief cause, howev- 
er, was, viz., that the Swiss had become 
the allies of the French kings, and gave 
them assistance in their expeditions against 
Italy — an act regarded as a breach of their 
obligations to the empire, they having al- 
ways been looked upon as included in the 
imperial alliance. But the war which was 
waged against them, in 1499, was disgrace- 
ful to Germany. The Swabian nobility 
were in several skirmishes severely beat- 
en ; a numerous and well-appointed army, 
which Maximilian himself collected in 
Constance, was, in consequence of the re- 
luctance of the princes to join in a battle 
among the dangerous mountains of Swit- 
zerland, forced to turn back, retreating 
through the passes on the confines of the 
country of Berne. The grand marshal of 
the emperor, Count von Ftirstenberg, who 
was ordered to conduct the army of the 
princes of the Rhine, through Alsace, by 
Basle, into Switzerland, was surprised and 
overthrown by the Swiss at Dorneck, with 
the loss of 3000 killed, and all his ammu- 
nition. They were obliged to make peace 
and leave to the Swiss their independence, 
although the latter did not as yet expressly 
dissolve their connection with the empire. 
Soon afterwards, Basle and Schaffhausen, 
which had hitherto remained imperial cit- 
ies, were included in the Swiss confedera- 
tion. 

Maximilian very soon again found em- 
ployment in Italy. Here, at this time, nc 
state was more flourishing than that of the 
Venetians. By their extended commerce 
they had acquired immense wealth, a great 
part of Upper Italy had by degrees become 
subject to them, and they aimed at still 
greater power. 

But their pride and insolence excited the 
hatred of their powerful neighbors, who 
besides laid claim to various parts of their 
territories ; the principal portion of what 
they possessed in Upper Italy, excepting 
their old country, having formerly belong- 
ed to the empire, and other portions to the 
papal dominions ; while in Lower Italy 



LEAGUE OF CAMBRAY — ] 



BATTLE OF THE SPURS. 



237 



they had taken places to which Ferdinand 
the Catholic, as king of Naples, laid just 
claims ; and finally, France wished to ob- 
tain those possessions immediately border, 
ing upon Milan. 

Hence arose, in 1508, the famous league 
between Spain, France, the warlike Pope 
Julius II., and the emperor, against the re- 
public of Venice, known under the name 
of the league of Cambray, threatening in- 
stantly to crush that free state, which al- 
though rich, was still insignificant when 
compared with such great powers opposed 
to it. But as this is the first great league 
of the kind in the history of the more mod- 
ern states of Europe, it has also become 
the prefigure of most of those which have 
succeeded it, and seems as a sort of mirror 
in which is reflected the instability of the 
political relations of these states, which 
being grounded in selfishness and self- 
aggrandizement, without having a hold in 
the moral dignity of the people, again dis- 
solved like an empty vapor, as soon as the 
cards of fortune were reshuffled, and thus 
became an object of derision for the whole 
of Europe. For the artful republicans so 
well knew how to divide the allies by daz- 
zling before the eyes of each the tempting 
bait of self-interest, that those who were 
friends before became hostile to each other, 
while they themselves retired unhurt from 
their conflict with the most powerful prin- 
ces. 

Of the emperor Maximilian himself his- 
tory records, that he was most sincere in 
his dealings with his allies, and maintained 
the honor of his word. Louis XII. was the 
first to hasten to the scene of action, in the 
year 1509, and in a few weeks made a 
conquest of all that the league had prom- 
ised him as part of the booty ; and when 
Maximilian also arrived, and with his troops 
took one place after another, the Venetians 
begged from him peace, offering to make 
over to him all that they had ever taken from 
the house of Austria or the empire ; thus 
an opportunity was presented by which he 
might have made a very advantageous 
treaty with them. But he refused; the 
allies having solemnly agreed only to grant 
peace conjointly. The others, however, 
did not act equally conscientious. Ferdi- 
nand the Catholic, as he was sure of his 
possessions in Lower Italy, took no farther 
part in the war, and Pope Julius II. aban- 
doned the league altogether, out of hatred 



to the French, and joined the Venetians. 
Ferdinand soon afterwards did the same, 
and the three allies called their union the 
holy league. The French were now ex- 
pelled from Milan. Their policy then 
quickly took a turn ; the first calculation 
having failed, they entered into an alliance 
with their former enemies, the Venetians ; 
while, on the other hand, the Spaniards 
again united with the emperor and with the 
king of England, Henry VIII., against 
both the others. Thus, in the course of a 
few years, friendship gave way to hostility, 
and the latter again yielded to the former ; 
Spain, for instance, from being first hostile, 
had become allied with, but was now again 
hostile to Venice ; and throughout the 
whole of this game treachery appeared to 
pass for wisdom, while honor was treated 
as nothing. 

The French, however, were not benefit- 
ed by this new calculation; in the battle 
of Novarre, in 1513, they were driven com- 
pletely out of Italy, in which affair the 
Swiss fought against them ; as they were 
hard pressed also in their own country by 
the imperial and the English troops, who in 
the same year, under the personal com- 
mand of Maximilian, gained the battle of 
Guinegate, (which on account of the hasty 
retreat of the French was called the Battle 
of the Spurs,) Louis found it necessary to 
renounce for a time his claims to Milan. 
Maximilian gave Milan as a fief of the em- 
pire to Maximilian Sforza, the son of Louis 
Moro; but he did not possess it long. 

When Louis XII. died in the year 1515, 
he was succeeded to the French throne by 
the youthful, daring, and ambitious Francis 
I., and in order that he might commence his 
reign with some brilliant act, he sallied 
forth, in the same year, with an army to 
Italy, and recaptured Milan. The Swiss 
who came to the assistance of the city, and 
incautiously attacked the enemy, were after 
a severe engagement, which lasted two 
days, completely defeated at Marignano. 
This was the first great battle in which 
they had lost the field. 

The French artillery and the German 
lanciers, who served on French pay, and 
were ever after considered the best infan- 
try, gained the victory. The emperor, 
indeed, made an expedition once again in 
the following year into Italy, and besieged 
Milan, but increasing age and so main- 
futile efforts made him disposed for peace ; 



238 



HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA UNITED — LANDFRIEDE. 



moreover, his forces soon dwindled away 
for want of pay. By a treaty made at 
Brussels in 1516, he resigned to the king 
of France the duchy of Milan, and, what 
was still more galling to his feelings, he 
gave back to the detested republic of Ve- 
nice the important city of Verona. 

Thus was concluded, after a great varie- 
ty of changes, the war of Italy, in which ! 
the best exertions of the emperor had been j 
required. This contest had withheld him 
from pursuing that object so important to 
the empire, and for which his chivalric 
spirit so naturally disposed him, namely, 
in making war against the Turks, and if 
possible banishing them from Europe. | 
This wish he constantly cherished, and 
even expressed most ardently but a few 
months before his death, at his last diet 
held in Augsburg, in a proposition he made 
to the states of the empire, to undertake an 
expedition against the Turks ; but the pet- 
ty and selfish spirit of the day was not fa- 
vorable to such an enterprise. 

Among the other external arrangements 
of the emperor, one most worthy of remark 
was the ratification of the reunion with 
Hungary and Bohemia. Besides the grand- 
son, who afterwards became emperor 
Charles V., he had of his son Philip, who 
was already dead, and Joanna of Spain, 
another grandson, afterwards Ferdinand I. ; 
him he gave in 1515 in marriage to the 
daughter of Wladislas, king of Hungary, 
and thereby laid the foundation for the 
direct connection of Hungary and Bohemia 
with the countries of Austria. 

Already during the last few years of the 
reign of the emperor Frederick III., as 
before mentioned, great efforts had been 
made by the states of the empire to estab- 
lish public tranquillity, and to render it 
secure by a legislative institution. Im- 
mediately after the commencement of the 
reign of the new emperor, these exertions 
were perseveringly continued. The most 
active and zealous promoter of this grand ob- 
ject was Bertold, the elector of Mentz, and 
count of Hanneberg, one of the most ex- 
traordinary men of his day. From the 
period when, under Frederick III., in 1486, 
as first spiritual elector, he stood at the 
head of the states of the empire, down to the 
present moment, he had continued to be the 
advocate and warm supporter of all the 
operations tending to improve the institu- 
tions of the country ; indefatigable, free 



from all personal motive, and having the 
cause of his country alone in mind and 
heart, he was continually at work to pro- 
mote its welfare. 

At the first diet held by the new emperor 
at Worms, in 1495, the subject of the 
Landfriede, or peace of the country, and 
the proposed Kammergericht, or imperial 
chamber, were immediately taken into dis- 
cussion. The emperor, who likewise 
heartily desired that peace should at length 
reign throughout the empire, in order that 
its strength might be more effectually 
brought to bear against the hostile power 
of France, zealously joined in the grand 
undertaking, and thus was completed and 
brought into operation the institution for 
the perpetual peace of the country — a 
work which gained for this diet the great- 
est praise and renown. And although 
this Landfriede was still shackled with 
certain restrictive clauses, and the feudal 
system did not altogether cease its opera- 
tions, still the new law possessed this ad- 
vantage, viz., that legally club-law must 
henceforth entirely terminate, and the au- 
thority of the law in its normal form take 
its place ; a system which, in the course 
of time, after it had come more and more 
into operation, was universally adopted. 
When we consider the incalculably impor- 
tant consequences which attended this 
change of things among the middle and 
lower classes of the people, we must as- 
suredly acknowledge the year 1495 to be 
one of the most momentary and striking in 
our history, while we must regard the em- 
peror Maximilian as one of the greatest 
benefactors of the nation. 

Still in respect to the more enlarged 
plan of the Elector Bertold and the states, 
which embraced the strengthening of the 
imperial government and the imperial 
chamber, Maximilian did not so easily 
yield his sanction ; like his father, he was 
very reluctant to give up any portion of 
the imperial rights, however incapable he 
might be, through his important affairs 
abroad, of fulfilling the duties they im- 
posed upon him. He was, however, at 
length prevailed upon by the states to yield 
in the main to the general desire, espe- 
cially when he was reminded of the former 
promise he had partially made when they 
elected him king of Rome in 1489, and 
which he could not retract. The imperial 
chamber was to be permanently established 



THE IMPERIAL CHAMBER AND AULIC COUNCIL. 



239 



for the purpose of equitably deciding the 
disputes between the states of the empire, 
which had hitherto always been settled by 
an appeal to arms, and what is still more 
important, it was authorized to pronounce 
in the name of the emperor the imperial 
ban of excommunication against all who 
opposed it. In its entire construction, like- 
wise, it was no longer to form merely an 
especial imperial tribunal, but in reality a 
tribunal of the empire. The emperor ap- 
pointed only the president or chief judge ; 
the fifty assessors were presented by the 
states, while the cities, likewise, were 
allowed to nominate a few. The emperor 
opened the court himself, and handed to 
Count Eitelfried von Zollern the judicial 
sceptre, as chief judge of the chamber. 
The first court was held on the 3d of 
November, 1495, in Frankfort. 

The progress, however, made by this 
institution, was equally slow with that of 
the Landfriede ; the idea was good, and 
the plan laid out with great wisdom ; but 
in respect to the execution thereof, many 
difficulties and insurmountable obstacles 
stepped in to prevent a successful issue. 
Many would not attend to the decrees pro- 
nounced, and the power of enforcing them 
was wanting, inasmuch as the emperor 
was occupied in foreign countries, and 
besides which he felt but little real desire 
to promote a tribunal rendered independent 
of his own especial sway. Then followed 
the non-payment of the necessary fees and 
salaries, as the contributions from the va- 
rious members of the empire came in very 
irregularly or perhaps not at all ; so that 
the court often sat and broke up without 
effecting any thing. At last it became so 
neglected, that the emperor was himself 
forced to reconstruct it, and supply the 
necessary funds ; and thus made it, as in 
former times, wholly dependent upon him- 
self. The discontent thence produced be- 
tween the emperor and the states increased 
more and more, until at length the elector 
of Mentz brought forward twenty-two 
points of accusation against Maximilian, 
to which the latter replied by twenty-three 
articles in opposition. A most angry and 
bitter correspondence ensued between the 
emperor and the elector ; but the scale of 
balance on the side of the former became 
only more and more on the ascent, and 
turned completely against him. 

But, as often happened in Maximilian's 



varied career, the scale dropped once more 
in his favor. He contrived, although the 
body of electors were inimical towards 
him, to enlist friends on his side from 
among the temporal and spiritual princes. 
He filled up various vacant bishoprics, 
with the co-operation of the then friendly 
papal authority, with his friends. Among 
the temporal princes were at that time 
many young, warlike lords, who all glow- 
ed with military ardor under his command ; 
and the gay, chivalric emperor, continu- 
ally engaged in some enterprise, perfect 
master in all military exercises, combining 
true genius with a generous and friendly 
disposition, knew well how to enchain them 
to him. We have already seen how Duke 
Eric of Calenberg fought with so much 
glory in the wars of Austria, and that the 
entire house of the Guelfs adhered to that 
dynasty. So likewise did the dukes of 
Saxony, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and 
Cleves ; while the emperor gained Wur- 
temberg, by granting the earl's claims, 
and conferring upon him the title of duke. 
The margraves of Brandenburg were 
secured by the faithful adherence of their 
ancestor Albert, the German Achilles. 
Thus by rewards and promotions of vari- 
ous kinds, the emperor, in order to aug- 
ment his party, availed himself of the rem- 
nant left of imperial privileges. Indeed 
he had become in the year 1504 so strong, 
that he was enabled to bring to a success- 
ful issue, and according to his own wishes, 
a very important contest originating in the 
inheritance of George, duke of Bavaria- 
Landshut. The dukes of Bavaria, Mu- 
nich, and the Palatine Rupert stood op- 
posed to each other ; and Maximilian him- 
self laid claim to a portion of the lands. 
As the palatine refused most obstinately to 
submit to the decree pronounced by the 
imperial chamber, the emperor at once ad- 
judged the ban of excommunication against 
him. With the aid of the afore-mentioned 
allied princes, together with the Swabian 
league and his own immediate adherents, 
he executed the sentence successfully ; the 
palatine was forced to submit, and Maxi- 
milian himself gained no inconsiderable 
portion of the possessions. 

His position in judicial affairs was ren- 
dered still more favorable by the death of 
the leader of the electoral opposition party, 
Bertold of Mentz, who died in the year 
1504. He was now enabled, in the two 



240 



EMPEROR TRIUMPHANT — ! 



•STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 



following years, at the diets held at Co- 
logne and Constance, to bring into effect 
the preponderating power he possessed, in- 
asmuch as he substituted the organic regu- 
lations of the empire in accordance with 
his views for those which had previously 
existed and had originated in the visionary 
project of realizing a national unity. It 
was not now simply a question of combi- 
ning the regulation of the empire with al- 
most imperial power ; but, also, of restoring 
the imperial chamber according to the reso- 
lutions fixed at Worms ; together with the 
establishment of a register, by which the 
contributions for the expenditure of the 
country and the contingent of troops in the 
wars of the empire were divided among the 
states according to their power : these were 
the two important results of the diet of Con- 
stance in 1507. Both continued in force 
during a period of three centuries, and, in 
spite of the independent territories, repre- 
sented the unity of the Germanic empire. 

It was after the foundation of these happy 
internal regulations of the empire, that 
Maximilian proceeded into Italy, as before 
mentioned, on his great campaign against 
the Venetians ; and his hopes were so 
strong, that in the February of 1508, in 
Trieste, he assumed the title of Roman 
king elect, without waiting to be crowned 
in Rome. This act was of great impor- 
tance to future times, Maximilian's suc- 
cessors having afterwards assumed the im- 
perial title, immediately after their corona- 
tion in Aix-la-Chapelle ; and during the 
whole of the subsequent periods, only one 
emperor was crowned by the pope. 

At the diet held in Cologne, in 1512, the 
emperor introduced an important proposi- 
tion, touching the internal peace of the 
empire, viz., that the decisions of the im- 
perial chamber should, by a definite author- 
ity, be enforced and carried into effect in 
every part of the empire ; without which 
they were of little or no avail. It was 
proposed, therefore, that the division of the 
circles, which had been hitherto brought 
into operation for the purpose of returning 
deputies to officiate in the imperial cham- 
ber, should now be made available in this 
case, and be rendered efficient accordingly. 
At first they consisted of six circles — Ba- 
varia, Swabia, Franconia, the Rhine, West- 
phalia, and Lower Saxony ; now, however, 
it was resolved to add four more — the Low- 
er Rhine, including the four electorates, 



Upper Saxony, embracing its electorate and 
Brandenburg, Austria, and Burgundy. 

Each circle was to be regarded as one 
distinctly organized and comprehensive 
body, and all matters of peace and war to 
be superintended by a military chief. Not- 
withstanding great contention ensued be- 
tween the emperor and the states upon this 
question, a resolution was passed, and ac- 
cordingly a decree for its adoption was 
agreed to by the states of the empire. Its 
execution, however, was not brought into 
force immediately, for it was only after 
some ten years had elapsed, that this divi- 
sion of circles was at length effectually 
established. 

Besides the foundation thus laid for these 
organic institutions, which, if not emanating 
from Maximilian alone, were at least pro- 
duced with his co-operation, Germany has 
to thank him especially for the introduction 
of an entire new system of discipline in the 
army, which he remodelled completely, by 
dividing it into regiments ; and finally, it 
was by him that a system of posting was 
first introduced. 

We must not, however, deceive ourselves 
in the character of this period, which is 
more especially distinguished in our his- 
tory as a period of transition. Such epochs 
are marked by the most contradictory phe- 
nomena, more especially, however, by a 
universal rupture and fermentation of all 
relations, calling forth at every moment the 
feeling that we are, as it were, standing 
upon undermined ground, where are raging 
in all their unrestricted fury the elements 
of new creations. As yet the seeds only 
were strewed, the full growth and fruit of 
which were reserved for after times. 

At present on neither side was content- 
ment to be found ; the mutual privileges 
and duties of the ruler and the states had 
become more than ever fluctuating. In- 
numerable representations (reclamaiionen) 
were made against the assessments of the 
register ; princes had been included who 
were no longer in existence ; many states 
had been inscribed as immediate which had 
become mediate, and were now claimed 
back again by the sovereign lord, especially 
among cities. Thus, it was urged by the 
ambassador of Denmark and Holstein, that 
among others, a city (Hamburg) had been 
marked as an imperial city, but that, as it 
was situated in Holstein, it must be re- 
claimed by his sovereign and restored, as 



THE NOBLES, CITIES, AND PEASANTRY. 



241 



part of his patrimonial possessions, he be- 
ing lord of the manor by natural succes- 
sion. He, however, did not succeed in his 
claim, as the imperial freedom of the city 
was nevertheless acknowledged. 

The aulic council of the imperial cham- 
ber, with its decrees, met with great oppo- 
sition from all sides. It roused, generally, 
a desire for independence, and which, in 
fact, broke forth in such a series of cruel 
and barbarous acts, that the commence- 
ment of the fifteenth century again present- 
ed scenes of sanguinary contention in many 
parts of the empire. 

1. The princes resorted to open war in 
order to extend their territorial dignity. 
The countship of Hoya, among the rest, 
was, in 1511, invaded by Brunswick, Lii- 
neburg, Bremen, and Minden ; while the 
iemaining body of free Fresians were, in 
1514, also attacked by Brunswick, Liine- 
burg, Calenberg, Oldenburg, and George, 
duke of Saxony ; and in these, as in 
all other cases, the superior power tri- 
umphed. 

2. The whole body of knights in every 
quarter feeling themselves, as it were, 
penned in by the princes, formed a close 
alliance, and declared open war. The dep- 
redations of the freebooter-knights, on the 
high roads, and their attacks upon the mer- 
chants and dealers to and from the fairs, 
were again resumed, and continual scenes 
of robbery and murder, by day and night, 
occurred throughout the land. It was about 
this time that the celebrated Gotz of Berli- 
chingen, Franz of Selbitz, but more espe- 
cially the noted Franz of Sickingen, who 
was enabled to collect and march whole 
armies against the princes, were actively 
engaged in the cause they espoused. 

3. The cities, although overrun and op- 
pressed on every side, still retained their 
ancient strength to a certain extent ; they 
now defended themselves against the as- 
saults of the knights with the same success 
as when formerly attacked by the princes ; 
and wo to the nobleman or knight who once 
fell into their hands ! For no petition, either 
from his family or friends, nor even the in- 
tercession or remonstrances of any of the 
princes, were of any avail to save him from 
the axe of the executioner. In the north, 
Liibeck especially stood most prominently 
at the head of the Hanse Towns. In the 
year 1509 they attacked John, king of Den- 
mark, captured all his ships at Elsinore, 

31 



returning home loaded with booty. In the 
battle of Bornholm a Liibeck vessel beat 
off three Danish ships by which she had 
been grappled, and even made one of them 
a prize. 

At the diets the cities still maintained a 
very important position. Their commer- 
cial associations, by which they were ena- 
bled to transact the most extensive business 
and embark in the most profitable enter- 
prises, produced for them such opulence, 
and with it its preponderating influence, 
that the jealousy and envy of the princes 
became more excited, until, at length, they 
combined together in proposing at several 
diets, held about this time, such resolutions 
as should, if not wholly destroy, at least re- 
duce the great power they possessed by 
taxation, and certainly there was great 
foundation for these measures, inasmuch as 
the complaints made against the enormous 
prices demanded by the merchants for the 
goods supplied became more and more gen- 
eral. 

Within the cities themselves the turbu- 
lent spirit of the times was not less conspic- 
uously shown. The municipal authorities 
became seriously oppressed and overpow- 
ered by the communities and the heads of 
the various guilds and societies — now con- 
siderably augmented in number and influ- 
ence — who would no longer submit either 
to be governed by a select and limited body 
of patricians, or to be taxed at the high rate 
hitherto levied. The records of many of 
these cities, at the commencement of the 
sixteenth century, are filled with the most 
sanguinary scenes of discord and civil war. 

4. But the state of the peasantry and the 
rural districts presented at this period a far 
more melancholy and serious spectacle than 
that of either of the classes mentioned. 
With them reigned universal fermentation 
throughout the whole empire. The de- 
mands of the territorial lord, as well as 
those of the lord of the manor, were in- 
creased, because each sought to transfer 
the burdens of the empire to the shoulders- 
of the lower orders. On the other hand, 
the latter had now learned to know their 
strength in the use of arms, and soon from 
among them issued the formidable bodies 
of the Landsknechte, or foot-soldiers. The 
example presented by the Swiss peasants, 
who had now almost entirely thrown off 
the yoke of the empire, and made them- 
selves independent, produced its exciting. 



242 THE SHOE-LEAGUE— POOR CONRAD LEAGUE— DEATH OF MAXIMILIAN. 



effects among the German peasantry, and 
more especially in Upper Germany. 

Towards the end of the fifteenth century, 
in 1493, there was formed in Alsace, near 
Selestadt, a secret union of discontented 
peasantry, who, in the depth of night, 
journeying along almost impassable roads 
among the mountains, assembled together 
in a retired spot, and there, by a solemn 
vow, swore, under heavy threats to him 
who proved a traitor, as follows : " That they 
would be taxed only according to their own 
free will and consent; that the imposts 
should be removed altogether, as likewise 
all spiritual jurisdiction ; that no ecclesias- 
tic should receive a higher salary than for- 
ty florins; that the Jews should be put to 
death, and their possessions divided equally 
among the confederates," &c. &c This 
confederacy, which adopted the sigr, of the 
shoe (the shoe of the common German 
peasant) upon their banner, extended its 
operations very considerably. 

A similar union arose in Wurtemberg in 
1514, under the name of the Poor Conrad 
league. Both originated in a hatred to- 
wards the nobility and clergy, and which, 
in fact, appeared to be the principle upon 
which they acted. * r is true, the Shoe-league 
was, by force of arms, eventually destroyed 
in 1502, as was likewise the Poor Conrad 
league soon after its formation ; but the 
seeds of revolt were left behind, and at the 
diets the subject of a revolution among the 
peasantry was often discussed with some 
anxiety and dread. At the diet of Mentz, 
in 1517, in which several of the members 
advised, on account of the disordered state 
of the empire, that a summons should be 
issued for every fiftieth man to take up 
arms in its defence, the states would not 
venture to adopt a measure which must be 
so generally felt as tyrannical : " The 
common peasant, already sufficiently suf- 
fering from dearth and hunger, would, in 
his present discontent, only be still farther 
excited to the most desperate acts, and 
thence the glimmering sparks of private in- 
dignation would burst forth into one uni- 
versal flame throughout the whole coun- 
try." Such was the opinion expressed by 
the states, and the general feeling was in 
favor of rather quelling by mild means the 
turbulence which already began to agitate 
the empire. Nevertheless, we shall short- 
ly read in the history of the Reformation, 
how, after the lapse of another year, the 



destructive elements did break forth in all 
their fury. 

The emperor, however, was not doomed 
to witness or share in these revolutions ; 
the course of his career was nearly ended, 
and his powers of mind and body, exercised 
in so many toilsome and, to a certain ex- 
tent, fruitless struggles, became now gradu- 
ally exhausted and consumed. 

At the diet of Augsburg, in 1518, he 
used every endeavor to prevail upon the 
states to elect, as king of Rome, his son 
Charles, already seated on the Spanish 
throne ; his anxious wish, however, was 
not fulfilled, inasmuch as the pope, and a 
portion of the electoral princes, in their 
fear to bestow too great a power upon his 
son, hesitated and refused to yield to his 
wishes. Indignant and mortified, Maxi- 
milian quitted Augsburg, and died on his 
journey at Wels, in Upper Austria,, on 
the 12th of January, 1519, in the 59th 
year of his age, and was buried, accord- 
ing to his wish, beneath the altar-stone of 
the church at Neustadt, by the side of his 
beloved mother, Eleanora. 

It is said, that he had for several years 
carried about with him his coffin. Thus, 
as in his earlier life, when in all his vigor, 
he had often bid defiance to death, so now 
in the latter years of his existence, did he 
hold familiar counsel with it, and view its 
approach with religious confidence and 
resignation. 

We have already had occasion to con- 
sider, in the preceding chapters, various 
important changes, for which Germany 
had been ripening during the last century. 
With Maximilian, as their last representa- 
tive, the middle ages had passed away ; a 
new period, of which the germ had long 
been sown, now gradually developed itself 
and became established. We will just 
glance at the signs which characterized 
this new age, and at those great discov- 
eries which contributed chiefly in pro- 
ducing it. 

Where and when gunpowder was first 
invented cannot be positively ascertained ; 
it appears probable that the Chinese were 
very early acquainted with it, and that it 
came from them to the Arabians, and 
thence to Europe. But it was not as yet 
employed in war, and could not, therefore, 
with strictness be called gun-powder. It 
is not found to have been used for that 
purpose earlier than in 1350, and the dis- 



DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER — ARTILLERY — END OF CHIVALRY. 243 



covery of this application of it is ascribed 
to a German monk, Bertold Schwarz. He 
had, it is said, pounded a mixture of salt- 
petre, sulphur, and coals, in a mortar, 
when by accident a spark dropped into it, 
the mass ignited, and forced with great 
violence the pestle into the air. This ac- 
cident led to the thought of making great 
metal mortars for the purpose of war, from 
which stones and balls might be thrown 
against a hostile city, and thus was pro- 
duced the heavy artillery, which about 
the year 1400 was pretty generally used. 
The first time we hear of its being prac- 
tised, is at the battle of Crecy, between 
the French and English, in 1346. The 
smaller fire-arm, or arquebus, was invent- 
ed somewhat later ; this weapon, however, 
is mentioned in a record of 1361, when 
the city of Augsburg undertook to send 
thirty men armed with guns to the war 
which the cities then waged against the 
nobility.* 

By these newly-discovered instruments 
of destruction the whole system of war 
and military tactics became changed. In 
ancient times the hostile encounter was 
almost always maintained man to man, 
and hand to hand, with lance and sword ; 
whence individual force, dexterity, and 
prowess decided the victory. In case 
either one of the armies did not at an early 
stage cowardly turn round and flee, the 
battle was never decided before the field 
was strewed with the bodies of the greater 
portion of the combatants. The contests 
were sanguinary and decisive. But since 
the new plan now adopted was to fight at 
a distance, and the individual no longer 
had his antagonist face to face — leaving it 
to chance to decide whether his ball should 
contribute towards the success of the ac- 
tion, or waste itself in the air — and as the 
warrior had thus become more and more 
the mere simple machine employed by the 
calculations of the general, whose genius 
and judgment were now rendered sufficient 
to decide the battle — accordingly, by this 
new method of war the spirit of chivalry 
became gradually annihilated. The lat- 

* These guns, however, were merely simple tubes, 
which, like the cannons, were ignited by a match. 
But as this was tedious and troublesome, and impeded 
the power of taking aim, German ingenuity discovered, 
in 1551, at Nuremberg, the improved arquebus, in 
which the spark was produced by a steel wheel being 
made to strike in its revolution the flint ; and after- 
wards, in France, this invention was brought to the 
perfection of the present musket 



ter, in fact, was based upon the greatest 
development of personal strength, which 
gave to the individual such a superiority 
that a whole troop of common foot-soldiers 
were not able to resist the attack of the 
knight when, mounted on his barbed steed, 
and armed at all points, he dashed among 
them ; while now the most cowardly dis- 
posed man might, with his firelock, bring 
down the bravest warrior at a distance. 
The nobility for a length of time continued 
to oppose and contend against the use of 
this new arm of war, which they charac- 
terized as dishonorable, degrading, and 
perfidious to employ ; but when it finally 
obtained the superiority, the cavalier of 
the martial field of olden times was forced 
to succumb, and resign his battle-axe and 
lance. 

This change, however, did not come into 
operation all at once ; for long after the 
invention of fire-arms, while those who 
bore them formed but a small part of the 
army, and heavy cannon was only em- 
ployed in sieges, the mailed cavalry con- 
tinued to compose the ttite of the troops, 
and the nobility still preserved and main- 
tained their military discipline. The tour- 
naments still continued to form their prin- 
cipal festivals, where the youth of the 
nobility learned at an early age to play 
with danger ; and all the prohibitions of 
the popes and ecclesiastical councils issued 
against those who took part in them, on 
account of the danger attending them, (for 
they frequently ran with pointed lances,) 
and all the punishments which the Church 
inflicted upon those who engaged therein — 
as, viz., that none who died in a tourna- 
ment should receive Christian burial — 
were not sufficient to eradicate the enthu- 
siastic attachment to these festivals. And 
even down to the fifteenth century, there 
was scarcely a single princely family in 
Germany which had not lost some of its 
members in these essays at arms. Of 
Albert, margrave of Brandenburg, the 
German Achilles, it is related that he had 
thus tilted at more than seventeen tourna- 
ments with the pointed lance, and even the 
emperor Maximilian had entered the arena 
several times. Thus the historian of the 
house of Austria, Fugger, relates, that at 
a diet at Worms, in 1495, a French 
knight, Claudius Barre, appeared and chal- 
lenged the whole German nation to a trial 
of arms at single combat. The emperor 



244 



BRUTAL CHARACTER OF THE LAXZKXECHTE. 



Maximilian on this occasion took upon 
himself the right to fight for the honor of 
his people, and which he maintained by 
eventually overcoming the foreign knight 
with the sword, after their lances had left 
the combat undecided. While this empe- 
ror is. properly so called, the last of the 
chivalric emperors, and as the period of 
his reign concludes the middle ages, we 
find in some of his contemporaries, such 
as Gotz of Berlichingen, Franz of Sickin- 
gen, and Ulric of Hutten. the contest for 
the ancient splendor of their order against 
the mighty revolutions of time, again 
maintained, until their death. Even 
among the clergy of these chivalric times 
the warlike disposition of knighthood is 
occasionally apparent. When Frederick 
III. went forth against Charles the Rash, 
to deliver Neuss, the valiant bishop of 
Minister, Count Henry of Schwarzburg, 
was the first to land an army, consisting 
of Westphalians, Netherlander, and Low- 
er Saxons, and exhibited a greater degree 
of warlike zeal than even was shown by 
the imperial general, the margrave Albert 
(or Achilles) of Brandenburg himself; 
nay, he even cherished the hope of meet- 
ing the proud duke of Burgundy in battle, 
and engaging with him hand to hand in 
mortal combat. But as no battle took 
place, a truce having been determined 
upon, during which the Miinsterians had a 
hot engagement with the duke's Picardi- 
ans, the bishop, who could obtain no satis- 
faction for the insult offered to his army, 
challenged Duke Charles to fight a duel, 
but which the emperor Frederick prohibit- 
ed. The army, however, adjudged that 
in this expedition it was not the margrave 
of Brandenburg, but the bishop of Mini- 
ster, who had merited the title of the Ger- 
man Achilles. 

Meantime the whole system of military 
tactics underwent the most important chan- 
ges. Instead of the ancient levies of the 
ban, there were now introduced Lanz- 
knechte, or mercenary troops, and thus, with 
this change arose the entire distinction 
made between the martial and the civil 
order. In former times the imperial vogt, 
or intendant, who administered the judicial 
and civil affairs of a district, was, at the 
same time, the military chief or command- 
ant of the city and burgh, and the leader 
in the field, as were all the counsellors and 
officials of the princes. All the depart- 



ments so administered throughout the land 
harmonized and were conducted with equal 
energy in every part. Now, however, they 
were separated, and war became a distinct 
mercenary profession. 

But the worst part of this change was, 
that when the princes could not maintain 
their mercenaries in times of peace, the 
latter then, having neither the disposition 
nor ability to return to the employments of 
civil life, became a pest to society. The 
chronicle of Sebastian Frank complains 
bitterly against this : " The destructive 
landers,'"' he says, "are a shameless race, 
and of use to nobody : when they are not 
in pay or enrolled they run loose upon so- 
ciety, demanding war and misery. An 
unchristian and lost set, whose employment 
is murder, rapine, incendiarism, gaming, 
drinking, blaspheming, wantonly making 
widows and orphans, yea, whose only de- 
light is in the calamities of the people, feed- 
ing upon the vitals of mankind, and whether 
in or out of war. tormenting the peasantry. 
The state of matters, alas ! is come to this, 
that as soon as a man becomes a lancier, 
and from the moment he has taken the 
oath, and places a lance on his shoulder, 
henceforth to the end of his life he abandons 
all other work. Formerly, when a prince 
carried on a war, he fought with his own 
people : now, that these worthless fellows 
are employed, each adversary strives to 
outdo the other in the number of his soldiers 
and extent of his preparations for the war. 
so that it now costs more before it is begun 
and these hirelings are equipped, than for- 
merly it cost to commence and finish it alto- 
gether. Were it not for these mercenary 
troops, there would be much less war. and 
although a prince might be forced to fight 
with but as many hundreds as there are 
now thousands employed, he would still 
effect more glorious results ; for these ras- 
cals do ail in their power to protract the 
war, and sorry would they be, indeed, if 
they beheld it terminate and peace restored. 
Thus the country is exhausted to an extent 
that there is scarcely a prince or peasant 
who has any more money." 

The same chronicle makes honorable and 
clear distinction between these mercenary 
troops who served anybody that would give 
them pay, and those warriors who fought 
only for their country. " Those subjects,"' 
he says, " who in obedience to their princes 
enlist at their summons, and when the bat- 



INVENTION OF PRINTING— THE FIRST BIBLE. 



245 



tie is over return to their work, I do not 
call mercenary Lanzknechte, but brave 
and faithful warriors." Meantime, how- 
ever, these lanciers, whose insubordination 
has called forth such complaints, were ex- 
cellent soldiers ' in battle. Armed with 
lances eighteen feet in length, and pro- 
tected by a helmet and cuirass, they stood j 
like a firm wall, and their presented lances I 
resembled an impassable forest, whence 
their battle array was called by the French 
the Herisson, or porcupine-phalanx. The 
emperor Maximilian greatly improved their 
discipline. They eclipsed even the glory 
acquired by the Swiss, and now completely 
destroyed the superiority hitherto com- 
manded by the chivalric cavalry, whose 
importance had already been diminished 
by the Hussite and Swiss infantry. 

Equally as important as the invention 
of gunpowder was for war, was also the 
discovery of the art of printing for the ob- 
jects of peace. This also is the work of 
German ingenuity ; not, however, origi- 
nating in accident, inasmuch as it was 
found out by a process of profound study, 
and became perfected by degrees. 

There had been in use long previously, 
after the manner of the little figures which 
were carved in wood, and printed, a cer- 
tain description of wooden boards, upon 
which were cut all the letters necessary 
for the page of a book, there being as many 
such boards as pages in the books from 
which impressions were taken, whence the 
entire book was completed. Although this 
operation was much more troublesome than 
copying, yet with these boards they were 
enabled to print a book many hundred 
times, which repaid their labor. Great 
improvements, however, could yet be 
made ; and thus thought John Guttenberg. 
Born in 1401, at Mentz, of an ancient no- 
ble family, he, with all the powers of his 
mind, prosecuted the idea of cutting out 
the letters singly, of an equal size, on the 
end of small wooden sticks ; and after com- 
posing these into words, taking therefrom 
an impression, when he again took them 
to pieces, and used them for composing the 
next page. After many experiments, he 
succeeded. He entered into partnership 
with his townsmen, John Faust and Peter 
SchofFer, of Gernsheim ;* and this associa- 
tion enlarged the discovery by composing 

* The prevailing opinion that Schoffer was a clergy- 
man is incorrect. The name of Clericus, which he 



the letters of a mixture of metals, invent- 
ing the press, and preparing printers' ink. 
Thus they were prepared to print. Their 
first attempt was the Bible ; but the real 
inventor, Guttenberg, did not enjoy that 
fruit of his labors which he so richly de- 
served, inasmuch as Faust, the goldsmith, 
j who had advanced him money, after he 
I had spent his fortune in making the neces- 
sary experiments, deprived him, by legal 
process, of all his instruments and proper- 
ty, and excluded him from the concern. 
Thus the inventor of the most important 
and valuable art of ancient and modern 
times, was obliged to spend the remainder 
of his days dependent upon the bounty of 
the elector of Mentz, and died in 1468. 

In the year 1457, the first book, the 
Latin Psalms, was completed by Faust 
and his associates, and in 1462 the entire 
Bible. So great a difference was even 
then perceptible between the price of such 
a work and the expense of transcribing, 
that a Bible, which, when transcribed, cost 
from 400 to 500 florins, was to be had for 
30 florins. And thus did these men lay 
the foundation for the immense advantages 
subsequently derived by this great dis- 
covery, and by which every degree of 
knowledge which raises the intellectual 
character of man is no longer the pecu- 
liar privilege of the few, but may become 
not only the possession of whole nations, 
but of the entire world. Thence it is that 
the art of printing exerts a most wonder- 
ful influence in the development of man- 
kind. The law of this development, as is 
most evident from the observation deduced 
from all history, down to the present day, 
is, that the cultivation and intelligence of 
the human mind progressively enlarges its 
boundaries, and in its widening circle em- 
braces an increasing number of our fel- 
low-creatures. Although it may admit of 
dispute whether, upon the whole, we are 
further advanced in the arts and sciences 
than many nations of antiquity and the 
middle ages, the progress in the more uni- 
versal spread of knowledge can admit of 
no question, and it is the noble art of print- 
ing, which, as the great lever, has effected 
this glorious object. 

Of great importance to the extraordi- 
nary results of the art of printing was 
also the previous discovery of linen-paper. 

took, signifies also calligraphist, or one who devoted 
himself to the copying of books. 



246 



AMERICA— EAST INDIES— CHARLES V. 



Formerly, parchment was used, which, 
however, was too expensive and too thick ; 
then cotton-paper, which was not suffi- 
ciently durable. Paper made of linen, 
which is also probably a German discov- 
ery, first appears in a document of the 
year 1318, at Kauffbeuren. 

We close our general reflections upon 
the age just passed, with a few words upon 
the results produced by the discovery of 
America and a sea passage to the East 
Indies. 

They did not indeed originate in Ger- 
many, but they exerted a great influence 
upon that country ; not only by enlarging 
the empire of the mind, which must be one 
result, but also more particularly in pro- 
ducing a change in commerce. Until that 
time East Indian produce, of which Eu- 
rope required annually a vast supply, had 
been brought by various channels through 
Asia to the Mediterranean sea. and thence 



! taken especially by the maritime states of 
Italy and conveyed farther. The transit 
by land to the north was made, as has been 
before stated, through Germany. But now 
that the Portuguese, in 1498, had found a 
passage by sea round Africa, they were 
able, from the great profits of freightage, 
soon to monopolize the whole East Indian 
trade ; Venice and the other Italian mari- 
time states declined, and Germany also 
very soon indirectly felt the effects. Its 
trade became depressed in proportion as 
that of Portugal and Spain rose ; and, in 
consequence of this great reverse, the 
Hanseatic League was dissolved, although 
their commerce extended to many other 
wares. The German cities were from the 
sixteenth century no longer able to main- 
tain their ancient elevation in wealth and 
power, and thus also in this respect the 
way was paved for the rising power of the 
princes. 



SIXTH PERIOD. 

FROM CHARLES V. TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

1520—1648. 



Among the MS. documents relating to this period, 
the " Transactions of the Imperial Diets," as pre- 
served in the archives of the various individual states, 
are the most important, inasmuch as the diets never 
exercised so much influence at any period of our his- 
tory as from the commencement of the fifteenth cen- 
tury until the war of thirty years. Meantime, the 
newly discovered art of printing promoted especially 
the composition and circulation of historical works, and 
we find that, with every ten years, their number in- 
creased accordingly to a considerable extent. At the 
same time, the awakened desire for scientific research, 
and the taste for the study of ancient authors, became 
more and more generally diffused and appreciated. 

Among the writers, who treat upon the general his- 
tory of this period, are included : 

1. Paul Jovius, (born at Como, 1482, died as bishop 
of Nucerie, 1552,) Historia sui Temporis, from 1494 to 
1546. 

2. J. A. Thuames, or de Thou, (born in Paris, 1553. 
died 1617, as president of the parliament and chief 
librarian to Henry IV.; very learned and esteemed,) 
wrote likewise a Historia sui Temporis, 1543 to 1607. 

3. John Genesius de Sepulveda, (a Spaniard, born 
1491, died 1572, historian of Charles V.,) De rebus 
gestisCaroli V., Colon, 1657. 

4. Among the Spanish historians may be added : 
Petrus Salazar, Prudentius de Sandoval, Alphonso de 
Ultoa, and Antonius de Vera et Zunniga. 

5. Among the Italians : Louis Dolce, Gianbattista 
Adriani, and Gregorius Leti. Adriani is especially im- 
portant. 

6. Several separate and, in part, important writings, 
referring to the time of Charles V., in number about 



sixty-two, have been collected together by Simon 
Schard, in the second volume of his Script, rer. Germ., 
and by Freher, in the third volume of his Script. 
For the History of the Reformation we have : 

7. The writings of the reformers themselves and of 
their partisans, which are of the highest importance ; 
containing, at the same time, much in explanation of 
the political history of their time. The works of Lu- 
ther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and Calvin, need not be 
here especially enumerated. 

8. The works of Erasmus of Rotterdam, (bom in 
1467, died in 1536,) partly in accordance with, partly 
against the sense of the Reformation, are likewise im- 
portant; also— 

9. The writings of Ulric of Hutten, (born in 1480, 
died in 1523,) who came forth with glowing zeal and 
acute mind in the cause of the new ideas advanced. 

10. John Sleidanus, (bom in 1506 at Sleida, died in 
1556 ; professor of laws at Strasburg, and historian of 
the league of Schmalkald,) Commentarius de Statu 
Religionis et Reipublicse Carolo V., Csesare. An im- 
portant work ; continued by Londorp from 1555-64. 

11. George Spalatin, (born in 1482, died in 1545, 
court-chaplain and secretary to the Elector Frederick 
the Wise, who took a great share in the diet at Augs- 
burg in 1530,) Annales Reformationis, besides his Lives 
of the various Popes of his times, and some minor 
works, collected together in Menken's Script, rer. 
Germ. 

12. Veit Lewis of Seckendorf, (bom in 1626, died in 
1692 ; who, although not a contemporary, is, neverthe- 
less, a source of good authority, inasmuch as in his 
office as minister of Saxe-Gotha, he collected largely 
from the documents in the archives of Gotha,) Com- 



STATE OF THE EMPIRE. 



247 



ment. Hist, et Apologeticus de Lutheranismo, in reply- 
to the Hist. Lutheranismi of the Jesuit Lewis Maim- 
burg, (bora at Nancy in 1610, died in 1686,) which 
merits observation also. 

13. The acts relating to the History of the Reforma- 
tion were completed subsequently, at the commence- 
ment of the eighteenth century, from manuscripts 
preserved in the archives, by J. J. Muller, Valentin 
Loscher, C. Lehmann, &c, &c. 

The History of the Confession of Augsburg is espe- 
cially treated upon by— 

14. David Chitraus, (born in 1530, died in 1600, pro- 
fessor at Wittenberg, Rostock, and Helmstadt, who 
was commissioned by Maximilian II. to establish a 
plan of discipline for the Protestant church in Austria, 
and contributed towards the Formula Concordise,) in 
his Hist. Confess. Augustan®. He wrote, likewise, 
Lectures upon Charles V., Ferdinand I., and Maximil- 
ian II. 

15. George Ccelestin (senior court chaplain to the 
elector of Brandenburg, died 1576) wrote Hist. Comitior. 
Augusta?, 1530, celebratorum. 

Upon the War of Schmalkald : 

16. Louis d' Avila, a Spaniard, and general of Charles 
V., wrote his Comment, de Bello Germanico a Carolo 
V. gesto, 2 vols. Antwerp, 1550. He writes very much 
in favor of Charles V. On the other hand — 

17. Fred. Hartleder (born in 1579, died in 1640, a 
privy counsellor of Weimar) in his Transactions and 
Development of the Causes of the War against the 
League of Schmalkald, Frankfort, 1617, and Gotha, 
1645, embraces warmly the Protestant cause. His 
work is based upon the documents contained in the 
archives of Weimar. 

Upon the Council of Trent : 

18. Paul Sarpi, (born at Venice 1552, died in 1626, a 
monk and counsellor of that city,) History of the Coun- 
cil of Trent, written in Italian, and published in Lon- 
don in 1619, under the title of Petrus Suavis; trans- 
lated into German byRambach, Halle, 1761. 

19. In reply to Sarpi, whose writing is too free, ap- 
peared another History of the Council of Trent, by the 
Jesuit Sfortia Pallavicini, (born at Rome in 1607, died 
in 1667.) 

Biographies of celebrated men of that period : 

20. Adami Reisneri Comm. de vita et reb. gest. 
Georgii et Casp. Frundsbergioram. Frankfort, 1568. 

21. Joach. Camerarius, (born in 1500, died in 1547, a 
friend of Melanchthon, and professor of Tubingen and 
Leipsic,) Vita Melanchthonis and Vita Mauritii Elec- 
toris. 

22. Gotz of Berlichingen, (died in 1562,) Memoirs by 
himself ; edited by Pistorius, Nuremberg, 1731 ; and by 
Busching and Van der Hagen, 1813. 

23. Sebast. Schartlin of Burtenbach, (general of the 
cities in the war of Schmalkald,) Memoirs by himself. 

Original sources for the History of the Reigns of Fer- 
dinand I. and Maximilian II. may be found in : 

24. Script, rer. Germ, by Schard ; vols. 3 and 4. 

In reference to the period continued beyond the 
reign of Ferdinand II., and especially the Thirty Years' 
War: 

25. F. C. Count Khevenhuller, (imperial counsellor 
and grand master of the court, died in 1650,) Annales 
Ferdinandei, from 1578 to 1637. 

26. N. Bellus, Affairs of Germany in peace and war, 
under Matthias and Ferdinand II., from 1617-40. 

27. W. Lamormain, (a Jesuit and confessor of Fer- 
dinand II., died 1648,) Virtutes Ferdinandei ; Vienna, 
1637. 

2S. P. B. Burgus, (of Genoa, and a witness of the 
deeds of Gustavus Adolphus, accordingly in his favor,) 
Comment de Bello Suecico, from 1618-32. 

29. Eberh. Wassenberg, (of Emmerich, Historian of 
Wladislas, king of Poland,) Floras Germanicus de 
Bello inter Ferd. II. et III., et eorum hostes ab aim. 
1618-40 gesto ; very zealous against the Protestants ; as 
likewise— 

30. The Italian Historians of the War of Thirty 
\ears; viz., J. Ricci, J. Damiani, Galeazzo Gualdo, 
and others. 

On the other hand, in favor of the Protestant party,are : 
31 P. von Chemnitz, (Swedish counsellor and histo- 
rian, died 1678,) who wrote the Swedish-German war, 
in nine parts, but of which only two were printed. The 
others, preserved in the royal archives of Stockholm, 
have, no doubt, been used by: 



32. The celebrated Samuel Pufl'endorf, (counsellor 
and historian at Stockholm, subsequently privy coun- 
sellor, died in 1694,) in his work De rebus Suecicis sub 
Gust. Adolpho usque ad abdicationem Christinas. 

33. Tobias Planner, (counsellor of Saxony, born in 
1640,) in his Hist. Pacis Westph. 

34. And, commencing with the year 1617, the volu- 
minous work, Theatrum Europoeum, in 19 vols., by- 
various authors, and of very unequal, sometimes infe- 
rior, merit. 

Finally, in reference to the lives of two other distin- 
guished men of this period, Bemhard, duke of Wei- 
mar, and Wallenstein, duke of Friedland, we have : 

35. The Achievements of Bernhard, duke of Wei- 
mar, collected from the archives by E. S. Cyprian. 
Gotha, 1729. 

36. The Life of Wallenstein, by G. Gualdo. Lyon, 
1643, and 

37. The Original Letters of Wallenstein, from the 
year 1627 to 1634, throwing a new light upon his life 
and character. Edited by Fr. Forster ; Berlin, 1828. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



State of the Empire — Internal Anarchy — Charles V. 
of Spain, and Francis I. of France — Frederick the 
Wise, elector of Saxony — Charles V. elected empe- 
ror of Germany — His Character — Jealousy and Dis- 
content of the Spaniards — Try to dissuade Charles 
from accepting the Imperial Crown— New Spain- 
Discovery of Mexico — Arrival of Charles in Germa- 
ny — His Coronation, 1520— Schism in the Church — 
Causes which produced it — Ignorance of the Clergy 
— Their Vices— 3Iurmurs and Discontent of the Peo- 
ple — A Reformation in the Church universally de- 
manded— Scholastic Wisdom — Theology — Enlight- 
enment of Science — John Reuchlin. 

The imperial throne, now vacant by the 
death of Maximilian, required a successor. 
The general agitation throughout Europe, 
as well as the confusion prevalent in Ger- 
many itself, where the Faustrecht ap- 
peared immediately after the death of the 
emperor to resume its sway, demanded a 
monarch, endowed with energy and con- 
sequent power, in order to maintain the 
necessary equilibrium between the internal 
and external government. The war still 
continued between Spain and France upon 
the subject of Italy, although neither of 
these powers possessed the right of de- 
cision in the cause of a country which 
knew not how to govern or even help it- 
self, such decision being vested in the 
hands of the emperor alone. In the east 
the Turks again threatened to devastate 
the country ; and Hungary, reduced by 
maladministration as well as by the luxu- 
ry and effeminacy of the people, was no 
longer able to serve as a bulwark against 
this formidable enemy ; hence from this 
quarter likewise the emperor was called 
upon to come forth as the protector of Eu- 
rope. In Germany itself, and in the very 



248 



INTERNAL ANARCHY — '. 



FRANCIS I. OF FRANCE. 



heart of the empire, two grand contentions 
arose at this moment, and raged with all 
their ungovernable fury. Duke Ulric of 
W urtemberg, having cause to revenge 
himself upon the free town of Reutlingen 
for some offence, fell suddenly upon that 
place, in the winter of 1519, and having 
made himself master of it, he continued to 
hold it in possession as his own. The 
Swabian league, however, which had been 
established by the emperor Maximilian, 
in order to maintain the tranquillity of the 
land, finding the duke paid no respect or 
attention to their repeated summons to sur- 
render the town, advanced at once against 
him, and by their superior force not only 
regained possession of the place, but pur- 
sued the duke throughout his own terri- 
tories so closely that he was compelled to 
quit them for safety. 

In Lower Saxony again another still 
more sanguinary struggle raged — the so- 
called bishop's feud of Hildesheim. Two 
noblemen, lords of Saldern, but vassals to 
John, bishop of Hildesheim, proclaimed 
war against him, in which they were sup- 
ported by the dukes of Wolfenbuttel and 
Calenberg ; while, on his side, the bishop 
found assistance from the duke of Liine- 
burg, and the counts of Lippe, Hoya, and 
Diepholtz. On the 28th of January, 1519, 
both parties met on the plain of Soltau in 
Luneburg, and after a most obstinate and 
sanguinary battle, the victory was gained 
by the bishop, although severely purchased, 
while on the other side the valiant duke 
of Calenberg with other nobles were taken 
prisoners, and four thousand of their men 
were left dead on the field of battle. The 
continued repetition of such scenes could 
not but produce the most dangerous conse- 
quences, since, although the Landfriede 
had happily succeeded in putting an end 
to the feuds and robberies of the lesser no- 
bility and freebooter knights, it became 
more and more evident that in order to 
prevent the princes from following in the 
same steps, and thus by force of arms 
seeking to add by conquest to their pos- 
sessions, it was rendered necessary to elect 
an active and strong-minded emperor, who 
should maintain and protect the authority 
of the laws. 

Maximilian had, in the course of his 
reign, gained several voices in favor of his 
grandson Charles, already king of Spain ; 
many princes, however, still thought con- 



sideration requisite before they could under- 
take to place the imperial power in the hands 
of a sovereign who already reigned over the 
half of Europe ; for, as inheritor of the 
houses of Spain and Austria, Charfes pos- 
sessed, besides Spain and the kingdom of 
Naples and Sicily, the beautiful Austrian 
provinces, and all the patrimonial territories 
of Burgundy in the Low Countries. If to 
so much splendid power the additional lus- 
tre acquired by the possession of the impe- 
rial crown Avere to be added, it was to be 
feared — thus the princes thought — that his 
house might become too powerful, and 
thence conceive the proud and ambitious 
project of invading and destroying the liber- 
ty of the German princes, and seek accord- 
ingly to render the empire, without limita- 
tion, hereditary and independent. 

From another side again, as his competi- 
tor for the imperial crown, came forth to 
oppose him the king of France, Francis I. 
The pope was in favor of his election, at 
least he appeared to be so ; in addition to 
which, this young sovereign had gained a 
great reputation by his first expedition to 
Italy, where, for his valiant and chivalric 
bearing, especially in the victorious battle 
of Marengo, he was extolled — particularly 
by his own nation — to the very skies. The 
ambassadors from France presented to the 
assembled princes at Frankfort a document 
laudatory of their royal master, in which 
they thus alluded to the danger threatened 
by the incursions of the Turks : — " He must 
indeed be wanting in understanding who, at 
a time when the storm has broken forth, 
should still hesitate to confide the steerage 
of the vessel to the most skilful helmsman." 

Nevertheless, in spite of the confidence 
with which the envoys spoke, the princes felt 
the danger of electing a French king to be 
emperor of Germany ; and as the elector 
of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, to whom 
they had offered the crown, declined it with 
the magnanimous observation in excuse — 
" That the inferior power of his house was 
not equal to contend with the difficulties of 
the times," adding even his recommenda- 
tion to them to elect the young Spanish 
king instead, the princes, after further con- 
sideration, remembered and admitted that 
at least he was a German prince, and the 
grandson of their late revered emperor 
Maximilian ; they decided accordingly in 
his favor, and elected him to the imperial 
throne on the 28th of June, 1519. Before 



CHARACTER OF CHARLES V. — JEALOUSY OF THE SPANIARDS. 249 



the election, however, his ambassadors were 
obliged by the princes to sign the following 
conditions, viz. : " That the emperor shall 
not make any alliance, nor carry on any 
war with a foreign nation, without the ap- 
probation of the princes, neither shall he 
introduce any foreign troops whatever into 
the empire ; that he shall hold no diets be- 
yond Germany; that all offices at the impe- 
rial court and throughout the empire shall 
be conferred upon native Germans ; that in 
all the affairs of the empire no other lan- 
guage but German or Latin shall be em- 
ployed ; that in conjunction with the estates, 
he shall put an end to all the commercial 
leagues which, by means of their capital, 
have hitherto held so much sway, and main- 
tained so much independence ; that he shall 
not pronounce the imperial ban against any 
state of the empire without urgent reasons, 
nor without a proper form of judgment ; 
and, finally, that he shall come to Germa- 
ny as speedily as possible, and make that 
country his principal residence." 

These and other articles being sworn to 
by the ambassadors in the name of their 
royal master, they proceeded at once to 
hasten his arrival in the Germanic empire. 

The youthful monarch had occupied the 
Spanish throne about two years ; but as yet 
he was unknown to the world. Hitherto 
the majority hoped but little from him. 
The premature death of his noble and chiv- 
alric father, Philip the Handsome, the in- 
sanity of his mother Joanna, his separation 
from his brother Ferdinand, who had been 
educated in Spain, while he himself had 
been brought up entirely among strangers 
in the Netherlands — all these circumstan- 
ces acted unfavorably upon his mind, and 
produced that retiring;, exclusive disposition 
which made him shrink from the world and 
live in the privacy of his own mind. Added 
to this, it was but slowly that he arrived at 
that clearsightedness and independence of 
action which subsequently produced his 
greatness ; it appeared indeed, as if he were 
to be guided and ruled entirely by his coun- 
sellors. Those alone who commanded a 
profound knowledge of human nature were 
capable of observing and interpreting the 
movements by which his soul was actuated. 
At a grand tournament in Valladolid, the 
young king, who from his childhood was 
warmly attached to chivalric exercises, en- 
tered the lists completely equipped, and ex- 
changed a few courses at arms with his 
32 



chief master of the horse. Pie broke three 
lances with him, and each time the air was 
filled with shouts of applause from the as- 
sembled multitude ; for the youth, who had 
not attained his eighteenth year, and had 
always been considered as weak, both in 
body and mind, and of easy persuasion, ap- 
peared here in the most undaunted and no- 
ble character, and with all the vigor of a 
knight, while on his shield he bore the 
motto : " Nondum !" (not yet.) Those who 
knew and understood the meaning of the 
word, awaited with impatience the moment 
when he would be enabled to come forth 
before the world uncontrolled and inde- 
pendent. 

That moment had now arrived. He 
was chosen emperor of Germany, and it 
was for him now to decide promptly 
whether or not he would abandon Spain in 
order to seize the reins of government in 
his new empire. The important announce- 
ment appeared to produce no change what- 
ever in our young prince of twenty years : 
" Our king, who is now emperor," says an 
eye-witness, " seems to regard this, the 
greatest fortune that can happen to mortal, 
as nothing ; his greatness of mind and 
gravity of expression are so extraordinary, 
that any one would suppose from his ap- 
pearance, that he was playing at football 
with the universal globe." The resolu- 
tion he was called upon to adopt would 
have proved to any ordinary mind a mat- 
ter of extreme difficulty. Spain at that 
time was in a state of great fermentation, 
and almost ready to burst into full flame ; 
for strong and influential parties stood op- 
posed to each other face to face : the royal 
authority, a powerful nobility, and proud 
and wealthy cities. In Germany again he 
would find an agitated empire in complete 
anarchy, and above all, the grand contest 
which raged upon the subject of religion, 
and to which all eyes were at present di- 
rected. The Spaniards themselves were 
discontented at beholding their sovereign 
invested with the imperial dignity ; they 
feared they might in consequence be re- 
duced to the form of a secondary kingdom, 
subject to the rule of arbitrary governors. 
" What else had the empire now become," 
they said, " but the mere shadow of an im- 
mensely overgrown tree ?" In such poor 
estimation was the ancient and, formerly, 
so venerated imperial crown now held in 
foreign countries. 



250 



MEXICO DISCOVERED— SCHISM IN THE CHURCH. 



The majority of his counsellors advised 
and warned Charles not to abandon his 
hereditary kingdom for the sake of a pos- 
session so uncertain, and at least difficult 
to maintain ; but his genius saw and ac- 
knowledged that this very circumstance 
paved the way for bold and independent 
action ; he found himself summoned as it 
were to a career of glory, and he followed 
his destiny without fear or hesitation. It 
was at this time, while he was on his jour- 
ney to Germany, there to take possession 
of the crown offered to him, that the im- 
portant news arrived announcing the ac- 
quisition made in his name of a second em- 
pire, that of Mexico, then just discovered 
in the new world. A more common mind 
would have been overcome with the weight 
of such great events ; but the effect they 
produced upon the young and mighty em- 
peror was only such as to accelerate the 
maturing of his mind. His care and soli- 
citude were now claimed by one entire 
moiety of the universe, and from that mo- 
ment he showed in all his actions the cha- 
racter of a clear-sighted, truly energetic, 
and comprehensive-minded ruler. 

Charles landed in the Netherlands and 
continued his journey on to Germany. He 
was crowned on the 22d of October, 1520, 
at Aix-la-Chapelle, with great pomp and 
magnificence, and he then appointed the 
17th of April of the following year as the 
day for holding the first imperial diet at 
Worms. This diet was one of the most 
brilliant that had ever been held ; it was 
attended by six electors and a numerous 
body of spiritual and temporal princes. 
The most important transaction that occur- 
red on this occasion was the trial of Martin 
Luther. 

The church had for centuries been sub- 
ject to violent agitation and disorder in 
every shape, and the reckless abandon- 
ment of all external discipline had operated 
materially to shake the faith of numerous 
Christians, as well as to corrupt the morals 
of the people generally. Complaints of 
the decline of the church, and the desire 
for its general reform, had long been grow- 
ing loud and more urgent in expression. 
There are none, let them belong to what- 
ever doctrine or sect they may, who, know- 
ing the history of those times, will not ad- 
mit that these complaints were at that pe- 
riod too well founded. They were raised 
in the name of entire nations, and proceed- 



ed more especially from the mouths of the 
faithful adherents of the ancient church, 
as well as the venerable bishops them- 
selves, together with the most learned and 
profoundly-minded men of the church and 
state. 

At the time of the great schism, from 
the year 1373 to 1414, when several popes 
disputed the possession of the holy chair of 
St. Peter, each rival claimant excommuni- 
cated the other in turn, together with all 
his partisans ; so that all the countries of 
Christendom found themselves subject to 
the ban of the church, either by the one 
pope or the other, and all religious and 
pacific minds were at a loss to know where 
in reality they should seek and find the 
true peace of God. At such a period, and 
under the influence of such violent and fu- 
rious passions, it was to be expected that 
that veneration hitherto felt for the name 
of the pope would be sensibly weakened, 
and the invisible and sacred bonds grad- 
ually loosened. 

To this was added a state of ignorance 
which prevailed throughout the spiritual 
body, or at least among the majority of its 
members ; for it was not possible for a few 
individual men of learning to succeed in 
dissipating the darkness that overspread 
the mass. And as darkness of the mind 
always brings with it its consequent vices, 
which can alone be extirpated by divine 
light, a number of the clergy were at that 
time clothed in sin, an abomination in the 
eyes of the good, and a scandal to the people 
generally. In the year 1503, accordingly, 
some time before the appearance of Luther 
in the field, one of the first theologians oi 
Germany represented this degenerated, 
fallen state of the church in strong terms : 

" The study of theology, 7 ' he says, " is 
despised among us, and the gospel of 
Christ, as well as the excellent writings of 
the holy fathers, are completely neglected ; 
faith, piety, moderation, and all the other 
virtues, so much praised and valued by 
even the pagans themselves, the wonders 
of God's grace and the merits of Jesus, all 
these are doctrines upon which the most 
profound silence is maintained by them. 
And such people too, who understand noth- 
ing of either theology or philosophy, are 
elevated to the highest dignities of the 
church, and become the guardians of our 
souls ! Thence the melancholy decline oi 
the Christian church, the hatred towards 



IGNORANCE AND VICES OF THE CLERGY. 



251 



the clergy, and the total absence of all 
good and salutary instruction ! The prof- 
ligate life led by the ecclesiastics, shocks 
the feelings of well-minded parents, and 
prevents them from allowing their sons to 
devote their lives to that once holy service. 
They omit entirely all search into the 
Holy Scriptures, and they corrupt their 
taste to such an extent, that they no longer 
feel their beauty and force ; they become 
lukewarm and lazy in their duty, and are 
only too glad when the service is speedily 
at an end, the chant and sermon hurriedly 
concluded, and their presence no longer 
required ! They discourse more gravely 
and impressively with the mortal upon 
whom they may have a claim for money, 
than with their divine Master and Creator. 
Instead of devoting their leisure time to 
study, they pass it in gambling, debauche- 
ry, and licentiousness, without caring in 
the least, or having any consideration for 
the disgust their conduct everywhere pro- 
duces. How then is it possible that in this 
shameful state of things, the laity can feel 
respect for them or religion itself ? The 
gospel tells us that the path to Heaven is 
narrow and difficult, but they only strive 
to make it broad and easy." 

That this description is not too strongly 
colored, is proved by a hundred other un- 
doubted witnesses ; and although the monks 
accused the learned professor, who, as we 
have just seen, reprimanded them so se- 
verely before the pope, Julius II., still he 
had truth so much on his side, that the 
papal commissioners themselves pronounced 
in his favor. The pious bishop of Augs- 
burg, Christopher of Stadion, in a synodal 
charge to his clergy, coincides exactly in 
all these complaints, and reproaches them 
bitterly for their vices, which, he says, 
could not fail to produce the most corrupt 
and destructive effects upon the church and 
the public ; and Hugo, bishop of Con- 
stance, although inimical to the doctrine of 
Martin Luther, complains equally in the 
same strain, together with many others of 
the chief members of the Catholic church 
of that time. 

But how could it be otherwise, when the 
investiture of the spiritual offices was regu- 
lated by the amount of purchase-money, 
without any regard to the qualifications and 
real character of the individual chosen, 
and when, as has already been shown, only 
the smallest portion of the clergy in reality 



possessed any knowledge of the word of 
God ? To such a degraded state indeed 
had the church become reduced, that ac- 
cording to well-authenticated evidence, we 
are assured that out of all the principal 
leading members of the clerical body 
throughout the Swiss confederation, at the 
commencement of the sixteenth century, 
there were not three who had ever read the 
Bible ; and when the people of Valais re- 
ceived about this time a letter from Zurich, 
in which was quoted a sentence from the 
sacred volume, only one man was to be 
found who knew the book, and even what he 
knew was by hearsay ! 

How deplorably great and universal 
must have been the ignorance existing at 
this period through the negligence of the 
clergy, when we find not only that men were 
unacquainted with the source itself of reli- 
gious devotion and Christian virtue, but that 
its very name was scarcely known to them ! 

In Italy, and especially in Rome, this 
want of faith and knowledge in divine 
matters was still more strikingly evident 
and notorious. Under the pontificate of the 
accomplished Leo X., from 1513 to 1521, 
the arts certainly nourished in the capital 
to a remarkable degree ; but while these 
ripened forth from their rich and fertile 
soil, they smothered the simple germs of 
the true religion of God. The enjoyment 
of the senses was valued above every thing 
as the greatest treasure ; the belief placed 
in the existence of a higher invisible world, 
could not coexist with such principles, and 
the calm and silent piety of the heart be- 
came in the eyes of the world a subject of 
ridicule and contempt. The usages and 
forms of divine worship appeared to be re- 
tained and practised in order to serve rather 
as a check upon the mass of the people, 
whence they soon became regarded in the 
character of purely external ceremonies. 

In proof of this we will refer to the 
opinion expressed by the pious Pope A- 
drian VI., in his letter addressed to his 
nuncio at the diet held at Nuremberg, in 
1522 : " We know," says he, " that in this 
holy see much corruption has continued to 
abound during many years, great abuse in 
all ecclesiastical affairs, as likewise in all 
that has emanated from our chair, and in one 
word, a depravation in every thing. Thence 
it is no wonder if the disease has trans- 
ferred itself from the head to the other 
members — from the pope to the priests ; 



252 REFORMATION DEMANDED— PERVERTED SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE. 



therefore, we promise, as far as lies in us, 
to devote all our attention and care towards 
reforming first of all our chair, whence 
perhaps all this evil has originated, in order 
that as the destruction has issued thence to 
descend to the inferior grades, the cure and 
renewed enjoyment of health may likewise 
find their source there." 

The feeling of the necessity existing for 
a thorough reform in the church, had long 
since become so generally acknowledged 
throughout all ranks of society, that the 
lower orders had continued, even from the 
middle of the fourteenth century to the 
present time, to nourish the false hope of 
the return of the emperor Frederick II., 
(then dead since more than a hundred 
years,) assured that he would come forth as 
the desired reformer. We have also ob- 
served what urgent representations were 
made by the Germans, the English, and 
French, when assembled at the councils of 
Constance and Basle ; and in the year 
1510, the diet at Augsburg raised once 
more its voice against the state of the 
church, having drawn up and established 
ten heavy charges, in reply to the pretended 
and assumed rights of the popes, and by 
which the schism of the church was al- 
ready proclaimed : " For if the causes for 
these complaints," said the diet, " are not 
removed or remedied, there is good reason 
to believe that a general persecution against 
the priests must shortly arise, or, according 
to the example already set by the Bohe- 
mians, one universal abandonment of the 
Roman church will, perhaps, inevitably 
take place." 

Thence we perceive that, at this time, 
the ancient sacred edifice of the hierarchy, 
which had existed during so many cen- 
turies, and which, according to its funda- 
mental object, was well and indispensably 
calculated for the unity of the Christian 
nations, was now undermining itself, and 
produced, by its own means, its tottering 
condition ; inasmuch as it had lost all 
respect and consideration among the peo- 
ple, because its leading members, living in 
proud and haughty security, paid no regard 
to the spirit of the times. 

However evident all we have just re- 
lated must appear to the minds of all men, 
we must, nevertheless, once more strictly 
examine the operating causes of the mighty 
change produced in the world, in order to 
perfectly comprehend it. 



A little good-will and gradual ameliora- 
tion would have sufficed to satisfy and re- 
move all the charges referred to — inas- 
much as they related chiefly to the exter- 
nal forms and administration of the church 
— had there only been, at the head of reli- 
gion itself, a genius in possession of clear- 
minded views, an active spirit, and ener- 
getic powers. But such a leading genius 
was no longer to be found in the clerical 
body ; religion itself no longer maintain- 
ing its pure spirit. Not only the ignorance 
of which we have before spoken, but a 
completely -perverted system prevailed in 
almost all the doctrines of religion. They 
set a great value upon a certain class ot 
school wisdom, which they styled scholas- 
tic science, and which, in ancient times, 
had originated in the mixture of philosophic 
principles with the doctrines of Christianity. 
The plain and simple truths of the Holy 
Scriptures, so intelligible and clear, even 
to the mind of the most ignorant and 
juvenile reader, were clothed in obscure 
and erudite words, and these words were 
regarded as the principal object ; they 
soon proceeded to discuss their interpreta- 
tion, and of the disputants he who carried 
on the contest in the most sharp and refined 
style of language was held to be the most 
learned. Thence, as it often happens, 
that both spirit and truth become lost in the 
crowd of many words, so likewise the gen- 
tle, simple, and beneficent light of Chris- 
tian faith vanished more and more from the 
science which they called their theology. 
With the fifteenth century, however, a new 
epoch opened upon the sciences, and the 
human mind became increasingly enlight- 
ened ; the darkness in which it had hitherto 
been enveloped, now yielded before the 
divine light of knowledge. Before its 
overpowering rays, the scholastic sophism, 
with all its shallow pretensions to its im- 
portant interpretation of words, could no 
longer maintain its ground ; a few select 
and distinguished men of the day now came 
forth and attacked it with the irresistible 
weapons of reason and sarcasm, exposing 
it to the world in all its bareness. Its 
disciples, however, on the other hand, 
while thus overwhelmed by the force of 
their adversaries, would not in their retreat 
endeavor to redeem their character, by 
seeking to find the necessary light even in 
their own doctrine — which might have 
operated in their favor, and have served as 



JOHN REUCHLIN— OUTBREAK OF THE REFORMATION. 



253 



their only protection — but with blind zeal 
and defiance they sought to extinguish and 
destroy at once the dawning rays which 
announced the coming of the glorious day 
— a vain and futile effort, which has, at all 
times, only been attended with disgraceful 
defeat, and ever fallen powerless to the 
ground . 

In Germany this new light in the sciences 
was more especially promulgated by John 
Reuchlin, (born at Pforzheim in the year 
1455,) one of the first and most distin- 
guished men of learning that our country 
ever produced, possessing the most erudite 
knowledge of the Latin, together with the 
Greek and Hebrew languages — a man en- 
dowed with a mind so vast and comprehen- 
sive, that it was said of him, that in his 
mind was combined all the scholarship, all 
the knowledge of the arts and sciences, to- 
gether with all the learning then to be 
found in the Christian world. Many of the 
theologians vented all their rancorous pas- 
sions against him, although he lived be- 
fore the time of the Reformation, and ac- 
cordingly took no share in it. We must 
not, however, include all the leading mem- 
bers of the clergy among those so plunged 
in darkness, for the before-mentioned Chris- 
topher of Stadion, bishop of Augsburg, did 
not think it beneath his dignity to under- 
take a journey of seven days to Freiburg, 
in order there to become acquainted with 
the celebrated Erasmus of Rotterdam, 
while John of Dalberg, bishop of Worms, 
formed a library containing the works of 
the most distinguished writers, and was so 
attached to the sciences, that he became a 
member of the Rhenish society of learned 
men, founded by the poet Conrad Celtes. 
But the number of these better-minded 
men was too limited to cope with those 
whose blind and furious zeal, in their 
hatred to all enlightenment, confounded 
together the good with the bad, and pro- 
duced, accordingly, the destruction of their 
own empire. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Outbreak of the Reformation, 1517— Abuses in the 
Church— Letters of Indulgence— Martin Luther the 
Reformer— His exposure and condemnation of these 

Eroceedings — Is summoned to appear in Rome — With- 
.eld from going by the Elector of Saxony— The Pope's 



Nuncio, Cardinal Cajetan, and Luther at the Diet of 
Augsburg, laid— Refusal of Luther to retract— Lu- 
ther's Appeal to the Pope for a fair hearing'— Contro- 
versial Discussion between Luther and Dr. Eck— Lu- 
ther maintains his ground— The Pope's Bull aga □ I 
Luther— The Reformer burns the Bull with the 
Canon Law and Eck's Writings— Propagation of t lie 
New Doctrine— Luther addresses the People— Ulrick 
of Hiitten and Francis of Sickingen— Frederick the 
Wise of Saxony and the Princes in favor of Reform— 
The Grand Diet at Worms. 1521— Charles V.— The 
Pope's Legate, Cardinal Alexander— Luther's aj»- 
pearance and Examination there — Solemn Refus- 
al to Retract— The Emperor's Declaration— Luther 
Excommunicated and his Writings burnt— Conveyed 
by the Elector of Saxony for Safety to the Castle of 
Wartburg — His translation of the New Testament- 
Tumults and Revolutions of the Peasantry— Munzer 
the Fanatic— Battle of Frankenhausen— Munz 
Death— Tranquillity restored. 

We have in the preceding chapter en- 
deavored to develop the causes which 
during several centuries had prepared the 
way for the schism of the church ; but 
that which more immediately hastened its 
accomplishment, was the abuse so univer- 
sally practised, in the declaration and dis- 
tribution of indulgences. 

The agents of the papal court were 
authorized to offer letters of the indulgence 
in every country that recognised the pope, 
by which those who obtained them received 
from the church remission of the punish- 
ment they had merited by their sins. Such 
letters of indulgence, however, were not of 
recent origin, inasmuch as in the early ages 
of the church, when it punished public 
crime by severe and public penitence, by 
exclusion from divine worship, often for the 
space of years, &c, there were many pen- 
itents, especially those who distinguished 
themselves by their zeal in the practice 
of repentance, whose term of trial was 
abridged by the bishop, or the punishment 
altogether remitted, and the performance 
of pious acts of gifts or endowments substi- 
tuted. At the time of the crusades, the 
popes accorded to all who undertook to en- 
counter the dangers and fatigues of these 
expeditions, the remission from all the pun- 
ishment of the church to which they would 
otherwise have been obliged to submit. 
Subsequently, the same indulgence was 
granted to all those who, in lieu of taking 
part in these holy wars personally, con- 
tributed their aid in money instead. After 
this period, the object of these expiatory 
acknowledgments was extended to other 
pious works, such as the building of 
churches, schools, &c. ; and when Europe 
was threatened by the Turks, the expedi- 
tions against their armies presented nu- 
merous opportunities to the popes to distri- 



254 



ABUSES IN THE CHURCH— MARTIN LUTHER. 



bute their letters of indulgence. Very 
soon, however, the belief that these letters of 
indulgence absolved their possessors from 
sin itself — an error quite in keeping with 
the coarse and depraved state of feeling in 
those times — became more and more pro- 
mulgated among the people, and was sup- 
ported generally by the prelates themselves ; 
while, on the other hand, suspicions were 
increasingly nourished and murmurs loudly 
expressed, with respect to the employment 
of the sums professedly collected for the 
exclusive object of works of piety. Thence, 
at length, both the princes and the people 
united their voices in complaint against the 
existing abuse of indulgences, and subse- 
quently the council of Trent issued a de- 
cree against the criminal agents of the 
church, " who availed themselves of the 
word of God in order to fill their own 
pockets with lucre." 

In order to draw from these indulgences 
as much profit as possible, the sale thereof 
in entire provinces was let out to the high- 
est bidders or farmers-general, and these 
again appointed several sub-farmers, who, 
for the sake of gain, committed the most 
shameful abuses. To promote the sale of 
these letters of indulgence, they selected 
men who, possessing eloquence and impu- 
dence, might succeed in exciting the minds 
of the people and induce them to purchase 
them by wholesale ; and truly, the shame- 
less proceedings of some of these men ex- 
ceed all belief. They sold indulgences 
for the most heavy crimes committed : for 
pillage of churches, perjury, and murder ; 
nay, the promise of indulgence could even 
be obtained before the commission of the 
contemplated crime. 

But additional evidence to prove the 
destructive influence with which such an 
abuse of religion must operate upon the 
morality of mankind, is superfluous. Suf- 
fice it, that the long-nourished feeling of 
discontent at length burst forth. Leo X. 
having, in the year 1516, announced fresh 
indulgences in order to complete the build- 
ing of the church of St. Peter in Rome, 
commenced by his predecessor, Julius II., 
it was generally believed that an important 
share of the money collected, viz., that con- 
tributed in Saxony and the countries as far 
as the Baltic, was not to be devoted to the 
building of the church of St. Peter, but 
was intended for the pope's sister. In ad- 
dition to which, the clerical agents employed 



on this occasion, especially a certain Ber- 
nard Samson, and John Tetzel, the former 
in Switzerland, and the latter in Saxony, 
excited by their shameful conduct the 
greatest indignation. 

It was at this moment that Martin Lu- 
ther, born in 1483, at Eisleben in Thurin- 
gia, an Augustinian friar, and professor of 
theology in the university of Wittenberg, 
came forth and publicly condemned these 
indulgences ; and on the eve of All Saints' 
day, (the 31st of October, 1517,) in the 
church of the palace of Wittenberg, he 
read ninety-five theses in which he bitterly 
inveighed against the traffic of indulgences, 
and challenged all the most learned men of 
the day to contest them with him in a pub- 
lic examination. Similar public assertions 
on certain articles of faith were not of un- 
usual occurrence, but those expressed by 
Luther were conveyed in a language so 
bold, and in a spirit of such independence, 
that they excited forthwith the greatest 
sensation, and were read throughout Ger- 
many with the most eager curiosity and 
interest. Therein he maintained, " that 
the pope possessed no power to remit sins 
himself, but only to pronounce their remis- 
sion by God ; that whatever power herein 
the pope might possess was equally shared 
by every bishop and prelate ; that whoever 
sincerely repented of his sins would receive 
remission from punishment without the in- 
dulgences ; that the treasures of the Sa- 
viour and the church were so equally 
distributed and shared in by the faithful, 
that the pope could not impart to them any 
fresh claim," &c. At the same time he 
did not at all contemplate attacking either 
the authority of the pope or that of the 
ancient church. The doctrine, however, 
which he published upon the indulgences 
could not but excite the most violent opposi- 
tion on the part of Tetzel and his friends, 
especially the Dominicans, who for a long 
time had been opposed to the order of the 
Augustinians ; they denounced him as a 
heretic, and they already threatened him 
with the sword and burning pile. 

Meantime in Rome itself the most strict 
silence was maintained, although the dis- 
putes had now continued for nearly nine 
months. The whole matter, however, was 
not the less known there, but the pope per- 
haps regarded it merely in the light of a 
monkish dispute ; besides which, in Rome 
they were totally unacquainted with Ger- 



DIET OF AUGSBURG— LUTHER AND DR. ECK. 



255 



many. They considered it to be still a 
half-savage country, its population patient, 
accustomed to obedience, and slow in form- 
ing a resolution. But this ignorance and 
depreciation of our nation proved fatal to 
the pontifical chair, and brought down like- 
wise upon ourselves the most disastrous 
consequences. 

At length, in the month of August, 1518, 
Luther was summoned to appear at Rome, 
there to justify himself before the tribunal 
of the Holy See. But the elector of Sax- 
ony, as well as the University of Witten- 
berg, which, but recently founded, owed its 
rapidly flourishing state entirely to Luther, 
would not suffer him to make the danger- 
ous journey. By their mediation he re- 
ceived permission to adjust the affair in 
Germany, and with this object to present 
himself at the end of October, 1518, before 
the pope's nuncio, Cardinal Thomas de Vio 
of Gaeta, (usually known under the name 
of Cajetan,) at the diet of Augsburg. The 
latter, who, as a Dominican friar, had al- 
ready been an opponent of the theological 
views and opinions of Luther, demanded 
from him a retraction of his sentiments. Lu- 
ther declared his willingness to make it, 
provided what he had advanced could be 
refuted by the Holy Scriptures. The car- 
dinal, however, who considered it beneath 
his dignity to hold argument or dispute 
with a monk, abruptly dismissed him with 
the words : " Retire hence, nor come again 
before us, unless it be that thou wilt re- 
tract." 

Luther now composed and handed in to 
the nuncio a letter of justification, in which 
he acknowledged he had acted too impetu- 
ously, and had not spoken of the pope with 
sufficient respect, promising henceforth to 
maintain complete silence, if on their side 
his opponents were subjected to the same 
restraint towards him. As, however, he 
received no reply to this document, he held 
himself bound to address the pope person- 
ally, and with the aid of a notary, in the 
presence of witnesses, drew up in Latin an 
appeal against the unjust judgment pro- 
nounced, requiring that a more fair and 
just inquiry and decision should take place 
before the pope himself ; this paper he 
caused to be affixed publicly on the gate of 
the cathedral church in Augsburg, and im- 
mediately afterwards quitted that city. 
This document proves, that Luther at that 
time had not yet formed the resolution to 



separate himself from the Romish church ; 
but the pressure of circumstances, and the 
warmth of controversy with his adversaries, 
impelled him from one step to the other. 

A professor of theology at Ingolstadt, in 
Bavaria, Dr. John Mayer of Eck, usually 
called Dr. Eck, one of the most zealous 
and talented partisans of his church, a man 
of comprehensive scientific knowledge, the 
exercise of which he always had at com- 
mand, and to which he added an imposing 
figure and a powerful, penetrating voice, 
challenged Luther and another professor 
of Wittenberg, Andrew Carlstadt, in the 
year 1519, to meet him at a public disser. 
tation upon subjects of faith in Leipsic, 
which formed part of the territory of 
George, duke of Saxony. They both ap- 
peared there, accompanied by a pupil of 
Reuchlin, Philip Melanchthon, afterwards 
so celebrated, and at that time professor of 
Greek at Wittenberg ; the meeting was 
likewise honored with the presence of the 
duke of Saxony himself. The controver- 
sial trial lasted from the 27th of June to 
the 13th of July, 1519. They discussed at 
great length the subjects of the principal 
articles of faith and the respect due to the 
pope ; but as always happens in all dis- 
putes, when carried on with zealous spirit, 
words of bitter and acrimonious import 
were exchanged between the two parties, 
while, however, it became more and more 
evident in the course of the contest that 
Luther successfully maintained his position, 
in not only rejecting the infallible authority 
of the pope, but likewise that of the coun- 
cils, until at length Eck exclaimed : " Rev- 
erend father, if you then really do believe 
that a lawfully-assembled council can err, 
then must I regard you as a gentile and 
publican."* Saying which he quitted the 
assembly, and proceeded at once to Rome, 
and demanded that the heretic should be 

* In this celebrated controversy at Leipsic, which 
forms a critical point in the great development of the 
history of those times— Duke George of Saxony himself 
regarding it as such, he having proposed that the de- 
cision of the dispute should be transferred to the con- 
sideration of other universities— two peasants' sons 
represented the conflicting ideas that characterized the 
present and future times, and their unity or still greater 
division could not but produce the most important con- 
sequences. While Luther on the one hand was the 
descendant of a peasant family, living at the foot of 
the Thuringian forest in Moravia, Eck, on the other 
was the son of Michael Mayer of Eck, a peasant, ana 
afterwards mayor of that place, (similar to Luther's 
father, who became a counsellor of Mansfe Id,) whither 
he had wandered to work in the mines— he, as younger 
son, not having any patrimonial claim to the farm. 



256 



THE POPE'S BULL BURNED— THE NEW DOCTRINE. 



visited with the utmost rigor of the apos- 
tolic power. 

Accordingly, he soon reappeared in 
Germany armed with a bull from the pope, 
in which forty-one propositions selected 
from Luther's writings were designated 
as heretical, while he himself, unless he 
publicly retracted them within sixty days, 
was declared under the ban of the church ; 
and which the zealous agent endeavored to 
circulate throughout all the cities of Ger- 
many. But it found admission only in a 
very few places ; the magistrates gener- 
ally forbidding it to be made public, and 
where the document did find a place upon 
the walls of any town, it was immediately 
torn down by the people — such was the re- 
spect in which the principles of the new 
doctrine were already held. Luther now 
proceeded without farther hesitation to per- 
form an act which rent asunder forever 
the ties which bound him to the ancient 
church. He convoked by public summons 
the whole of the members of the University 
of Wittenberg, to meet on the 10th of De- 
cember, 1520, before the Elster gate of the 
town, when all the students having erected 
a funeral pile, one of the magistrates set 
fire to it, and Luther, amid the loud accla- 
mations of the assembly, cast into the burn- 
ing mass the popish bull, together with the 
canon law and Eck's writings. 

It is impossible to describe the rapidity 
with which the new doctrine spread from 
one end of Germany to the other, extend- 
ing even far beyond the frontiers of the 
empire.* Such celerity cannot be con- 
ceived by those who form their calculation 
by the scale of sensuality ; for it is only 
the vivid flash communicated by the light- 
ning of the mind which ignites in millions 
the inflammable materials already pre- 
pared, that can produce such mighty results. 

When an age is ripe for great changes, 
the signal alone is wanted to rouse the 

* The ninety-five propositions of Luther against the 
indulgences were distributed throughout Germany 
within a fortnight, in the course of from four to six 
weeks they were known by the whole of Europe, and 
the universal excitement they must have produced may 
be easily conceived. In 1520, Luther's writings were 
translated in the Netherlands into Spanish, and in 1521, 
a traveller found and purchased them in Jerusalem, j 
When Herr von Miltitz, a distinguished Saxon, travel- 
led, in 1519, from Italy to Wittenberg, deputed by the 
pope to prevail upon Luther to make concession and 
to promise to maintain silence, he himself acknow- 
ledged to the great reformer that throughout his jour- 
ney in Germany he had found on the average three 
voices to one in his favor, and at this time Luther had 
only been two years upon the scene. 



whole community into action, as if struck 
by the wand of magic ; and he who has 
thus supplied that want, and proclaimed it 
aloud, is appreciated by all as the great 
author, although he has only pronounced 
with his voice that which has long since 
existed in the lap of time, and has become 
already matured within the souls of all. 
Meantime we have seen in the preceding 
chapters, how the progress that science had 
already made, together with the great in- 
ventions of the preceding century, more 
especially the art of printing, now the 
means of at once communicating to thou- 
sands information that otherwise had re- 
mained limited to the possession of a few 
— perhaps locked up within the walls of 
the monasteries — how, we say, all this com- 
bined to prepare the world for the coming 
changes we have already seen. On the 
other hand again, this very rapidity shown 
in the propagation of the new doctrine is 
an irrefragable proof of the great fall of the 
religious and moral spirit of that epoch. 
For attachment to tlv^ customs, more ('spe- 
cially to the faith of his fathers? it so 
powerfully and deeply rooted in the heart 
of man, that to separate himself from this 
as long as he at all sincerely feels its in- 
spiration, is contrary to the laws of human 
nature ; it can only occur when that which 
should constitute the most ardent and fer- 
vent feeling of the heart has become cold 
and torpid, and reduced to a state of mere 
external display. 

Many other causes existed among the 
citizens and the people generally, which 
throughout the empire operated materially 
to hasten the crisis. Up to the present mo- 
ment the great majority of the common free 
people had been completely neglected and 
despised ; nothing had been done to raise 
them from their state of ignorance, and thus 
all their mental energy was left to perish 
in uninterrupted barbarism. Luther now 
came among them as their great national 
teacher; promising them instruction, nay, 
making them his arbitrator in his dispute. 
And this he undertook and performed in a 
language so energetic and penetrating, that 
it struck upon the ears of the people in tones 
hitherto unknown to them. 

The external condition of the people like- 
wise promoted Luther's exertions. The 
peasantry, it is true, had gradually ac- 
quired a state of greater freedom than had 
existed in former times ; but the services 



THE NOBILITY— FRANCIS OF SICKINGEN. 



257 



they were condemned to perform were 
nevertheless even now very oppressive. 
They were still forced to bend under the 
weight of burdens inflicted upon them by 
all the other states, and hitherto their rights 
as men continued, generally speaking, un- 
recognised by knights, lords, and princes, 
and by many of these they were over- 
whelmed with the most unjust severity. 
Now, however, the word — " Christian lib- 
erty !" resounded and was echoed forth 
even to the huts of these oppressed peas- 
ants. This magic word, which was not in- 
terpreted by them in its spiritual and moral 
sense, but in that of its action upon their 
external condition, excited within them new 
and great hopes, producing, unhappily at 
first, as we shall learn, the most calamitous 
disorders and turbulence. For, in the uni- 
versal commotion of one entire generation, 
as is demonstrated in the history of all na- 
tions, it is difficult to preserve the just lim- 
its of moderation. 

Equally prompt with the people, the no- 
bility of Germany were soon forced to join 
in the newly-created excitement. They 
were still animated with enthusiasm for the 
liberty and honor of their country ; and as 
Germany was now regarded and treated 
with open contempt by Rome, this was 
cause sufficient to enlist them on the side of 
him who came forth to attack the power of 
the Romish see. On the other hand, the 
revived love for science had also made con- 
siderable progress among the greater and 
better portion of the nobility ; and since the 
invention and introduction of gunpowder 
had given a death-blow to chivalry, the 
practice of the sword was no longer the 
only occupation of the young nobleman ; 
the more noble exercise of the mind en- 
larged his views, and prepared him for new 
and more elevated thoughts ; and, finally, 
Luther in his celebrated work, addressed 
" To the Nobility of Germany," had more 
especially made an appeal to them, and called 
upon them to devote themselves to his cause. 

Among the most zealous of his prose- 
lytes was included Ulric of Hutten, a 
leader of the people, such as are ever pro- 
duced in an age of excitement and revolu- 
tion ; keen and energetic either with the 
sword or pen, at once a warrior and a 
scholar, full of wit and persuasive elo- 
quence, he was ever ready for the most 
perilous enterprise. Once when in his 
presence he heard four Frenchmen speak 
33 



in dishonorable terms of the emperor, he 
forthwith threw down his gauntlet at their 
feet, and challenged them in the name of 
German chivalry to mortal combat ; he 
fought and overthrew them all. He was 
equally successful with his pen as with 
his sword, when he employed it in con- 
demnation of the monks, the abuses of re- 
ligion, and against all those who opposed 
enlightenment and civilization. A satire 
which he wrote in the Latin tongue, now 
more and more generally cultivated, cre- 
ated so much interest that it was soon cir- 
culated throughout the principal cities of 
Europe. This extraordinary man, possess- 
ing a soul of fire, joined Luther's party, 
less perhaps from a zeal for religion than 
from an interest excited by the bold and 
dangerous character of the reformer's 
cause ; he wrote upon, and devoted all his 
eloquence to the subject, and would have 
gladly promoted it with his sword as well, 
had he been permitted. 

Another man of rank, and equally im- 
portant, Francis of Sickingen, in Franco- 
nia, warmly espoused the principles of 
Luther. His character was so highly es- 
timated, and he was so much distinguished 
for his valor and noble qualities, that he 
was at one time considered by many of the- 
princes and nobles, even worthy to wear 
the imperial crown itself. He generously 
offered his friend Luther an asylum in his- 
castle, and the protection of himself and 
friends against any persecution he might 
experience. Luther, however, gratefully 
declined his proffered aid; and when the 
ambitious nobleman — whose active mind 
would not allow him to remain quiet, 
but urged him continually to carry out 
some great project — commenced hostilities 
against Richard, archbishop of Treves, and 
declared open war against that prelate,. 
Luther in vain endeavored formally to op- 
pose it. This enterprise was one of the 
last demonstrations made of the effects pro- 
duced by the Faustrecht in Germany, in- 
asmuch as, on this special occasion, this 
single knight, with his friends, raised an 
army of twelve thousand men, and, in de- 
fiance of the interdictions of the imperial 
diet, marched forth against a powerful 
prince of the empire, fell upon his territo- 
ries, devastating with fire and sword the 
entire land, and only withdrew therefrom, 
and slowly marched back to his own strong 
castle, after two other princes, Lewis, 



25S 



FREDERICK OF SAXONY AND THE PROTESTANT PRINCES. 



elector of the Palatinate, and Philip, land- 
grave of Hesse, having come to the aid of 
the archbishop, were seen advancing with 
their united forces against him. 

In the following year, however, the val- 
iant knight was himself closely besieged 
by these same troops in his fortress of 
Landshut, and, after defending himself 
bravely for a considerable time, he was 
mortally wounded and taken prisoner. 
He died a few days afterwards, and even 
his enemies could not withhold from him 
their admiration, while they joined in the 
regret so universally felt, that such great 
powers of mind and body as those possessed 
by the fallen hero, should thus have sunk 
without having been able to develop them- 
selves in a more extensive sphere of action. 

The death of Sickingen, however, pro- 
duced nothing unfavorable to the cause of 
Luther, inasmuch as he was strictly care- 
ful in maintaining it exclusively indepen- 
dent, and free of all those external political 
demonstrations with which that knight and 
others were so desirous to invest it. And 
this, indeed, was the principal reason for 
the duration of its institutions ; for had it 
been abandoned to the chances of this 
outward struggle, all the active, zealous 
strength of the nation would have con- 
sumed itself, and the whole excitement of 
the times would have passed away, and 
left but little or no trace of the contest. 

Among the princes of Germany, Fred- 
erick the Wise, elector of Saxony, took 
the most active part in, and supported with 
great zeal the cause of Luther. He did 
not at first advance to his aid, neither did 
he defend him; nevertheless, he would not 
let him be delivered up to his enemies be- 
fore he had been brought to a conviction 
of his error. After the diet of Worms, 
however, he decided at once in his favor : 
" The affairs of Germany," said he, in 
1523, in Nuremberg, "have advanced so 
far, that it is no longer in the power of 
man to lead them in a good direction ; 
God is alone capable of performing this, 
and to Him we must commit this impor- 
tant controversy, which is beyond our 
strength." 

By degrees several of the other princes 
declared in favor of the new doctrine ; 
some no doubt from sincere conviction, 
while others were charged by their adver- 
saries with being allured to their conver- 
sion by the spoil they obtained from the 



ecclesiastical territories. Still, even such 
inducements would not have sufficed to ex- 
plain such great and important results. 
The principal motive which operated so 
powerfully in the cause of reform, origi- 
nated in the spirit now roused throughout 
the German nation, which sought to strike 
out a new and more level course in each 
of the three principal elements of life — the 
state, the sciences, and in religion, in sub- 
stitution for that which had grown old and 
obsolete. The leaders and promoters of 
this new epoch felt conscious that in it was 
involved the commencement of a grand 
change in the w r orld. On the other hand, 
however, the friends of the old system 
armed themselves more and more zeal- 
ously to battle for its protection and pres- 
ervation. 

It was resolved that at the grand diet of 
Worms these religious disputes, which at 
this moment kept the minds of all through- 
out the empire in great suspense, should be 
brought to a termination. There the pope 
had now sent his legate, Cardinal Alexander, 
in order to prevail upon the emperor and 
the princes to employ the arm of temporal 
authority against Luther. To his great 
astonishment, however, the nuncio on his 
arrival discovered that all classes of the 
people were universal in their declarations 
of antipathy against the pope. Every- 
where he found distributed, writings, songs, 
and pictures, in mockery and contempt of 
the pope ; and he himself, although in the 
suite of the emperor, was compelled to 
witness his appearance greeted with every 
mark of derision, and at times even his own 
life endangered. At the diet he demanded, 
in accordance with his instructions, the 
adoption of the most severe measures against 
the man who was already condemned as a 
heretic, laying, at the same time, before the 
princes, a long list of propositions selected 
from Luther's works, in order to prove how 
much he really deviated in the articles of 
faith from the doctrines of the church, and 
especially in those of the council of Con- 
stance. The elector of Saxony now, how- 
ever, rose in opposition to the legate, and 
insisted that Luther himself should be heard, 
in order to learn from his own lips wheth- 
er these propositions were or were not 
correctly and faithfully copied from his 
writings, and whether he acknowledged 
them as such. In this opinion he was sup- 
ported by the emperor and all the princes ; 



THE GRAND DIET AT WORMS — LUTHER'S EXAMINATION. 259 



the cardinal, however, opposed it, saying, 
" that what had been already decided by the 
pope, could not be subjected to examination 
before a diet composed of spiritual and tem- 
poral members." In reply it was stated to 
him, that they did not desire to examine the 
faith of Luther, but merely to hear from his 
own mouth whether or not he had actually 
written and taught that for which he was con- 
demned ; therefore, for this reason, it was 
necessary he should be summoned before 
the diet. This, in fact, was one of the most 
important acts in the history of the Refor- 
mation ; for thence the cause of Luther 
had become an open and national affair. 

His friends, and especially the elector 
of Saxony, now demanded for him the im- 
perial and inviolable safe-conduct ; this 
was granted, and Luther immediately set 
out from Wittenberg on his journey to 
Worms. As he proceeded on his route, 
he soon learned to know the strength of his 
party ; for the people flocked in thousands 
from every quarter to behold and welcome 
him ; and when, on the day after his arri- 
val at Worms, (the 17th of April,) he was 
conducted to the diet, the grand-marshal of 
the empire was obliged to lead him a by- 
way, across gardens and obscure parts ; 
so numerously thronged was the whole 
town. His appearance, on entering the 
hall in which the diet was held, produced 
no great effect ; the emperor himself is re- 
corded to have said, as he turned to his 
neighbor : " This man would never succeed 
in making a heretic of me." And truly, 
Luther was at this moment very pale, and, 
as he was only just recovering from a se- 
vere fever, presented a rather emaciated and 
feeble appearance. In this weak state, his 
feelings were at first not a little affected 
when he found himself unsupported by a 
single friend, standing alone in the august 
presence of the emperor himself, and so 
numerous a body of the princes and nobles 
of the empire. 

A vicar of the archbishop of Treves now 
put to him the question in the name of the 
emperor and the diet there assembled, 
whether he acknowledged as his own the 
waitings then shown to him, and if he per- 
sisted in maintaining the propositions therein 
contained ? To the first part he replied, 
yes ; but with respect to the latter, he beg- 
ged to have a short time granted him for 
consideration before he returned an answer. 
Accordingly he was allowed until the fol- 



lowing day. He then reappeared before 
the assembly, and publicly declared : " That 
his writings were of three kinds ; some 
treated upon the subject of articles of faith 
and good works, which his enemies did not 
in any respect find offensive — he could not, 
therefore, retract them without injury to 
his conscience ; that others attacked the 
power of the popes and their decrees, and 
if he retracted them he should only thereby 
confirm their tyranny in the face of the 
whole world ; the rest were directed against 
those who defended papacy, and had at- 
tacked him in their writings ; he confessed 
that therein he had used severe and bitter 
language, but which must be ascribed alone 
to the treatment he himself had received 
from his adversaries." He then concluded, 
saying : " If they could convince him from 
the Holy Scriptures that he was in error, 
he was ready forthwith with his own hands 
to cast the whole of his writings into the 
flames." 

The chancellor replied, that they were 
not there to dispute with him, but to hear 
from his own lips whether or not he would re- 
tract. Upon which Luther declared with 
the most solemn determination, that his 
conscience forbade him doing so : where- 
upon he was dismissed. 

On the following day an especial confer- 
ence took place with Luther, in which the 
elector of Treves himself took a very ac- 
tive share ; but all attempts to bring him 
to a retraction were in vain ; and when 
eventually the elector demanded of him 
whether he knew of any means by which 
all might be restored to order and tranquilli- 
ty, his last words in reply were : " If this 
work is a human work, then it will disap- 
pear of itself; but if it comes from God, 
then you cannot disturb or arrest its prog- 
ress. " 

The emperor, on the other hand, declared 
to the princes in decided and serious terms : 
" That he was resolved to consecrate all he 
possessed, his empires, kingdoms, states, 
friends, his body and blood, nay, life itself, 
to check at once all farther progress of that 
impious and ungodly spirit, which other- 
wise must involve himself and the whole 
German nation in eternal shame and dis- 
grace ; that his ancestors, the Christian 
German emperors, the Catholic kings of 
Spain, and the dukes of Austria and Bur- 
gundy, continued, to the latest period of 
their lives, faithfully attached to the Roman 



260 



LUTHER EXCOMMUNICATED. 



church ; that he had received from them as 
an inheritance the Catholic doctrine and 
discipline of the church, in the faith of 
which he would live and die ; that, conse- 
quently, he would no longer listen to Lu- 
ther, but dismiss him at once from his pres- 
ence, and treat him as he would a heretic." 

This declaration of the emperor was of 
grave and serious import. If the question 
had been limited to the mere curtailment of 
the pontifical power, he might not, perhaps, 
have beheld this generally increasing agi- 
tation without some degree of pleasure ; 
but when he had reason to believe that it 
involved the apostacy of the ancient and 
eternal faith, to which he was so much and 
so sincerely attached, and that thence the 
unity of the church was menaced, he felt 
himself justified in expressing, in the strong- 
est terms, his fixed determination to oppose 
it. His penetrating, comprehensive glance, 
which embraced and recognised acutely 
the great relations of the world, quickly 
beheld and measured in advance the 
mighty consequences of these changes : he 
foresaw the dissension and irritation that 
must be produced in all minds, and the 
contest of opinion which, so soon and so 
easily converted into a contest of arms, 
would terminate in the dreadful realities 
of a religious war. All this danger it was 
Charles's firm opinion he could smother in 
its birth, and he felt that his dignity of em- 
peror and protector of the church imposed 
upon him this duty. And, assuredly, had 
he been supported everywhere by the same 
invariable and firm will, had not so many 
impure, worldly views been brought into 
operation against it, and produced their 
baneful influence ; but more especially, 
had the truly honest and sincerely disposed 
Pope Adrian VI. — who reigned in the years 
1522 and 1523, and whose serious wish and 
intention it was to reform the church — lived 
but a short time longer, then, perhaps, our 
country would have been spared the inflic- 
tion of the dreadful scenes it was doomed 
to endure. 

In his hereditary lands, where he was 
sole master, Charles certainly did endeavor 
to extirpate with great rigor the new doc- 
trine ; he considered it was here especially 
his right and duty to do so ; and the de- 
crees of his council, the voice of his peo- 
ple, and particularly of the Spanish nation, 
together with the Neapolitans, all combined 
to demand this severity from him. But in 



Germany, on the other hand, where he had 
to treat with a number of independent 
princes and a nation in a state of general 
excitement, where he was bound by the 
stipulations of his election, and where every 
violent act was regarded as an attempt to 
acquire the independence of the imperial 
power, he proceeded for a considerable time 
to act with the greatest moderation. The 
preservation of peace appeared to him of 
paramount importance, and he was very 
desirous to bring the parties to mutual con- 
cessions. For this very reason he was 
closely watched by the Spaniards through- 
out his whole existence, from a fear that he 
might be infused with heretical principles 
by his connection with the Germans. 

Several of Luther's bitterest enemies 
sought to persuade the emperor to the 
adoption of violent measures against him, 
grounding their arguments upon the same 
principles which had operated in bringing 
Huss to the stake ; but Charles replied, 
that his imperial word was inviolable, and 
he granted Luther an extension of his safe 
conduct for twenty-one days, during the pe- 
riod of his return home. Nevertheless, 
many of his friends still trembled for his 
life, dreading some secret treachery ; and 
on his arrival in Thuringia, his royal pro- 
tector, the elector of Saxony, caused him 
to be removed from his carriage, as if by 
violence, by several disguised knights, and 
conveyed at night, through a deep wood, to 
the strong castle of Wartburg, near Eisen 
ach. There it was arranged he should re 
main concealed, until the fury of his ene- 
mies became appeased. 

Meantime, in Worms, the imperial ban of 
excommunication was pronounced against 
him, as well as against his adherents and 
protectors. His books were condemned to 
be burned wherever they were found, and 
he himself was adjudged to be taken pris- 
oner, and delivered up to the emperor; 
such was the edict of Worms, dated the 
8th (26th) of May, 1521. In Rome, great 
rejoicings took place ; and even in Germany 
itself it was generally believed thai the 
whole affair was now settled and at an end. 
But a Spaniard, Valdez, wrote from the diet 
itself to one of his friends thus : " Far from 
beholding the termination of this tragedy, I 
only see its commencement ; for I find that 
the minds of the Germans are especially 
excited against the pontifical chair." And 
even while the emperor was still in Worms, 



LUTHER AT WARTBURG— FIRST GERMAN NEW TESTAMENT. 



201 



after the writings of Luther had been pub- 
licly burned, some copies which had es- 
caped that fate were openly offered for sale. 

Luther himself continued solitary and un- 
interrupted in his isolated, but secure asy- 
lum in the castle of Wartburg, and devoted 
those tranquil moments to translating the 
New Testament into German, so that it 
might be read and understood by every one 
throughout the empire. While thus em- 
ployed, he was informed that, through mis- 
taken zeal, serious riots had broken out in 
Wittenberg, where the people had forced 
open the churches, committing the most 
serious injury by destroying all the holy 
figures and pictures contained therein, to- 
gether with their altars and confessionals ; 
and he was grieved to find that these furious 
and blindly zealous rioters were led on by 
his friend, but violent enthusiast, Carlstadt. 
Casting aside all fear, Luther at once aban- 
doned his place of refuge, and, without hav- 
ing waited until he received the permission 
of the elector, he appeared in Wittenberg, 
in March, 1522, where he preached to, and 
remonstrated in severe terms with the peo- 
ple, upon their outrageous conduct, and 
succeeded in again restoring peace and 
order. 

Shortly afterwards, however, events of a 
far more serious nature occurred, which 
threatened to destroy all order in the civil 
state of Germany. We have already 
shown, at the close of the government of 
Maximilian I., what discontent existed 
among the peasantry throughout the em- 
pire, and that the leagues formed in Alsace 
and Swabia were only put down by force 
of arms. Some sparks, however, still glim- 
mered amid the ashes, and, in the course 
of a short time, combining their whole force, 
burst forth once more into one universal 
flame. The rural population considered 
themselves entitled to an equality of rights 
with those hitherto their lords and masters, 
and in south Germany especially, where 
the sight of the prosperity and indepen- 
dence enjoyed by their neighbors, the 
Swiss — strikingly contrasting with their 
own condition — acted powerfully upon the 
mind, the indignation of the people was first 
roused, and the flame of discord and revolt 
again produced its devastating effects. 

The first that rebelled were the peas- 
antry of the abbot of Kempten and those 
of the archbishop of Augsburg. Twelve 
articles, containing all the rights and de- 



mands made by the whole body, were 
drawn up in Swabia, and distributed and 
made known throughout the whole of Ger- 
many with astonishing and almost incredi- 
ble rapidity, viz. : " That the peasants 
should be allowed to choose for themselves 
the ministers who were to preach to them 
the word of God, pure and without the in- 
troduction of any worldly matter ; that in 
future they should not pay any other 
tithes but that of corn ; that they had 
hitherto been treated as slaves, although 
by the blood of our Saviour all men had 
been made free, and, although they desired 
not to live independent of all superior au- 
thority, they were, nevertheless, resolved 
no longer to continue in this state of slave- 
ry, unless it could be proved to them by 
the Holy Scriptures that they were in 
error. That, finally, they had to complain 
of many things, but that they would ob- 
serve silence in the hope that what they 
claimed would be yielded, and that their 
lords would treat them in accordance with 
the counsel and precepts of the gospel, 
and while they moderated the oppression 
they had exercised from the earliest times 
down to the present moment, they, their 
lords, should likewise abstain from adding 
thereto daily fresh burdens." 

There can be no doubt but these de- 
mands were just, and, at the same time, 
moderate ; but when the accomplishment 
of the object demanded was left to the 
charge of the brutal mass, then the pas- 
sions soon overcame the weak and sub- 
dued voice of moderation, and bursting 
through every barrier, became deaf to 
reason, and their fury knew no bounds. 
As is the case in all such riotous pro- 
ceedings, the complainant became the 
judge in his own cause, and exercised the 
very same injustice by which he himself 
had been previously oppressed. The peas- 
antry, collected together in various strong 
bodies, commenced with attacking the 
castles of the nobles and the rich posses- 
sions of the clergy, burning and destroy- 
ing every thing, and often putting to death 
the owners. These troops soon increased 
to armies, of which Swabia alone supplied 
three. In Franconia the riots grew more 
and more serious, extending even to 
Wlirtzburg, which city combined with the 
peasantry against its bishop and the rest 
of the Franconian nobility. Already, in- 
deed, a great number of the cities through- 



262 



MUNZER THE FANATIC— LUTHER AND THE PEASANTRY. 



out Upper Germany had joined in league 
with the peasants, while several princes 
and nobles, such as the elector palatine, 
the counts of Hohenlohe, the bishops of 
Bamberg and Spires, &c, had entered in- 
to negotiation with the rioters, and had 
been forced to promise a removal of their 
burdens based upon the twelve articles 
aforesaid. 

In Thuringia the hallucination of this 
excited period was shown in another form, 
although not altogether dissimilar in spirit, 
inasmuch as it was founded upon religious 
enthusiasm. A secular preacher, Thomas 
Munzer, formerly one of Luther's first ad- 
herents, pretended that he was gifted with 
especial divine visions from God, by which 
he was enabled to reveal the essence of 
Christian liberty with much more clear- 
ness than Luther. " God,"' he said, " had 
created the earth as an inheritance of the 
believers, and all government must be 
regulated only by the Bible and divine 
revelations. There was no necessity what- 
ever for the princes, superior authorities, 
the nobility, or the priests, and the distinc- 
tion which existed between the rich and 
the poor was altogether unchristian ; inas- 
much, as in the kingdom of God all men 
must be equal." Such doctrine, however, 
caused Munzer to be banished from Saxo- 
ny, and he repaired to Miihlhausen in 
Thuringia, where he gained over the peo- 
ple, and caused them to upset all authority, 
and make him their preacher and governor 
of the town. His principles of the equal- 
ity of all men, and of the community of 
possessions, which he introduced after he 
had driven all the more wealthy inhabitants 
from the town, augmented the number of 
his partisans considerably, and extended 
his influence to a great distance beyond his 
seat of government. 

The whole of Thuringia, Hesse, and 
Lower Saxony, were in danger, and as 
now the war of the peasantry raged like- 
wise in the south of Germany, there was 
too much reason to fear that the fanatics of 
every part would combine their forces, and 
thus, like a rushing torrent, march through 
the whole empire, destroying and sweeping 
all before them. In this state of peril into 
which the whole community was about to 
be ingulfed, a deputation from the peasant- 
ry waited upon Luther, and submitted to 
him the twelve articles for his approbation ; 
at first he agreed that several of their de- 



mands were just, and condemned the op- 
pression of the princes and nobility ; he 
then, however, reproached the people for 
their violent and riotous proceedings, repre- 
senting to them that Christian liberty was 
a spiritual liberty ; and when now T the 
Munzer revolution arose, he himself, in 
order to remove at once every impression 
that such outrages were at all connected 
with his doctrine, called upon the princes 
to draw the sword against the revolters. 
And truly it was high time to make this 
appeal ; inasmuch as the castles of the 
nobles, and the monasteries in Thuringia, 
Franconia, Swabia, and along the banks 
of the Rhine as far as Lorraine itself, were 
now already demolished, and presented 
one universal mass of smoking ruins. 

Accordingly the princes, at Luther's 
urgent exhortation, united their forces 
; against the rebels in Thuringia, led on by 
| the Elector John of Saxony — Frederick 
I the Wise having recently died, after hav- 
I ing beheld with sorrow the commencement 
of these sad scenes — George, duke of Sax- 
ony, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, and 
Henry, duke of Brunswick. A division 
of their army, under Philip of Hesse, 
marched at once against a body of the 
peasantry near Frankenhausen in Thu- 
ringia, on the 15th of May, 1525. 

The princes, in order to bring the riot- 
ers to terms by lenient measures, promised 
them pardon if they would retire peaceably 
and give up their leaders. Munzer, how- 
ever, in order to avert the danger from 
his own person, took advantage of the ap- 
pearance of a rainbow which at the mo- 
ment presented itself in the heavens, in 
order to excite anew the mad enthusiasm 
of his partisans, declaring to them that it 
came as a messenger to him from God. 
For the moment he succeeded in his object, 
for, roused by his inflammatory language, 
the fanatics rushed upon the ambassadors 
of the elector and stabbed them with their 
daggers; and fortifying themselves in their 
| intrenchments, they prepared for a vigorous 
' defence. In a very short time, however. 
I their blind and desperate courage sunk, 
and they looked in vain for the appearance 
of the troops of angels which had been 
) promised to them by Munzer ; he himself 
was one of the first who fled, while the 
\ greater part of his army was put to the 
sword. The fugitive leader took refuge 
in the loft of a house in Frankenhausen, 



BATTLE OF FRANKENHAUSEN— CHARLES V. — FRANCIS I. 



263 



out was soon afterwards discovered, drag- 
ged forth and beheaded, dying without 
evincing the slightest courage or fortitude. 

Just about the same time, the wars of 
the peasantry in the south of Germany were 
likewise brought to an end. The Swabian 
league, which had been renewed, collected 
an army, and under the leadership of 
George Truchsess of Waldburg, attacked 
and destroyed the various troops of peasants 
in Swabia and Franconia with the same 
success as in Thuringia. Everywhere the 
most dreadful retribution was now inflicted 
by the conquerors upon all those who had 
taken a share in the revolutionary scenes, 
and the most revolting cruelties were per- 
petrated. 

Thus these terrible and sanguinary com- 
motions, which might have produced the 
complete overthrow and destruction of the 
institutions of Germany, had these excited 
powers been brought into effect by the in- 
fluential direction of skilful men, were 
once again promptly subdued. As it was, 
however, they occasioned a sacrifice of 
much blood ; it being calculated that more 
than 100,000 of the peasantry perished in 
these contentions. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Foreign Relations of Charles V. — Francis I. of France 
— War between these two rival Monarchs — Italy- 
Milan — The Duke of Bourbon — The Chevalier Bavard 
—The Battle of Pavia, 1525— Defeat of the French- 
Francis I. taken Prisoner— Madrid — The King of 
France liberated — His dishonorable Breach of Stipu- 
lation — The Imperialists in Rome — The Pope a Pris- 
oner — His Ransom — War with France resumed — 
Andrew Doria— Peace of Cambray, 1529 — Charles V. 
crowned Emperor and King of Lombardv in Bologna 
— His Generosity — Return to Germany— First League 
of the Protestant Princes, 1526— The Augsburg Con- 
fession, 1530 — Melanchthon— His Character of Charles 
V. — John, Elector of Saxony — His determination — 
The Imperial Council— The Emperor's Declaration- 
Reply of the Protestant Princes — Ferdinand, King of 
Rome, 1531— Religious Peace — The Turks in Hun- 
gary — Their Defeat— Ulric, Duke of Wurtemberg — 
Restored to his Possessions by Philip of Hesse — In- 
surrection of the Anabaptists— Their Defeat— The 
Emperor in Africa— Tunis— His Triumph and Libe- 
ration of 22,000 Christian Slaves— Francis I. attacks 
Italy— Charles V. enters France— Suspension of Arms 
— Interview between the two Monarchs at Aigues- 
Martes— Revolt in Ghent— Progress of Charles V. 
through France and Ghent — Hospitality received — 
Peace restored in Ghent— The Diet at Ratisbon, 1541 
— Charles V. in Algiers — Disastrous Expedition— His 
Fortitude— Return to Italy— Francis I. resumes Hos- 
tilities—His 111 Success — Charles V. on the Rhine — 
Attacks the Duke of Cleves— Overcomes and pardons 
him— Marches into France — Advance upon Paris— 
The Peace of Crepi, 1544. 

During this interval the emperor Charles 
had not been without occupation abroad. 



He had proceeded from the diet in Worms 
to the Netherlands and thence revisited 
Spain, where he remained nearly eight 
years ; his penetrating glance embraced 
the whole of Europe. His immediate at- 
tention, however, was more especially 
directed to the movements of Francis, 
king of France, who, as a dangerous neigh- 
bor and rival, availed himself of every 
opportunity to gain some advantage over 
him. 

It would be useless to investigate the par- 
ticular causes of jealousy between these 
two monarchs ; in their character as men, 
and their political relations to each other 
as rulers, ample foundation existed for this 
rivalship. Charles, like Francis, was ruled 
by ambition and pride, but in him, these 
passions assumed a more ennobling char- 
acter. Both had been rivals for the impe- 
rial throne, and Francis, who claimed supe- 
riority not only in years but in reputation 
as a knight, and in personal endowments, 
was highly mortified when he found the 
latter elected in preference to himself. 
At the same time the duchy of Milan, which 
had been conquered by Francis and held 
by him as a fief of the empire, served as 
an inevitable cause of dispute, inasmuch 
as Charles felt himself bound to recover it 
by force of arms, and restore it under the 
imperial sway ; while, on the other hand, 
the preponderance of Charles's power in 
Europe, now assuming a more threatening 
aspect, excited the fears of the other rulers, 
and Francis, who, next to the emperor, pos- 
sessed the most powerful dominion, con- 
sidered himself called upon before any 
other to enter the field against him. He 
had turned his attention more especially 
towards Italy, in which country he had al- 
ready made one successful expedition ; 
and it was there that Charles's power should 
be weakened and destroyed, for which pur- 
pose the French king sought to revive all 
the claims he derived from his ancestors to 
the kingdom of Naples in that quarter. 
Charles meantime had augmented his power 
by an alliance with Henry VIII. of Eng- 
land, whose vanity had been offended by 
Francis, and thus the war, which had al- 
ready commenced in the year 1521, was 
carried on by the English and Flemish troops 
from the Netherlands as far as Spain ; but in 
Italy more especially the contest was main- 
tained with the greatest obstinacy. What 
operated much to Charles's disadvantage, 



264 



DUKE OF BOURBON— BATTLE OF PAVIA. 



was the wide dispersion of his possessions, 
which produced a necessary division of his 
forces ; while Francis, on the other hand, 
from the central point on which he had 
rallied his troops and formed them into one 
united mass, was enabled to dash forward 
and at once strike the blow in whatever 
direction he pleased. But that which 
principally characterized the superiority of 
Charles, and which, in reality, constituted 
his power and shed over him so brilliant a 
lustre, was that he had been enabled to 
collect around him a body of the most 
distinguished men of the day, from among 
whom his penetrating eye at once singled 
out the general best qualified to lead his 
army against the foe, the ambassador whose 
diplomatic talent could best loosen the com- 
plicated knot of political intrigue, and the 
counsellor whose prudence and superior 
judgment rendered him the most efficient 
adviser. It is by the intellectual powers 
that the world should be governed, and 
Charles knew how to enlist them in his 
service. 

Charles, duke of Bourbon, a valiant 
and distinguished general of the French 
army, having been deeply injured by Fran- 
cis, came over to the emperor's side. He 
was received by that monarch with open 
arms, and was at once appointed leader, in 
conjunction with the viceroy of Naples, 
Launoy, and the marquis of Pescara, at 
that time the most distinguished warrior of 
the imperial army in Italy. The king of 
France, on the other hand, lost about this 
time (in the year 1524) one of his most 
brave and loyal knights, the Chevalier 
Bayard, who, in the retreat from Italy, 
saved the army by his heroic courage on 
the bridge of Sesia, but receiving a mortal 
wound, fell a sacrifice to his patriotic de- 
votion. The advantages of the war ap- 
peared now wholly on the side of the em- 
peror ; Milan was retaken, and the French 
driven out of Italy. But Charles having 
resolved to attack France itself, marched 
with his army into Provence, and laid siege 
to Marseilles ; there, however, he nearly 
lost the superiority he had gained. He 
found that to take France from this side 
was more difficult than he had calculated ; 
the city itself was not to be conquered, and 
the whole country around having been laid 
waste by the enemy himself, Pescara was 
forced to retreat. It required, indeed, all 
the ingenuity of that great general to save 



the army in its dangerous march back, for 
the French monarch followed at his heels, 
and again taking possession of Milan, pro- 
ceeded to attack Pavia. The imperial 
generals found their situation at this mo- 
ment very embarrassing ; for in front of 
them was an enemy of superior force, who 
threatened one of the chief cities ; behind 
them was the terror of the pope, who 
had just formed an alliance with Francis ; 
and finally, their own army was in a most 
distressed condition, a feeling of languor 
and depression, produced by the late re- 
treat, pervading the spirits of all. Never- 
theless, the courage, wisdom, and good for- 
tune of the leaders, soon effected a change 
for the better. 

The commandant who defended Pavia, 
Don Antonio de Leyva, not discouraged 
for a moment, most obstinately maintained 
his position against the besiegers during 
the entire winter until the February of 
1525. By this time the imperial army was 
reinforced by a strong body of 15,000 lan- 
cers, who inarched to their aid from Ger- 
many, under the command of the brave 
warrior, George of Freundsberg, or Frunds- 
berg, and a combined attack was made 
upon the French king near Pavia. The 
quick, experienced eye of Pescara selected 
the point of attack in a quarter least ex- 
pected by the king, who was consequently 
wholly unprepared for it. He fancied his 
rear to be perfectly secured by a wood en- 
closed by an extensive strong wall : Pes- 
cara, however, caused a road to be cut 
through the entire forest during the night, 
and with the dawn of morning his troops 
rushed upon the surprised enemy, and 
completely overthrew them at this point. 
At the same moment Leyva made a sally 
from the citadel itself, while Launoy and 
Bourbon made an attack in another quarter, 
and the entire French army, thus over- 
whelmed, was soon put to rout. The Swiss 
auxiliaries, a circumstance unusual with 
them, were the first to yield and take to 
flight, while the German mercenaries, 
although they fought with great courage, 
were overmatched by the valor of the Ger- 
mans under their brave leader, George of 
Freundsberg, and to whom in fact the im- 
perialists were chiefly indebted for the vic- 
tory, for burning with indignation to find 
their fellow-countrymen fighting in the 
ranks of the French army, they cut them 
down almost to a man. Francis had his 



FRANCIS I. A PRISONER 



I— FRANCIS LIBERATED. 



265 



horse killed under him, and he continued 
fighting on foot, defending himself against 
a host of Spaniards who had surrounded 
him without knowing the royal, chivalric 
warrior they endeavored to overcome. For- 
tunately for the king, a French nobleman, 
Pomperant, belonging to the suite of the 
duke of Bourbon, came up at this moment, 
and recognising the sinking monarch, sum- 
moned him to yield himself a prisoner to 
the duke, his master; this he refused to 
do, but with reluctance ordered him to 
send Launoy to him. The comhatants 
paused until the general arrived, when the 
king resigned his sword into his hands. 
Launoy received it kneeling, and giving the 
monarch his own in exchange, said : " It 
suits not that so great a king should stand 
unarmed before a subject of the emperor." 
A fortnight after this decisive battle no 
enemy remained in Italy. 

Charles was almost discontented with his 
too great fortune which left him without an 
object to pursue : " Since you have made a 
prisoner of the king of France forme," he 
says in a letter to Launoy, " I find nothing 
more to do but to fight against the infidels. 
This I have always felt a great desire to 
do, and now more than ever. Arrange 
matters, therefore, so that I may be enabled 
before I grow too old to perform deeds that 
may promote the service of God, and not 
be unattended with glory to myself." 

The king of France was conveyed a cap- 
tive to Madrid and closely guarded. Great 
difference of opinion was expressed by the 
council of the emperor respecting the man- 
ner in which he was to be treated, and the 
means of availing themselves of their pres- 
ent good fortune. One party, at the head 
of which was Launoy, advised the emperor 
to act with generosity towards the king, and 
thus destroy, perhaps forever, the seeds of 
discord and enmity between the two mon- 
archs ; while another party, headed by the 
Chancellor Mercurinus Gattinara, sought 
to derive every possible advantage from 
the circumstance. The emperor chose the 
middle path between the two parties, and 
lost the entire fruit of his good fortune. 
He approved of the plan proposed by the 
chancellor, viz. : to demand from the cap- 
tive monarch, as the price of his liberty, 
the restoration of the duchy of Burgundy, 
which France had unjustly wrested from 
his grandmother, and to which he attached 
great and especial value ; but he consider- 
34 



ed the detention of the king as prisoner 
until the fulfilment of this condition — as 
advised by his chancellor — too harsh, and 
unworthy of the imperial dignity. He 
trusted, therefore, to the promise of the 
king ; but that promise, with whatever 
chivalric importance Francis may have 
invested it, was never sincerely given nor 
eventually performed. Before he signed 
the treaty, he secretly summoned to his 
presence some confidential agents in Ma- 
drid, and before them, in the presence of 
the pope's nuncio, declared that he was not 
bound to perform the promise he should 
make as a prisoner, and that the pope, Cle- 
ment VII. himself, had absolved him from 
the performance of any engagement into 
which he might enter. The voice of con- 
science being thus quieted, he knelt before 
the altar and swore on the Holy Bible itself 
faithfully to fulfil the conditions to which he 
had agreed. At the same time he pledged 
his royal word to return and surrender him- 
self again a prisoner within six months from 
that time in the event of his not being able 
to execute the said conditions. 

Francis I. was accordingly set at liberty, 
in the year 1526, after an imprisonment of 
one year — but never kept his word. The 
excuse he made for such a breach of honor 
was, that his states would not by any means 
admit the abandonment of Burgundy, while 
at the same time he offered a considerable 
sum as a ransom for his two eldest sons 
whom he had sent to Spain as hostages. 
Charles, however, returned for answer : 
" That he had violated faith and truth, both 
of which he had solemnly and publicly 
sworn to maintain ; that he had not acted 
as became a man of noble birth and a sover- 
eign prince ; and that he, Charles, was 
ready to support the charge with the sword 
in single combat." Francis accepted the 
challenge, but only with words ; for sub- 
sequently he avoided the meeting under 
various pretexts, and thus the people were 
once more forced to terminate with their 
own blood the contest produced by the am- 
bition and folly of their monarch, and war 
was once more declared between Charles V. 
and Francis I. 

Just at the commencement of this war, 
however, a most unheard-of event took 
place in Italy. The duke of Bourbon had 
succeeded to the chief command of the im- 
perial army in Milan, after the death of 
General Pescara. The country was com- 



266 



THE POPE A PRISONER — WAR WITH FRANCE 



pletely devastated, and the generals with- 
out money, while the troops became more 
and more loud in their demands for their 
Day. All means having been employed in 
rain to appease them, the army suddenly 
broke up in the month of January, 1527, 
and advanced in forced marches against 
Rome, without, however, having received 
any commands from the emperor ; neither 
is it known for certain whether it was by 
the order of the duke of Bourbon, who, 
perhaps, may have formed some grand pro- 
jects of ambition, or whether it was the 
result of some sudden determination of the 
army itself, which calculated on finding in 
Rome abundance of supplies and a rich 
booty besides. Be this as it may, Bourbon 
arrived with the army before the city, after 
a most difficult march. On the 6th of May 
the command was given for a general as- 
sault against the ancient capital of the 
world, and Bourbon was one of the first 
upon the walls, his example serving to in- 
spire the whole of the besiegers: but he 
had scarcely got his footing on the ramparts 
when he was mortally wounded by a shot 
from an arquebusier. His troops, never- 
theless, forced their way into the city, and, 
for several days, a scene of pillage and de- 
vastation was continued, equalled only in 
the time of the Vandals. The pope, Cle- 
ment VII., with his court, had taken refuge 
in the Castle of St. Angelo, where he was 
besieged for several months, until, forced 
by necessity, he promised the imperialists 
a sum of 400,000 ducats, in order that the 
whole army might be paid their full arrears. 

Meantime the emperor Charles sent let- 
ters to all the princes of Christendom, in 
which he took especial care to exonerate 
himself in their eyes in respect to these ex- 
cesses, which took place without his wish 
or knowledge ; nay, during the time that 
his generals kept the pope a prisoner in the 
castle of St. Angelo, and laid siege to that 
place, he ordered public prayers to be of- 
fered in all the churches throughout Spain 
for his deliverance. He has been reproach- 
ed with hypocrisy for doing this ; but it is, 
no doubt, a fact, that his mutinous troops 
would no longer obey his orders until they 
had received the arrears due to them. It 
was only then, at the end of eighteen months, 
that the army was once again brought into 
a state of discipline, and, at his command, 
marched towards Naples. But owing to 
the excesses committed in Rome, it had be- 



come so reduced, that when the king of 
France, in the year 1527, once more in- 
vaded Italy, his army, under the command 
of Lautrec, was enabled to penetrate, with- 
out opposition, as far as Naples itself, to 
which place it laid siege. The sudden de- 
fection of the celebrated naval hero, An- 
drew Doria, who, with his fleet, came over 
to the emperor's side, together with the 
sickness which prevailed throughout the 
French army, combined, however, to turn 
the scale in Charles's favor ; the French 
were forced to give up the siege, and also 
to abandon Milan. Both parties, equally 
tired and worn out by the war, agreed to 
sign a treaty of peace at Cambray, in the 
year 1529, and which was styled the ladies 7 
peace, inasmuch as it was negotiated by 
the emperor's aunt and the king's mother. 
Francis paid two millions of crowns for the 
deliverance of his two sons in Spain, re- 
nounced all claims to Milan, Genoa, Na- 
ples, and all the other countries beyond the 
Alps, and married Eleonora, the sister of 
Charles ; while the emperor, on his part, 
without requiring the immediate secession 
of Burgundy, still retained his ancient 
rights. 

The time had now arrived when the em- 
peror was enabled to appear with dignity 
in his Italian states, where, in fact, he had 
hitherto never shown himself. He landed 
in August, 1529, in Genoa, and continued his 
progress on to Bologna with the pomp worthy 
of an emperor. Here he had appointed 
a meeting with Pope Clement, which took 
place in great solemnity. The former 
enmity was altogether forgotten ; the em- 
peror, following the example of his ances- 
tors, dropped on his knee and kissed the 
foot of the holy father, and the latter 
solemnly crowned him emperor and king 
of Lombardy. 

Thus was celebrated the coronation of 
the greatest and most powerful monarch 
who had borne the crown since Charle- 
magne, and who was, likewise, the last 
emperor who visited Italy. Charles ap- 
peared now to the Italians, who had only 
known him hitherto as a prince to be 
dreaded, in the character of a mild and 
noble ruler, and their fear was changed 
into the most sincere veneration. The 
emperor would not even retain Milan for 
himself, but, before he left Italy, restored 
it into the hands of Francis Sforza, who 
received it as a fief of the empire. Hav- 



LEAGUE OF THE PROTESTANT PRINCES. 



267 



ing accomplished this, Charles now hasten- 
ed to return to Germany to preside at the 
grand diet of Augsburg. 

In Germany many of the princes had 
now openly introduced the new doctrine 
into their various territories. One of the 
most zealous among them was the young 
landgrave of Hesse, Philip the Gener- 
ous ; he urged the other princes who joined 
with him in opinion, to form an alliance 
for mutual defence, in the event of the 
adverse parties seeking by violent mea- 
sures to execute the edict of Worms. Nor 
was his anxiety without foundation. Sev- 
eral of the Catholic princes had already 
held a meeting at Leipsic, and had de- 
liberated together upon the necessity of 
making common defence against the dis- 
semination of the new faith ; and for this 
purpose they had claimed the assistance of 
the emperor, who in his reply promised the 
extirpation of all the errors of the Luthe- 
ran sect. Accordingly a league was form- 
ed at Dessau by these princes, at the head 
of which were the electors of Mentz and 
of Brandenburg, and the dukes of Wolf- 
enbuttel and Calenberg. On the other 
hand an alliance was formed on the 4th of 
May, 1526, at Torgau, between the elector 
of Saxony, John the Steadfast, Philip of 
Hesse, the dukes of Grubenhagen and 
Celle, Duke Henry of Mecklenberg, Prince 
Wolfgang of Anhalt, Counts Gebhard and 
Albert of Mansfeld, together with the im- 
perial free city of Magdeburg. Albert, 
margrave of Brandenburg, formerly grand 
master of the Teutonic order, but who on 
embracing the new faith, and with the 
sanction of the king of Poland as chief 
feudal lord, secularized the territory of the 
order into a dukedom of Prussia, concluded 
an especial alliance with the elector of 
Saxony. The firm position maintained by 
the allies at the diet held in Spires in 1526, 
presided over by Ferdinand, produced for 
them the favorable resolution : " That the 
states of the empire in affairs referring to 
the edict of Worms, should so decide and 
rule among their subjects as to be able 
to render good account of their conduct 
before God and the imperial majesty." 
Thence it was left to the conscience of 
each authority to proceed in religious af- 
fairs as far as he might deem requisite. 

During this time the emperor had been 
occupied with his royal prisoner, Francis 
I., against whom, however, he afterwards 



had to maintain another war. but now was 
urgently appealed to by the German princ< a 
to exert his authority in settling their dif- 
ferences; and only succeeded in allay- 
ing their impatience by promising them to 
hold a new diet as soon as he was at liberty 
to come to them. Meantime he summoned 
a provisional diet at Spires, in 1529. The 
result of this meeting, however, was only 
still more to widen the breach between the 
two parties by giving a permanent name to 
the partisans of the new doctrine, inasmuch 
as the majority of the states being Catholic, 
decreed : " That the essential edicts of the 
diet of Worms should be retained ; that 
the celebration of mass should be preserv- 
ed ; that all those who had been gained 
over to the new doctrine should abstain 
from further innovations ; and that no 
subject of the empire should be permitted 
to give protection to a co-religionist against 
the authorities." The Lutheran party, 
dissatisfied with these resolutions of the 
diet, drew up accordingly an instrument in 
opposition, in which they protested against 
them, whence they took the name of Pro- 
testants, declaring at the same time that 
they would continue in all their proceed- 
ings to act up to the decree of the year 
1526. The Protestant party included 
the whole of the princes who joined the 
league of Torgau, together with George, 
margrave of Brandenburg, of the Salian 
house, and the cities of Strasburg, Nurem- 
berg, Ulm, Constance, Reutlingen, Winds- 
heim, Memmingen, Lindau, Kempten, Heil- 
bronn, Issny, Weissenburg, Nordlingen, 
and St. Gallen. 

In the following year, 1530, the grand 
diet was held in Augsburg, to which the 
emperor himself repaired from Italy as he 
had announced. Even before he arrived, 
he was met on the road by several deputies 
from both parties, who sought to gain his 
preference ; he referred them, however, to 
the approaching diet itself, without de- 
claring his sentiments on the subject. On 
the 22d of June, in the evening, he made 
his entry into the city with great pomp, 
surrounded by the numerous electoral and 
other princes and nobles. No longer now 
the young and inexperienced prince as 
when ten years before he first appeared in 
Germany, the emperor at this moment 
stood unrivalled by any cotemporary mon- 
arch, unsurpassed by his predecessors since 
the dominion of the great Charlemagne, 



268 



MELANCHTHON— JOHN, 



ELECTOR OF SAXONY. 



and admired universally for his distin- 
guished qualities. In Francis I. of France 
he had humbled one of the most haughty 
and ambitious of his foreign enemies, and 
Rome itself had not been able to withstand 
his mighty power. His noble figure and 
dignified carriage produced their imposing 
effect upon all — whether friends or foes — 
who approached his presence. 

Melanchthon, who had come to Augsburg 
in the suite of the elector of Saxony, thus 
expresses himself in a confidential letter 
upon the subject of the emperor : " But the 
individual most worthy of remark in this as- 
sembly, is certainly the emperor himself. His 
uninterrupted success has no doubt excited 
wonder even in your country ; but far 
more to be admired is his great moderation, 
amidst all this good fortune, which seems 
to come at his bidding ; for neither by ac- 
tion nor word does he indicate in the slight- 
est degree the effect it may have upon his 
feelings. What emperor or king can you 
show me in the records of their reign in 
whom success has not produced some 
change? With him, on the other hand, 
nothing appears to operate upon his feel- 
ings ; no trace of passion, hauteur, or cru- 
elty, is ever visible in him. To omit other 
examples, I will instance what has occur- 
red in our case. Although in these reli- 
gious disputes our enemies have employed 
every art to render him hostile to us, he 
has ever condescended to listen attentively 
to the arguments of our party. His do- 
mestic life abounds with instances of absti- 
nence, moderation, and temperance. That 
system of household discipline, so rigidly 
exercised in former times among the Ger- 
man princes, is now confined exclusively 
to the imperial palace. Neither are the 
traces of vicious or licentious men to be 
found within its walls ; while as friends he 
selects among his court only those dis- 
tinguished for their genius and virtues. 
Whenever I behold him, methinks I see 
before me one of those heroes or demi-gods 
who in ancient times were wont to mix with 
men. Who, therefore, ought not to rejoice 
in witnessing such a combination of noble 
qualities in one man V 

In spite, however, of the veneration with 
which the emperor's personal character 
was regarded, the preponderance of his own 
power, and that of the Catholic princes 
generally, the Protestant princes, who were 
all present, maintained their ground of op- 



position with so much determination and 
firmness, that they succeeded in effecting 
their object even in matters of merely ex- 
ternal ceremonies of worship, and obliged 
him to revoke several of his edicts. Thus 
when he had ordered that all the princes 
present should join in the celebration of the 
festival of Corpus-Christi-day, (the day af- 
ter his arrival,) the whole number of Ger- 
man princes, mounting their horses at dawn 
of day, proceeded in solemn state to the 
palace, where, demanding an audience 01 
the emperor, they firmly declared they 
would not attend, and he found it expedient 
to abandon his purpose. With equal reso- 
lution they protested against the ordinance, 
prohibiting their clergy from preaching in 
Augsburg, and withdrew only after he had 
revoked it and substituted another, in which 
he ordered that no sermon should be preach- 
ed on either side, and that on Sundays the 
gospel and epistles alone should be read. 
At the head of the rest of the Protestant 
princes was John, elector of Saxony, a man 
whose remarkable zeal and firmness in the 
cause of reform acquired for him the sur- 
name by which posterity has distinguished 
him. When even threatened by the empe- 
ror with his refusal to invest him with the 
enfeoffment of the electorate of Saxony, as 
yet not conferred, he still maintained his 
position. This prince, the last of the four 
excellent sons of Ernest, possessed a simple 
but resolute mind, which, when once under 
the influence of conviction, was impressed 
by no fear, regardful of no sacrifice. At 
the same time, he did not conceal from 
himself the fact, that with his inferior pow- 
er it must be impossible for him to contend 
against the mighty and preponderating 
force of the emperor ; but the question he 
put to himself was: " Whether he should 
renounce the almighty power of God or the 
world V' and the answer to which removed 
all doubt from his mind and heart. He 
was likewise much encouraged and con- 
firmed in his conviction by the letters of 
Luther, who, on account of the ban still in 
force against him, was able to proceed on- 
ly as far as Coburg, from which place he 
watched the important proceedings that 
were taking place in Augsburg with the 
greatest anxiety and expectation ; but, at 
the same time, with an indomitable resolu- 
tion inspired by his faith and zeal in the 
great cause. It is said that at this time he 
composed his beautiful hymn, " Eine starke 



THE IMPERIAL COUNCIL— DECLARATION OF CHARLES V. 



209 



Burg ist unser Gott," (A mighty rock is 
our God.) When now the question of the 
religious disputes was at length discussed 
before the diet at Augsburg, the Protestant 
princes laid before the assembly their con- 
fession of faith, exhibiting in succinct, but 
comprehensive language all the articles in 
which the new church differed from the 
old. This was completed by Melanchthon 
from the seventeen articles prepared by 
Luther at Schwabach, and from other wri- 
tings which the Protestant princes had 
brought with them ; thus was produced the 
Augsburg confession, which from that mo- 
ment has formed the basis of the Protestant 
church. It was read publicly before the 
diet by Bayer, the chancellor of Saxony, on 
the 25th of June, and its reading occupied 
several hours. The emperor then replied 
to the Protestant princes, through Frede- 
rick, the count palatine, " That he would 
take into consideration that important and 
remarkable document, and make known to 
them his determination." 

In the council of Charles, as well as in 
that of the Catholic princes, opinions were 
very much divided. The popish legate, 
as well as George, duke of Saxony, Wil- 
liam, duke of Bavaria, and the majority of 
the bishops, required that Charles should 
force the Protestants to abjure at once their 
doctrine ; others again, among whom was 
the cardinal-archbishop of Mentz, were 
more moderate. They observed that such 
a proceeding must inevitably be attended 
with great bloodshed, and produce civil 
war ; they referred to the dangers .to be 
dreaded from the Turks, who only recent- 
ly, in 1529, had ventured to attack Vienna 
itself, although happily without success ; 
and they recommended either that the Pro- 
testants should be brought to return to the 
church through conviction, produced by 
mild treatment, or that the question should 
be settled with a view to preserve, at least, 
the internal tranquillity of the empire. 

In accordance, therefore, with this latter 
opinion, a refutation of the Augsburg con- 
fession was drawn up by several Catholic 
theologians, headed by the celebrated Dr. 
Eck, which was forthwith read to the Pro- 
testants with the intimation that they should 
quietly acquiesce therein ; and when they 
declared at once that they could not do so 
conscientiously, various other attempts at 
reconciliation and accommodation were 
made, for many of the more moderate of 



both parties still thought this result attain- 
able. Melanchthon himself wrote to the 
pope's legate to this effect : " There still 
remains a slight difference only in the 
usages and forms of the church which ap- 
pears to interfere with the accomplishment 
of a reunion, and the ecclesiastical canons 
themselves admit that, notwithstanding this 
discrepancy of opinion, the unity of the 
church may yet be maintained." But the 
more zealous partisans of both sides op- 
posed many obstacles in the way of a con- 
ciliatory investigation, and what was con- 
ceded did not at all affect the principal 
points of dispute. In addition to this, va- 
rious Protestant princes and free cities 
became influenced by worldly considera- 
tions when they found the question arise : 
whether or not the episcopal power should 
be re-established in their different territo- 
ries ; while on the Catholic side they now, 
more obstinately than ever, held to the 
strict performance of the articles in respect 
to which indulgence had formerly been 
granted, for instance, to the Greek church 
and the Hussites ; these articles had refer- 
ence to the prohibition of the marriage of 
priests, and of the administration of the 
holy communion to the laity under both 
forms. Thus were defeated all those at- 
tempts to produce the desired reconcilia- 
tion, and the two parties, instead of ap- 
proaching each other more closely on terms 
of mutual peace and concord, became now 
more and more widely estranged. The 
emperor, at length, issued the following 
declaration to the Protestants : " That they 
should consider and determine by the en- 
suing 15th day of the month of April, 
whether or not they would unite in favor 
of the articles in discussion with the Chris- 
tian church, with the pope, the emperor, 
and the other princes, until they were more 
amply explained in a council to be assem- 
bled at an early future day ; that during 
this period of peace, they should not print 
any thing new in their various territories, 
nor seek to strengthen their party by re- 
ceiving fresh adherents from among their 
own subjects or strangers ; that, as many 
abuses and irregularities of every kind had, 
for many years down to the present mo- 
ment, become more and more prevalent 
throughout Christendom, the emperor would 
use all his endeavors, with the pope and the 
other princes of Europe, in order that a 
general council should be convoked within 



270 



REPLY OF THE PROTESTANT PRINCES— FERDINAND. 



a period of six months, or at latest within 
a year from the present time." 

To this the Protestants replied, as usual, 
that their dogmas had not as yet been re- 
futed by the Scriptures, that their con- 
science would not, therefore, permit them to 
consent to this decree of the diet, by which 
they were prohibited from propagating their 
faith. At the same time they handed over 
to the emperor a defence of their confes- 
sion, and all who still remained in Augs- 
burg immediately departed. The rupture 
between the two parties was now formally 
declared. In the resolutions of the diet 
subsequently made public, the Lutheran 
doctrine was treated as heresy, and char- 
acterized as such in the most severe and 
condemnatory language ; the restoration 
of all the confiscated convents and reli- 
gious establishments strictly ordered ; a 
censorship over all writings on subjects of 
religion was rigidly enforced ; and all those 
who contumaciously acted against these 
decrees were threatened with the severest 
punishment. 

The Protestant princes, at the end of 
this year, assembled together in the city 
of Schmalkald, and there renewed their 
alliance more firmly. Some among them 
were even anxious to commence the strug- 
gle, and appeal to arms at once ; but others 
again still retained their ancient religious 
dread of civil war, and veneration for the 
sacred person of the emperor, as expressed 
by themselves ; whence, as this feeling of 
the majority exercised its predominating 
influence upon all, their league was saved 
from incurring the reproach of having 
been, without necessity, the first to kindle 
the flame of a religious war. The Catho- 
lic electors and princes likewise, on their 
part, and with equal merit, checked the 
feeling so prevalent among them for war- 
like measures — a desire so much encour- 
aged in Rome, and by which the emperor 
himself already appeared to be somewhat 
influenced. They would not allow the ban 
of the empire to be pronounced against the 
Protestant party, because they were reluc- 
tant to furnish the emperor with full pow- 
ers for war ; they wished, as they expressed 
themselves, to contend, but not with the 
sword's point, and they hoped, by means 
of the imperial chamber of justice, which 
with this object had been cleansed of all 
its anti-Catholic elements, and strengthened 
by the addition of six assessors, to bring 



the decree of the grand diet into full opera- 
tion. But we shall very soon see that 
these means likewise proved totally inade- 
quate. 

The emperor, on leaving the diet of 
Augsburg, had proceeded to Cologne, where 
he summoned the electoral princes to meet 
him. He there proposed to them that they 
should select, as king of the Romans, his 
brother Ferdinand, to whom he had already 
ceded his hereditary lands in Austria — 
and who, since the extinction of the royal 
house of Bohemia and Hungary in the 
person of Lewis II., who was killed when 
fighting against Soliman II. in the battle 
of Mohacz, in 1526, had acquired the 
crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, by the 
rights founded upon ancient treaties of in- 
heritance — in order that he might be en- 
abled to maintain good order throughout the 
empire during the frequent absence of the 
emperor. The electors consented, and 
Ferdinand was crowned at Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle ; the elector of Saxony, who caused 
his protestation against this election to be 
handed in by his son, and the dukes of 
Bavaria, who had for a long time been 
jealous of the power of the Austrian house, 
and who on this occasion joined in alliance 
with their enemies in matters of religion, 
the princes of the Schmalkaldian league, 
were the only two parties who made any 
opposition, and refused to acknowledge 
Ferdinand. 

The new king of the Romans was ex- 
tremely desirous of preserving tranquillity 
in Germany, as his new kingdom of Hun- 
gary was at this time hard pressed by the 
Turks, and his chief source of assistance 
must be derived from the German princes. 
The Protestants, however, refused to give 
their co-operation until peace had been se- 
cured to them in their own country, and its 
continuance sworn to be maintained. The 
emperor accordingly now concerted fresh 
measures, in order to promote a state of 
union, and at length, after the most warm 
and urgent exhortations from Luther in 
favor thereof, they produced the provision- 
ary religious peace of Nuremberg, in 
1532. The emperor declared, in contra- 
diction to the opinion of the Catholic ma- 
jority : " That, in virtue of his imperial 
power, he would establish a general peace, 
according to which no person should be 
attacked or condemned on account of his 
faith, or any other religious matter, until 



THE TURKS DEFEATED— 1 



ULRIC OF WURTEMBERG. 



271 



the approaching assembly of the council, 
or the meeting of the estates of the em- 
pire." Nay, he promised likewise to sus- 
pend all proceedings taken by his imperial 
chancellor in matters of faith, against the 
elector of Saxony, until the next council. 

The subsidiary troops against the Turks 
were now collected, and formed an army 
of such force- as had not been produced for 
a length of time, the Protestant princes and 
cities themselves sending very large contri- 
butions. The danger appeared, indeed, ex- 
tremely urgent, for the sultan had advanced 
with a force of three hundred thousand 
men to attack the Austrian territories from 
four points ; and to oppose him, the empe- 
ror had only seventy-six thousand men at 
command. However, the first attempts 
they made very soon showed the Turks 
with what men they had to deal. Ibrahim 
Pasha, who led the vanguard, considered he 
was bound for honor's sake to punish the 
little town of Gunz, in Hungary, which to 
his mortification had closed its gates against 
him, thinking that it would easily fall into 
his hands on the first assault ; but its brave 
commandant, Jurischtisch, with his small 
garrison repulsed all his attacks, and kept 
him before the walls for the space of a 
fortnight. At this sudden and unexpected 
check upon his march, Soliman calculated 
what the great city of Vienna might cost 
him, especially as now the emperor had 
come to its aid ; and perceiving, in addi- 
tion, that the German princes, whom he 
thought to find in a state of dissension, had 
now become reunited, he resolved at once 
to sound a retreat. Thus the whole of 
Europe, to their great surprise, found the 
great Soliman quickly abandon an expedi- 
tion which it had cost him three years to 
prepare. 

The emperor was now enabled to turn 
his attention toother affairs, and proceeded, 
first of all, to Italy, for the purpose of ar- 
ranging with the pope upon the subject of 
the convocation of the grand council. But 
he found that the pope was by no means in 
earnest about the matter, neither was it, 
at this time, at all desired by the papal 
court; and Charles accordingly departed 
for Spain without doing any thing. 

During the absence of the emperor in 
Spain, and while Ferdinand was engaged 
in employing all his means to establish his 
dominion in Hungary, the doctrine of the 
reformers spread more and more in Ger- 



many, and party spirit daily increased. 
The Protestants went so far, in the year 
1534* as to declare to the imperial cham- 
ber that they would no longer obey its de- 
crees : because, contrary to the conditions 
of the treaty of Nuremberg, it pronounced 
judgment against them in cases which re- 
ferred to the restitution of confiscated 
church property; and which proceeding 
rendered completely invalid the laws for 
the perpetual peace of the country, as estab- 
lished by the emperor Maximilian. Another 
subject of dispute was the territory of Wur- 
temberg. We have already had occasion 
to refer to the circumstance of Ulric, duke 
of Wurtemberg, having, just after the death 
of Maximilian, and before the election of 
Charles V., been driven out of his country 
by the Swabian league, on account of a 
feud which had existed between him and 
the town of Reutlingen. The league 
ceded the land, which was burdened with a 
heavy debt, to the emperor, and the latter 
transferred it, in 1530, to his brother Fer- 
dinand, together with his Austrian states. 
It appeared now as if that country was 
destined to form forever a portion of the 
Austrian possessions ; but the deposed duke, 
who was now wandering through the em- 
pire a fugitive, seeking to enlist his friends 
in his cause, found at length a protector in 
his relation Philip, landgrave of Hesse. 
Ulric had already adopted the Lutheran 
faith, and Philip now formed the determina- 
tion to re-establish him in his possessions 
even by force of arms. He accordingly 
raised an army of twenty thousand men, 
marched unexpectedly into the very heart 
of Wurtemberg, defeated the Austrian gov- 
ernor of the country at Lauffen, in 1534, 
and restored the reconquered duchy to 
Ulric. It was expected that this bold act 
would have produced a sanguinary war ; 
but this time the storm passed over. Charles 
and Ferdinand were both too much occu- 
pied elsewhere, and perhaps they may have 
felt it ungenerous and unworthy to augment 
their already extensive power, by the ad- 
dition of a foreign country, while, on the 
contrary, the other members of the Schmal- 
kaldian league, who had taken no share in 
this act of the landgrave, endeavored to 
bring the matter to a peaceful adjustment. 
Thence was effected, under the mediation 
of the elector of Saxony, the peace of Cadan 
in Bohemia, by which Duke Ulric received 
back his land as an arriere fief of Austria ; 



272 



THE ANABAPTISTS— THEIR REVOLT AND DEFEAT. 



the religious peace as signed at Nuremberg 
was confirmed, and Ferdinand was formally 
acknowledged king of Rome by the elector 
of Saxony and all his family. And in 
order to maintain at least the imperial sov- 
ereignty, it was decided that the landgrave 
and Duke Ulric should ask pardon of the 
emperor personally, and of the king of 
Rome by deputy, for having disturbed the 
peace of the land. 

Another circumstance occurred which 
threatened important and serious results, 
but still did not interrupt definitively the 
peace of the empire, viz., the contentions 
of the anabaptists in Minister, in 1534 and 
1535. The principles of Thomas Miinzer 
upon Christian liberty and equality, and 
upon the community of possessions, as well 
as upon his faith in immediate divine reve- 
lations, were not as yet eradicated, and had 
still been preserved, especially in Holland, 
among the so-called anabaptists. They 
demanded that mankind should do penance 
and be baptized anew in order to avert 
the wrath of God. Two of their fanatic 
preachers, Jan Matthys, a baker of Har- 
lem, and a tailor, Jan Bockhold or Bockel- 
sohn, of Leyden, proceeded, in the early 
part of the year 1534, to Miinster, at the 
time that an ecclesiastic, called Rothmann, 
had just introduced the doctrine of Luther ; 
they gained him over to their sect likewise, 
and with the aid of the populace and other 
anabaptists from the vicinity, drove out of 
the city all the wealthy citizens, created 
fresh magistrates, and established a com- 
munity of possessions. Each person was 
required to deposite in a general treasury 
all he possessed, whether in gold, silver, or 
other precious articles, while the churches 
were despoiled of their ornaments, pictures, 
and images, and all the books they con- 
tained, except the Bible, were publicly 
burnt. Everywhere, as in all such scenes 
of fanaticism, the most licentious acts were 
committed, and passions, the most violent 
and brutal, raged throughout the city. 
Under the sanction of their creed of Chris- 
tian liberty, each man was authorized to 
take to himself several wives, and their 
chief, John of Leyden, set the example by 
marrying three at once. Finally, one of 
his partisans, who made a boast of having 
especially received a divine communica- 
tion, John Dusentschur of Warendorf, sa- 
luted him as king of the whole globe, and 
as such, appointed to restore the throne of 



David ; and twenty-eight apostles were 
selected and sent forth to preach this doc- 
trine to the whole world, and to bring the 
inhabitants thereof to acknowledge the 
newly-appointed king. These agents, how- 
ever, wherever they arrived, were imme- 
diately seized as rebels and executed. 

The bishop of Miinster, supported by the 
landgrave of Hesse, and several other 
princes, advanced, in the year 1534, with 
a large army against the city. In the first 
assault, however, that they made on the 
30th of August, they were repulsed most 
valiantly by the fanatic anabaptists ; but 
the more slow and not less fatal attacks of 
famine, to which the latter were gradually 
reduced by the besiegers, who cut off the 
supplies, could not be overcome. Want 
increased from day to day, and diminished 
more and more the zeal of the people. 
The new king resolved to establish his 
royal authority more firmly by terror, and 
even beheaded one of his wives with his 
own hand in the public market-place, be- 
cause she gave vent to the expression, that 
she could not possibly believe that God had 
condemned such a mass of people to di \ 
of hunger, while the king himself was liv- 
ing in abundance. At length, however, 
after a great number had really perished 
through starvation, two citizens led the 
bishop's troops, on the night of the 25th of 
June, 1535, into the city ; and after a san- 
guinary battle, John of Leyden, and his 
executioner, Knipperdolling, together with 
his chancellor, Krechting, were made pris- 
oners, and having been publicly exhibited 
in several cities of Germany as a spectacle, 
they were tortured with burning pincers 
and put to death by piercing their hearts 
with a red-hot dagger. Their bodies were 
then placed in iron cages, and suspended 
from the steeple of the church of St. Lam- 
bert, in the market-place of Miinster, and 
the form of Catholic worship, and the au- 
thority of the bishop, were immediately 
re-established in that city. 

Meantime the emperor had proceeded 
upon an expedition, the results of which 
crowned him with lasting honor and fame. 
A pirate, Haradin Barbarossa, born of ob- 
scure parents in the island of Lesbos, but 
one of the most daring and extraordinary 
men of his day, had established himself on 
the north coast of Africa. To join him in 
his depredations he had gained over a nu- 
merous body of Moors, who, driven out cf 



CHARLES V. IN AFRICA— HIS TRIUMPH— FRANCIS I. 



273 



Spain by King Ferdinand the Catholic, 
burned with the desire of revenging them- 
selves upon the Christians, and thus 
strengthened, this desperate pirate infested 
the Mediterranean seas in every direction. 
His cruelty and audacity rendered him the 
terror of all the inhabitants along the 
coasts ; while in the African peninsula he 
held in his possession Algiers and Tunis, 
and the Turkish sultan, Soliman, himself 
had confided to his charge the whole of his 
fleet, in order to employ it against the 
Christians, of whom already some thou- 
sands languished as captives in the hands 
of the barbarians. 

As protector of entire Christendom, 
Charles felt he could no longer endure the 
existence of such outrage and cruelty, es- 
pecially as the fugitive and rightful king 
of Tunis, Hascen, had come to him for 
protection. He embarked, therefore, with 
an army of thirty thousand men, including 
eight thousand German troops, under the 
command of Count Max of Eberstein, and 
a fleet of five hundred vessels ; the latter 
being under the orders of Doria, and the 
army commanded by the emperor himself 
in person and the Marquis de Vaston. 
They arrived before Tunis in the summer 
of 1535, and captured the citadel of Gole- 
ta, which defended the port, on the first 
assault ; all the ammunition was seized, 
and more than two thousand Turks put to 
the sword. The army of Haradin Barba- 
rossa, which was drawn up ready for bat- 
tle on the plain in front of the city, was at- 
tacked at once and completely put to rout. 
The victorious troops now took possession 
of the city, and proceeded immediately to 
open the prisons of their suffering fellow- 
Christians ; and Charles, to his inexpressi- 
ble joy, was enabled to set at liberty no 
less than twenty-two thousand of these ob- 
jects of severe oppression, who now, with 
tears of joy and gratitude, were restored to 
their relations and friends. The emperor 
himself declared that glorious day to be 
one of the most happy and delightful of his 
entire life. His fame spread far and wide 
throughout every country ; and this he 
truly merited by the courage and perse- 
verance he had evinced in this perilous but 
heroic undertaking ; while, at the same 
time, he proved by his example how easily 
these barbarian corsairs of the African 
coasts might, with a bold and resolute 
spirit, be overcome. He restored the fu- 
35 



gitive king, Hascen, to his throne of Tunis , 
but, at the same time, he prohibited him 
from all capture or imprisonment of* Chris- 
tian slaves, and as a pledge of his obedi- 
ence, the emperor retained possession of 
the citadel of Goleta. Haradin, after his 
defeat, had flown to Algiers, whither 
Charles resolved to pursue him in the en- 
suing year. 

A fresh war, however, with the king of 
France prevented him from executing this 
intention. This prince, on the death of 
Francis Sforza, had renewed his claims to 
Milan, and in order to ensure for himself 
an open road to Italy, he unexpectedly at- 
tacked and took possession of the duchy of 
Savoy, upon whose duke he also made 
claims. Charles saw at once the necessity 
of war, and resolved to fix the scene of 
contest in the south of France. Unwarned 
by the disastrous results which attended his 
first expedition, under the duke of Bour- 
bon, he undertook another in 1536, and 
having advanced as far as Marseilles, he 
once more laid siege to that city. He 
however found that it was much too strong- 
ly fortified to hold out any chance of suc- 
cess, while the whole of the neighboring 
country was laid waste by the French them- 
selves ; whence want of supplies and dis- 
ease forced the emperor, after having re- 
mained two months before the place, to 
withdraw his troops and make as good a 
retreat as he could, but in which he never- 
theless lost much of his ammunition and 
luggage. 

By the mediation of the pope, a suspen- 
sion of aims, during ten years, took place 
in Nice, in the year 1538, and soon after- 
wards the two monarchs had an interview 
at Aigues-Mortes, on the Rhone. The- 
proposal for this meeting was first made- 
by the king of France ; and although the- 
imperial council considered it unsafe for 
the emperor to trust himself upon French 
ground, Charles, notwithstanding the doubts 
they expressed, resolved, were it even for 
the novel and extraordinary nature of the 
project — to him so pleasing — to accept the 
invitation. When he arrived in the harbor - 
the king himself embarked in his state 
barge to receive him, and conducted him 
ashore. Here a splendid dinner was pre- 
pared and served up, which was followed 
by a grand fete, at which the royal per- 
sonages presided until midnight. . On the 
following morning the dauphin himself at- 



274 



CHARLES V. IN FRANCE— ALGIERS. 



tended upon the emperor and handed him I length, he found his entire thoughts and 
the water and towel for his toilet, and, in- j labors absorbed in the interests of his Ger- 
deed, both sides rivalled each other in marks manic empire. 

of mutual friendship and civility. And in Charles quitted the diet at Ratisbon, and 
all this there was no hypocrisy ; they were 1 proceeded to Italy, whence he set out oxi 
both desirous of a lasting peace, and in the ; his expedition to Algiers, as previously de- 
following year, 1539, Francis gave an ad- i termined upon. His enterprising mind, 
ditional proof of his good intentions and ' ever delighting in new and brilliant ex- 
sincere wishes. The city of Ghent, in ' ploits, aspired to the realization of a pro- 
Flanders, owing to some new impost, had ject, at once grand and commensurate with 
risen in revolt against the emperor Charles, \ his powers — the annihilation of the corsairs 
and offered to place itself under the protec- j of the barbarian states of Africa ; the ac- 
tion of the king of France ; but the latter complishment of which he now felt him- 
immediately communicated the circum- self especially called upon to effect, inas- 
stance to the emperor himself, and proposed ; much as the audacious Barbarossa had 
at the same time, in order to reach the j again excited general indignation by his 
scene of contention in Flanders with more ! recent piracies on the coast of Spain. This 
expedition, that he should take the shortest new expedition, however, commenced under 
route from Spain through France. very unfavorable circumstances ; the sea- 

This offer was accepted by Charles with- 1 son for the navigation of the Mediterranean 
out any mistrust, and as he proceeded on had already become extremely tempestu- 
his journey through -he kingdom he was : ous, and the experienced admiral, Andreas 
everywhere received with the greatest • Doria himself, prognosticated a disastrous 
honors, and at every city or town he enter- j voyage. Charles, however, would not con- 
ed the keys of each place were presented ! sent to its being postponed, and they ac- 
to him, while in Fontainebleau, where the cordingly set sail. The fleet arrived on 
king had previously arrived, he was detain- ; the 20th of October, 1541, before Algiers, 
ed by magnificent fetes during the space of and the troops were forthwith landed. To- 
an entire fortnight, and when he reached wards evening, however, before the artil- 
Paris he was equally well entertained du- lery, baggage, and provisions could be* 
ring another week. j brought on shore, a tremendous gale arose. 

His presence in Ghent very soon ap- and did much damage to the ships, several 
peased the rioters ; and while he was still j of which were wrecked on the coast, 
there, Charles received the most urgent All thoughts of conquering Algiers 
appeals from Germany, hoping that he ; were of course abandoned, and the grand 
would quickly reappear in that country, ; object now was the preservation of the 
where his presence was become more ne- 1 army; for the light cavalry of the Turks 
cessary than ever, in order to put down the made their appearance on the following 
disorders which had daily increased. j day and pressed hard upon the ranks of the 

He acceded to their wishes, and, in the 'jaded troops. In this trying and dangerous 
year 1541, presided at the diet of Ratis- j moment, however, the emperor Charles 
bon. We shall relate in the succeeding ■ displayed the energy and perseverance for 
chapter how, on this occasion, and subse- , which, as a warrior, he was ever dis- 
quently for several years, he endeavored tinguished. During a march of three en- 
by writings, religious discussions, and his ' tire days, through water and mud. he led 
own persuasive eloquence, to reunite the his troops, amidst the harassing attacks of 
contending parties ; and how, at the same , the enemy, along the whole extent of the 
time, the maintenance of internal peace in ! coast as far as the Bay of Metafuz, where 
Germany was the desire and aim of his the remnant of the dispersed fleet had as- 
government, as well as the necessary prin- j sembled. Without distinction he shared 
ciple of his reign, threatened as he was, j with his common soldiers the most severe 
on the one hand, by invasions from the \ privations and fatigue, and thence it was 
Turks, and forced, on the other hand, to j that he succeeded in reviving their spirits 
carry on wars with the French. Here it , and stimulating their courage, till at length 
only remains for us to throw a glance at they reached their destination and re- 
the progress made by the emperor in his embarked. The emperor set sail for 
foreign relations, until the period when, at J Italy, where, having arrived safely, he 



THE DUKE OF CLEVES — FRANCE. 



275 



disembarked, and proceeded 
Spain. 



at once to j constant exposure to the sun, had become 
dyed completely brown, and, reckless of all 



The king of France had availed himself ! danger, when making an assault on a forti- 
of Charles's absence in order to renew hos- fled town usually fixed their daggers or 
tilities. All his experiments of friendly , lances in the fissures of the walls, and thus 



understanding with Charles would not suf- 
fice to banish from his recollection the 
duchy of Milan ; and now he thought the 
moment had arrived when he must suc- 
ceed in reconquering it. and for this pur- 
pose he renewed his alliance with the 



formed for themselves the means of ascent 
to the ramparts. The terror, however, 
which their appearance created very soon 
brought under subjection the entire coun- 
try ; and the duke of Cleves was obliged 
humbly to sue for pardon on bended knee. 



Turks. While, therefore, Charles, after j This was granted to him by the emperor, 
his return from Algiers, sought a little re- j but under the condition that he should 
pose from the fatigues of that sad expedi- 1 not forswear his religion ; that whatever 
tion, Francis forthwith entered the field changes he had introduced should be im- 
against him ; the incapacity of his generals, , mediately abolished, and the original regu- 
however, when brought to compete with the ! lations re-established, and that he should 
experience and superiority of the Spanish not enter upon any alliance in opposition to 
leaders, combined with disease and the the emperor. 

scarcity of supplies for the troops, operated > No action or engagement of any impor- 
so much against him, that the whole of his tance took place with the French this year ; 
five armies could effect nothing in the first ! but for the ensuing one Charles collected 
campaign, and were forced to return home j a very large army, and after he had held a 



dispirited and disappointed. 



new diet in Spires, in the winter of 1543, 



Tn the following year, 1543, Charles set j and had secured to himself the co-operation 
out for Italy, and thence, suddenly crossing of all the German princes, he marched in 
the Alps, proceeded to the Lower Rhine, the following spring into the enemy's coun- 
where the duke of Cleves had made an al- try at the head of a numerous body of 
liance with Francis I. ; and this prince, chosen troops. The flower of this army 
who had recently begun to encourage the consisted of thirty thousand Germans, the 
doctrines of Luther, was selected as the result of the good understanding which the 



first to feel the imperial authority. The j emperor had established at this last diet 
appearance of the emperor in this country j between himself and the Protestant princes, 
was quite unexpected. It was reported ; and more especially the elector of Saxony 
among the people that he had been ship- and the Landgrave Philip. The first place 
wrecked on his return from Algiers and j he took was Saint Dizier, whence he 
had perished. Believing this statement, j marched direct for Paris, and having taken 
they treated the news of his arrival in possession of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry, 
Germany as a mere fable. The garrison he was within a march of only two days 



of the small town of Dtiren, on being sum- 
moned by Charles to surrender, replied : 
• : Thev were no longer in dread of the era- 



from the capital, whence the inhabitants, 
already alarmed at his approach, took to 
flight. Now, however, Francis made pro- 



peror, as he had long since become food for posals of peace, which the emperor ac- 
the fishes." When, however, the Spaniards ! cepted at once, being anxious for a recon- 
scaled the walls, cut down all before them, ciliation with his rival, as affairs in Ger- 
and set fire to the town, alarm and ter- ! many grew more and more complicate, and, 
ror spread throughout the whole country, j on the 24th of September, 1544, the peace 
They said the emperor had brought with ' of Crepi was signed — the last that Charles 
him a species of wild men, half black and | signed with the king of France. By this 
half brown, with long sharp nails at their! treaty little alteration was made in the 
fingers' ends, which enabled them to climb ! main points of dispute ; as before, Burgun- 
the loftiest walls, together with huge teeth dy remained in the possession of France, 
with which they tore every thing asun- and Milan was retained by the emperor, 
der. Francis, however, pledged himself this 

It is unnecessary to say that the beings time to support the emperor not only in 
thus marvellously described, were no other checking the Turks, but in restoring the 
than the old warriors of Charles, who, by unity of faith. 



276 



RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS IN GERMANY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

State of Religious Affairs in Germany, from 1534 to 
1546— Vain Attempts at Reconciliation — Rapid Prop- 
agation of the New Doctrine— Henry, Duke of 
Brunswick— Death of Martin Luther, 1546— Charles 
V. and the Pope— Their Alliance— Preparations for 
War— The League of Schmalkald— The Elector of 
Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse— Their charac- 
ters contrasted — Maurice, Duke of Saxony— His ex- 
traordinary Genius— His Adherence to the Emperor 
—The Pope's Bull— The Holy War— The Schmalkal- 
dian Army, 1546-J 547— General Schartlin— Division 
among the Protestant Leaders— Inglorious Results— 
The Imperial Camp besieged— Charles triumphant 
—Duke Maurice and the Elector of Saxony — Treach- 
ery of Duke Maurice— The Emperor in Upper Ger- 
many—Conquers the Imperial Free Cities— Saxony — 
The Battle of Muhlberg— The Saxons defeated— 
The Elector taken Prisoner — Deposed and con- 
demned to Death— The Game of Chess— The Elec- 
tor's Firmness and Resignation— His Life "spared— 
Duke Maurice made Elector of Saxony— Witten- 
berg— Charles V. and Philip of Hesse— The Land- 
grave's Submission and Humiliation— Detained a 
Prisoner, and his Lands seized by the Emperor— 
The Elector Maurice— His Mortification, and Pro- 
jects against the Emperor— The Spanish Troops in 
Germany — Their Insolence and Oppression. 

In Saxony, the Elector John the Stead- 
fast, since the year 1532, had been suc- 
ceeded by his son John Frederick, a 
prince of just and honorable principles, but 
of a reserved mind, and in this respect 
quite the opposite of the bold and active 
Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who continued 
to march at the head of the Protestant 
princes as one of the most energetic and 
effective among them. Not only this con- 
trast of character presented in the two 
leaders, but other causes had operated to 
produce a division among the body of 
Protestants themselves. Already, in the 
tenth year of the Reformation, a dispute 
had arisen among them with respect to the 
doctrine of the communion, in which at 
first Luther stepped forward to resist Carl- 
stadt, and afterwards extended his opposi- 
tion to the reformer of Switzerland, Ulric 
Zwingli, with whom he had a religious 
conference at Marburg, in 1529, but which 
led to no satisfactory result. They parted, 
it is true, with an improved opinion of each 
other's merit, and Luther himself was in 
hopes that the violence of spirit, which had 
hitherto breathed throughout their contro- 
versial writings, would now become soft- 
ened down ; but the primary subject of 
division still retained its influence, and 
presented an obstacle even to the external 
union of the parties in a common alliance ; 
so that in fact it might have led to the 
total destruction of the new church, if the 
Catholics had availed themselves of the 
existing schism between them. 



But among the latter, likewise, dissen- 
sion prevailed to such an extent that, as we 
have already seen, the dukes of Bavaria 
had even joined the Schmalkaldian league. 
And, subsequently, when these princes 
separated from it, and the new church was 
thus threatened with greater danger, the 
strict Lutheran party, by the advice of 
their chief himself, became reconciled, for 
a time, with the Swiss, by a concordate of 
Wittenberg, and the towns of Switzerland, 
as well as several others of Upper Ger- 
many, joined the league. This was one 
of the most important events towards the 
development of the evangelical church. 

The propagation of the new doctrine in- 
creased rapidly from day to day. Several 
bishops even, including those of Lubeck, 
Camin, and Schwerin, embraced the new 
form of worship, and the venerable Her- 
mann, elector of Cologne, of whom we 
shall speak more in detail as we proceed, 
made serious preparations to follow their 
example. 

One of the most important changes, 
however, took place at this time in the 
Saxon territories. The moiety of these 
provinces, together with the cities of Dres- 
den and Leipsic, belonged to Duke George, 
(by-named " the bearded,")" who was a 
zealous adherent and defender of the old 
church, and who employed every means 
in his power to prevent the introduction 
of the new doctrine into his estates. His 
two sons, however, died before him, and 
his brother, Henry of Altenburg, (father 
of Maurice, the subsequent duke and 
elector,) his immediate inheritor, was, on 
the other hand, devoted with his whole 
soul to the doctrines of Luther. When, 
therefore, his brother George died, in 
April, 1539, the first act of Henry's gov- 
ernment was to introduce the Reformation 
everywhere throughout his land. The ma- 
jority of his subjects submitted willingly ; 
the university of Leipsic itself, after a slight 
opposition, became completely changed, 
and the most zealous of the Catholic theo- 
logian professors, having been removed and 
discharged from their offices, were re- 
placed by the partisans of the new doc- 
trine. 

A similar change took place in Bran- 
denburg, nearly about the same time. 
Prince Joachim I., a zealous Catholic, 
having died in 1534, was succeeded by his 
son Joachim II., who had been educated 



VAIN ATTEMPTS AT RECONCILIATION. 



277 



by his mother, a princess of Denmark, in 
the principles of Luther. Encouraged by 
the example set by the bishop of Branden- 
burg, Matthias Jagow, this prince sub- 
scribed to the Augsburg confession, and 
introduced into his country a church ser- 
vice which retained some portion of the 
old form of worship, but in the chief points 
was strictly conformable with the prin- 
ciples of the reformed church. 

The superiority which the new doctrine 
was now gaining in the north of Germany, 
induced the venerable Cardinal Albert, 
archbishop of Mentz, a prince of the house 
of Brandenburg, to abstain from making 
farther opposition to its progress in his two 
bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, 
and withdrawing to Mentz, he granted per- 
mission to the states and cities of those 
provinces, in return for the payment of 
a considerable sum of money, to establish 
their new doctrine and build churches, as 
they might deem best and most advanta- 
geous. 

After this, the more evil the state of 
things became, the more strenuous were 
both the emperor and his brother Ferdinand 
in their endeavors to reunite both parties, 
and for this object they established from 
time to time successive religious confer- 
ences : at Hagenau, in 1540 ; at Worms, 
in 1541, where Melanchthon and Eck stood 
opposed to each other ; and in the same 
year likewise at Ratisbon, at which the em- 
peror himself presided and took an active 
part therein. All, however, was in vain ; 
the new doctrine was too widely separated 
from the old, and in it were now involved 
too many interests : on all sides too many 
worldly considerations were brought into 
operation, and amidst the wild party pas- 
sions and distractions of that period, it was 
impossible to obtain for the subject that 
calm and profound investigation so neces- 
sary and so desirable. 

These attempts at reconciliation produ- 
cing little or no result, the emperor, as usual, 
had recourse either to a general council, 
confirming in the interval the treaty of 
Nuremberg ; or, of his own authority, is- 
suing, even against the voice of the Catho- 
lic majority, decrees by which all the 
Protestant churches in the land were re- 
cognised by the state. Thus it occurred 
at the diet of Ratisbon, in 1541, before 
Charles's expedition to Algiers ; thus like- 
wise at Spires, in 1542, by the mediation 



of Ferdinand and the elector of Branden- 
burg, in order to collect together all the 
forces of the empire against the Turks, 
and finally, in 1544, at the second grand 
diet in the same city, at which the emperor 
and all the seven electors were present, 
when he prepared his second expedition 
against Francis I. of France, and of which 
we have already spoken. The personal 
relations between the emperor and the two 
Protestant leaders, John Frederick of Sax- 
ony and Philip of Hesse, had never been 
upon a more favorable footing, so much so 
indeed, that the question of a marriage be- 
tween a son of the elector and a daughter 
of Ferdinand had already formed a subject 
of discussion, while the landgrave received 
from the emperor a promise that in the 
next campaign against the Turks he should 
be appointed commander-in-chief in lieu 
of himself. And yet in spite of all this, 
the Protestants about this time sought to 
aid themselves by force of arms. Duke 
Henry the younger, of Brunswick, a zeal- 
ous Catholic, and of impatient and violent 
spirit, was at enmity with the elector of 
Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse, more 
particularly on account of their religion ; 
and each party attacked the other in fierce 
pamphlets abounding in passionate invec- 
tive and furious abuse. In addition to this 
the two towns of Brunswick and Goslar, 
which formed a part of the league of 
Schmalkald, invoked the protection of the 
Protestant provinces against their own 
duke, who oppressed them in every possible 
way, and whom the emperor himself as 
well as King Ferdinand had repeatedly, 
although in vain, reproached for his unjust 
violence against those towns. At length, 
in 1542, the league raised an army, inva- 
ded the territory of the duke, conquered and 
drove him from the country, and held pos- 
session thereof. The duke appealed to the 
emperor for succor ; he, however, only 
referred the matter to the consideration of 
the next diet. 

Accordingly at the diet of Worms, held 
in 1545, it was decided that, until the affair 
was equitably adjusted, the emperor should 
hold the estates of Brunswick under his 
own immediate dominion. This arrange- 
ment, however, by no means accorded with 
the demands of the impatient and haughty 
duke, who would willingly have found 
himself at the head of the Catholic party: 
" To pretend to make use of threats in the 



278 



DUKE HENRY OF BRUNSWICK. 



name of the emperor, was," he said, "just 
like hunting with a dead falcon." In his 
zeal he was misled into an act for which he 
stood committed in the eyes of Francis I., 
king of France. This monarch had con- 
fided to his charge a considerable sum of 
money, for the purpose of collecting a body 
of troops for his service ; as soon, however, 
as the duke had succeeded in this object he 
marched them into his own duchy, in the 
autumn of 1545, in order to regain it from 
his enemies. The no less bold and ener- 
getic Landgrave Philip, however, was soon 
on the alert with his army, and the elector 
of Saxony with Duke Maurice having 
joined him with their forces, they surround- 
ed the duke, so completely in his camp of 
Calefeld, near Nordheim, that he was 
forced to yield himself a prisoner, together 
with his son. The landgrave led them 
away as captives to the castle of Ziegen- 
hain, and the emperor took no farther in- 
terest in the matter beyond advising him 
to treat his prisoners with lenity, and ac- 
cording fo their rank as princes. 

Meantime the before-mentioned diet of 
Worms, although it operated once more 
towards the maintenance of religious peace, 
presented, nevertheless, stronger indica- 
tions of the growing schism, and the com- 
plaints of both parties became more and 
more urgent. The Catholics did not fail 
to complain of the confiscation of their ec- 
clesiastical possessions in the Protestant 
countries, and the Protestants on their side 
refused to acknowledge the decrees pro- 
nounced by the imperial chamber in these 
and similar matters, inasmuch as the Cath- 
olics would only permit judges of the an- 
cient faith to preside there. Distrust had 
now increased to such an extent that but a 
small number of Protestant princes ap- 
peared at all at the diet. The grand me- 
dium for reconciliation, from which Charles 
had formerly hoped so much, viz., a gene- 
ral council of the church, was now ineffec- 
tually employed, for it was now too late to 
resort to it, neither was it regulated in a 
just and equitable form. The court of 
Rome had eventually given its consent to 
such an assembly, and had convoked the 
council for the 15th of March, 1545, at 
Trent, in Tyrol, which was solemnly 
opened on the 13th of December of the 
same year. The Protestants, however, 
refused to recognise its authority for de- 
ciding in their affairs, giving as their rea- 



sons — that the council was convoked on 
the frontiers of Italy, in a country totally 
unacquainted with the customs of Ger- 
many, and which consequently could not 
fail to have an injuriously preponderating 
influence; and farther, that the pope, who 
had already condemned them as heretics, 
or at least had treated them as accused of 
heresy, presided at the said council as their 
judge. If, therefore, this council was to 
be regarded as an independent one, they 
must enjoy equal rights with the others. 

Some time previously, Frederick, the 
elector palatine, who had then recently 
gone over to the new church doctrine, 
made a proposition which might have pro- 
duced advantageous results if every one 
had been animated with good faith and 
influenced by pure principles. He pro- 
posed, viz., " to convoke a national or 
general council of Germany, and to trans- 
mit to Trent the convention therein con- 
cluded between all parties, as being the 
opinion of the entire body of the German 
nation." The same idea had been vainly 
suggested, even prior to this, by John 
Frederick of Saxony, who proposed that 
the said council should meet in Augsburg. 
This expedient, free from all foreign influ- 
ence, and by which the nation would have 
been so represented as to express its wants 
fairly and directly, appeared the only one 
which must have proved beneficial and 
have led to a conclusion of religious dis- 
putes. 

The anxiety felt by the emperor and 
the Catholics, lest the Protestants should 
acquire a superiority throughout the em- 
pire, was not without foundation. Three 
out of the four lay-electorate princes in 
the imperial council, had already adopted 
the new doctrine, (although the elector 
palatine and the elector of Brandenburg 
had not as yet joined the league of Schmal- 
kald.) and now even one of the three prel- 
ates, Hermann, the venerable elector of 
Cologne, declared himself more and more 
decidedly in favor of the new cause. He 
was desirous, with the sanction of his 
states and a portion of his chapter, to in- 
troduce into his bishopric the most search- 
ing and important reforms, and had al- 
ready entered upon the grand work him- 
self, having invited Melanchthon from 
Wittenberg to aid him therein. The uni- 
versity and the corporation of Cologne, 
however, together with the opposition party 



CHARLES V. AND THE POPE. 



279 



of the chapter, were against all such re- 
forms, and appealed to the emperor and 
the pope for their authority against these 
measures. This university had, previous- 
ly to the Reformation, in the time of Jacob 
Hoogstraten, taken an active part in the 
dispute against the humanists, the profes- 
sors and restorers of the study of the an- 
cient languages, and especially against 
Reuchlin ; while it was one of the first to 
condemn the dogmas of Luther. 

In this increasing complication of affairs, 
where no longer the least hope of concilia- 
tion remained, the emperor, more and more 
urged to hostile measures by Rome and 
Spain, (the duke of Alba having now ar- 
rived in Germany from the latter country,) 
considered himself at length called upon — 
however much, hitherto, an inward warn- 
ing voice might have restrained him — to 
employ, as a last resource, the force of 
arms, and thus promptly and definitively 
to decide the question. His chancellor, 
Granvella, held, therefore, secret council 
with the pope's legate, Cardinal Farnese, 
on the possibility of carrying on a war 
against the Protestants ; he gave him to 
understand that the pope must necessarily 
join in active co-operation, as the emperor 
himself was exhausted, and the Catholic 
princes without energy ; and the cardinal, 
in his joy to find the emperor now seriously 
determined to proceed to extremities, made 
the most flattering promises. In order to 
be unoccupied with any foreign enemy, 
Charles now concluded a truce with the 
sultan, and with Francis I. he likewise 
made peace. 

We are now arrived at a critical period 
of Charles's life. In forming the resolu- 
tion to accomplish with the sword that 
which he had so long endeavored to effect 
by peaceful means, he fell into a great 
error ; falsely imagining that the mighty 
agitations of the mind could be checked 
and held in chains by external power. 
From that moment, on the contrary, he 
was himself vanquished by that very over- 
whelming epoch, the course of which, until 
then, he had appeared to direct and hold in 
rein ; it was henceforward no longer in 
his power to restrain its career. His 
genius, impaired with increasing years, 
and over which, about this time, the Jesuits 
had gained an influence not to be mistaken, 
became more and more clouded and preju- 
diced against all that was new and vigor- 



ous in life, and thus, in his gloomy and 
morose spirit, he thought he was able to 
cut with the sharp edge of his sword t.h< 
knot he found it so difficult to )o en 
This mistaken idea of the emperor ( harlee 
at the closing period of his reign resemble? 
a tragedy, in which we find a noble mind 
forced to bend and sink beneath the heavy 
burden to which fate has subjected it. 
These latter years, it is true, may be in- 
cluded among the most brilliant of his life, 
by their external successes produced so 
rapidly ; but it was precisely this <^ood 
fortune which made him lose sight of the 
exact point of moderation which, down to 
this moment, he had so happily main- 
tained, and whence he was soon laid low 
by the iron hand of destiny, and all his 
plans, formed with so much trouble and 
anxiety, completely annihilated. Nothing 
else now remained for him, but to collect 
his reduced powers in order to withdraw 
in time from the whirlpool before him, and, 
while he threw aside the shining brilliancy 
of earthly grandeur, to preserve at least 
the independence of his spirit. And, as- 
suredly, by this last resolution, of which 
subsequently we shall speak more fully, 
the emperor Charles secured to himself 
his dignity as a man while he conciliated 
the voice of posterity. 

Shortly previous to the commencement 
of the sanguinary war of religion, Luther, 
the founder of the grand struggle, breathed 
his last. He had used all the weight of 
his power and influence in order to dis- 
suade his party from mixing external force 
with that which ought only to have its seat 
within the calm profundity of the soul ; 
and, indeed, as long as he lived, this ener- 
getic reformer was the warm advocate for 
the maintenance of peace. He repeatedly 
reminded the princes that his doctrine was 
foreign to their warlike weapons, and he 
beheld with pain and distress, in the latter 
years of his life, the growing temporal di- 
rection given to the holy cause, and the 
increasing hostility of parties, whence he 
augured nothing good. Providence, how- 
ever, spared him from witnessing the final 
and disastrous course of events. He had 
suffered from severe illness for several 
years, and during a journey he had under- 
taken, in the year 1546, to Eisleben, in 
order to settle a dispute between the earls 
of Mansfeld, he was seized with a fresh 
stroke of illness, and died on the 16th of 



280 



LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALD. 



February of that year, at the age of sixty- 
three, after having repeated once more, 
with his dying breath, that he had lived 
and now died in the firm belief of Christ, 
the Saviour of the world. His body was 
conveyed in solemn state to Wittenberg, 
where it was placed in the vault of the 
royal chapel of the castle. 

While the diet of Ratisbon was still sit- 
ting, in 1546, where for the last time the 
Protestants urged, viz. " A lasting peace 
and equal rights for the evangelical and 
Catholic estates, together with an equitable 
council of the German nation," the empe- 
ror had already collected an army, and 
concluded a treaty of alliance with the 
pope. He determined, in combination with 
the Holy See, to adopt extreme measures 
against Hermann, the archbishop of Co- 
logne, who was at once formally deposed 
from his electorate. This and other acts 
alarmed the confederates of Schmalkald ; 
and they demanded from the emperor the 
object of his military preparations. He re- 
plied briefly : " That all those who submit- 
ted to his authority would find him influ- 
enced by the same gracious, paternal, and 
good intentions he had hitherto shown ; but 
on the other hand, all such as acted in op- 
position to him must expect to be treated 
with the greatest severity." And shortly 
after this, when the messenger returned 
from Rome with the treaty signed by the 
pope, he issued his declaration of the 26th 
of June, 1546 : " That as hitherto all the 
diets had produced no effect, it was his de- 
sire that all should await with patience 
the determination he might adopt upon the 
subject of religion, whether for peace or 
war." This declaration showed evidently 
that it was the emperor's intention to have 
recourse to war, and the Schmalkaldian 
league immediately prepared to take up 
arms in their defence. The marked con- 
trast, however, between the two great lead- 
ers held out but little prospect of brilliant 
results. 

The elector of Saxony, who adhered to 
his faith with his whole soul, and was but 
little influenced by any thing external be- 
yond it, would not for a moment admit any 
political calculation to connect itself with 
his cause, but rested solely upon his con- 
viction, " That God would not forsake His 
gospel." Previously, he had already refus- 
■ed the alliance of the kings of England and 
France, because they both appeared to him 



unworthy to defend the doctrines he held to 
be the most pure, and he even considered 
that he was bound to refuse the co-operation 
of the Swiss, because they deviated from 
him in their belief of the doctrine of the 
Eucharist. The elector, whose ideas were 
extremely circumscribed, had never for a 
moment suspected the existence of the plans 
so long contemplated by the emperor ; on 
the contrary, he always continued to nour- 
ish in his heart, even to the last moment, 
the most sincere and genuine veneration 
for the ancient sacred name and person of 
the emperor. And, indeed, had it not been 
for his able chancellor, Bruck, to whom he 
confided every thing, and who, fortunately, 
knew better than himself how to bring into 
connection the maxims of state policy with 
the strict principles of religion, so firmly 
advocated by his master, the league would 
have suffered still more severely. 

Philip of Hesse was not wanting either 
in attachment and zeal for his faith ; but 
there were other motives besides of an ex- 
ternal character by which he was influ- 
enced in the part he had chosen. He had 
from the first been excited by the most 
burning ambition, and had it not so hap- 
pened that a combination of events had cut 
him off from all friendly connection with 
the imperial throne, he would doubtless 
have occupied a distinguished position among 
the counsellors and generals of the emperor. 
Finding himself, however, placed by fate 
at the head of the opposite party, his bold 
and enterprising genius prompted him to 
employ every expedient against the empe- 
ror ; and for which purpose he was gifted 
with powers far more comprehensive than 
the elector of Saxony. He would willingly, 
in several cases, have taken up arms where 
the circumstances were favorable, in order 
to obtain for himself and his co-religionists 
at once those rights for which they were 
otherwise forced to wait until granted them 
by the emperor. We have seen already 
how he twice boldly took the field at all 
hazards, at one time in favor of Ulric of 
Wurtemberg, and at another against the 
duke of Brunswick ; but whenever he 
urged the policy of undertaking more ex- 
tensive expeditions, he found himself al- 
ways checked by the elector, who was ever 
anxious not to infringe the laws ; whence 
it was alone the common danger which 
held in union two minds so different in cha- 
racter, and almost wholly opposed to each 



MAURICE OF SAXONY. 



281 



other. This inequality of thought and feel- 
ing, however, could not fail to produce ne- 
cessarily great confusion and opposition in 
moments of decisive action. 

This was the weak side of the Schmal- 
kaldian league ; but for this, its power un- 
der good and wisely-concerted direction, 
would have been sufficiently effective to 
have obtained complete success in a legiti- 
mate defence against the emperor. And 
in such case, to have proceeded upon the 
principle and feeling with which the elec- 
tor of Saxony acted, would have been 
highly praiseworthy and honorable ; for 
thence the Protestant party would have 
been able to defend its liberty of faith with 
advantage, without the interference of 
foreigners, which was always destructive 
to Germany ; it would have preserved the re- 
spect and reverence due to the imperial ma- 
jesty so long, at least, as the latter did not 
transgress the limits of justice, and with- 
out having recourse to the dishonest arti- 
fices of that policy which honors truth in 
proportion only as it accords with its own 
interest. But the league was unhappily 
devoid of unity of action and cordial co- 
operation, as well as in fixity of purpose in 
the execution of its plans. ' A considerable 
number of princes had refused to join its 
ranks, and even opposed it by attaching I 
themselves to the emperor's party. Mau- ! 
rice, the young duke of Saxony, although 
himself a Protestant and cousin of the elec- 
tor, as well as heir to the Landgrave Philip, | 
was in secret communication with the empe- 
ror ; while the margrave of Brandenburg, 
John of Kiistrin, abandoned the league, 
and Albert of Baireuth also openly enter- 
ing the service of the emperor, acted with 
him in concert against it. 

Maurice of Saxony was one of the most 
remarkable and distinguished men of his 
day. Young, bold, and active, he already 
possessed the keen glance and quick con- 
ception of the more experienced warrior, 
and had at command that searching, com- 
prehensive view of circumstances which en- 
abled him to execute his purposes with 
characteristic promptitude. His whole ap- 
pearance, likewise, displayed the perfect 
man ; and his eye of fire and penetration, 
together with the entire expression of his 
noble, daring countenance, indicated his he- 
roic character. The emperor Charles 
himself, who always ranked the Germans 
far behind his subjects of the southern 
36 



climes, and accordingly held but few of 
them in much respect, soon learned to know 
the young duke's character, and quickly 
penetrating into all that was grand and no- 
ble in his nature, he singled him out at 
once as worthy of especial regard and es- 
teem beyond all his other courtiers. 

Maurice, whose keen glance penetrated 
far more deeply into future events than that 
of his cousin the elector, discovered very 
soon that the latter could not possibly main- 
tain the contest against the superior address 
and tact of the emperor, and he accordingly 
formed at once the resolution of making 
himself the chief of the house of Saxony. 
In doing this, he may, perhaps, have justi- 
fied himself by the plea, that there was no 
other means of saving it ; still his justice 
and truth were put thereby severely to the 
test. He would not join the league of 
Schmalkald because he wished to attach 
himself to the emperor and preserve his 
alliance until, by the attainment of his ob- 
ject, he should be at liberty to act with 
independence. 

On the formation of the league he gave 
his advice against it, and when invited to 
join it, he refused and declared that he 
would only take up arms in defence of his 
own lands. He was, however, already, at 
the moment he made this declaration, in 
secret understanding with the emperor ; but 
to what extent and how closely he was 
allied, and under what stipulations, has not 
been clearly shown : unfortunately, howev- 
er, there is every probability to suppose that 
the reward held out to him was the pros- 
pect of receiving the electorate. Such 
being the case, what an inward struggle 
must it have cost him, and how painfully 
must it have agitated his whole soul, when 
the unsuspecting elector, just before he set 
out on his expedition against the emperor, 
confided into his hands the whole of his 
lands, in order to protect and watch over 
them as his substitute during his absence, 
to be faithfully restored to him on his return ! 
Nevertheless, no external sign betrayed 
this inward contention, and wisdom tri- 
umphed over truth ; and in order not to be- 
tray himself, he accepted the protectorate 
of the electoral territories. 

The emperor exerted every effort in or- 
der that the approaching war should not 
assume the character of a purely religious 
war. In a proclamation to the principal 
Protestant cities, Strasburg, Nuremberg, 



282 



THE HOLY WAR. 



Augsburg, and Ulm, printed in Ratisbon, 
he assures them positively : " That the 
preparations for war made by his imperial 
majesty, were by no means adopted for the 
purpose of oppressing either religion or 
liberty, but solely in order to bring to sub- 
mission a few obstinate princes, who, under 
the cloak of religion, sought to seduce over 
to their party other members of the holy 
empire, and who had lost all sense of jus- 
tice and order, as well as respect for the 
imperial dignity." 

The straightforward good sense of the 
German citizens, told them plainly that a 
part of this proclamation was nothing but 
mere empty words, while they felt the dan- 
ger with which they were themselves threat- 
ened by the overthrow of the princes. 
They held themselves, therefore, firmly at- 
tached to their league with the Protestant 
states. An unexpected event which now 
took place rendered perfectly useless all the 
pains that Charles had taken to conceal the 
object in view. He had scarcely concluded 
his alliance with the pope, the nature of 
which was exactly the opposite of what he 
had so lately assured the cities in ques- 
tion, when the pope made it publicly known, 
and issued a bull throughout Germany, in 
which he represented the emperor's expedi- 
tion as a holy undertaking for the cause of 
religion : " The vineyard of the Lord," it 
says therein, "shall now be purified, by 
fire and sword, of all the weeds which have 
been sown by the heretics throughout the 
Germanic empire." By the terms of the 
compact itself, the pope promised to assist 
the emperor with twelve thousand Italian 
foot-soldiers, and fifteen hundred light caval- 
ry troops, which he undertook to maintain 
at his own cost for the space of six months. 
Besides this, he gave two hundred thousand 
crowns towards the general outlay of the 
war, and authorized the emperor to draw 
the moiety of the revenues from the ecclesi- 
astical possessions in Spain, and to dispose 
of Spanish monastic property to the amount 
of five hundred thousand scudi. In return 
for which Charles promised : " That he 
would compel, by force of arms, all the 
rebels in Germany to return to their obe- 
dience to the holy chair of Rome ; that he 
would restore the ancient religion, and that, 
without the consent of the holy father, he 
would enter into no treaty with those of the 
new heresy, that might be disadvantageous 
or injurious to the Romish church." 



Thus this manifesto, contrary to the wish 
of Charles, gave a religious character to 
the war, and such was the pope's desire. 
In the Protestant countries, however, the 
most bitter and indescribable exasperation 
was excited, and if the leaders had only 
known how to avail themselves of that mo- 
ment, by directing the entire strength of 
the mass thus aroused, the emperor, with 
his Spaniards and Italians, must have been 
completely overcome. For the other Ger- 
man princes, and even the Catholic princes, 
held themselves generally quiet ; dreading 
lest, after overthrowing the Protestants, the 
emperor would exercise sole dominion ovei 
the whole empire. 

The army furnished by the cities of 
Upper Germany marched first into the 
field; a well-appointed and select body of 
troops under the command of a man dis- 
tinguished for his military skill and well- 
tried experience, Sebastian Schartlin of 
Burtenbach, near Augsburg. This brave 
officer and knight was remarkable for his 
resolution and firm, undeviating principles 
of action ; he would never brook half 
measures, but always manoeuvred for the 
total defeat and destruction of his enemy. 
He had served in all the campaigns against 
the Turks and the French, and had shared 
in the battle of Pavia and the storming of 
Rome under the duke of Bourbon. He 
was now soon joined by the corps of Ulric, 
duke of Wurtemberg, under the command 
of the brave John of Heydeck. Schartlin 
speedily drew up his plan of the war, ac- 
cording to which he commenced operations 
by at once seeking to annihilate the em- 
peror's forces at the very onset of their 
formation ; for Charles, who still remained 
stationary in Ratisbon, had as yet at the 
utmost only from eight to ten thousand 
men, while he still awaited the troops col- 
lecting in Germany and those that were 
marching to his aid from Italy and the 
Netherlands. 

Schartlin advanced against the town of 
Fuessen on the river Lech, in Swabia, one 
of the principal military depots of the em- 
peror ; but the troops on his approach evac- 
uated the place, and retired into Bavaria, 
and just as he was about to march in pur- 
suit of them, a messenger arrived from the 
council of the city of Augsburg, in whose ser- 
vice he was more especially engaged, with 
instructions not to enter the territory of the 
duke of Bavaria, who was a neutral power. 



DIVISION AMONG THE LEADERS. 



283 



The house of Bavaria had threatened to 
joir th j emperor in case they did not leave 
his country unmolested ; at the same time it 
may be observed, that if it was resolved to re- 
main entirely neutral, it ought assuredly not 
to have permitted the troops of the emperor 
to pass through its territory. But there 
was at that moment a secret compact con- 
cluded between the Bavarian house and 
the emperor, by which the former agreed 
to furnish at least a certain contribution in 
money. It was, therefore, with no little 
pain and mortification that Schartlin found 
himself thus suddenly checked and forced 
to make a halt on the very banks of the 
river Lech, without being permitted to 
cross it and destroy the enemy thus slip- 
ping through his fingers ; especially as his 
plans embraced far more important and 
decisive results, it being his determination, 
after having defeated the troops now before 
him, to have proceeded by forced marches 
on to Ratisbon itself. The army there 
collected being but small, the emperor 
would have been forced to take to flight, in 
which case he must have lost the whole of 
Upper Germany. Referring to this sub- 
ject Schartlin wrote : " That assuredly 
Hannibal himself had not experienced great- 
er regret and mortification, when compelled 
to withdraw from Italy, than he had en- 
dured when forced at that moment to retire 
from the Bavarian territory." 

The brave Schartlin now proceeded at 
once to carry into execution the plan he 
had formed immediately after the failure 
of his first project, and which was to 
oppose the march of the pope's troops 
across the Tyrolese mountains into Ger- 
many. 

Never had such a well-appointed army 
been formed in Italy as that which now 
marched forth to join the emperor's force; 
the soldiers, under chiefs long distinguished 
for courage and experience, being all uni- 
ted in one zealous, enthusiastic feeling 
against the Protestants. Schartlin, by for- 
ced marches, soon gained the passes and 
made himself master of the important de- 
file of Ehrenberg. Thence he marched 
against Inspruck, and had he been allowed 
to proceed, would have obtained his object 
and commanded the whole country ; but 
here he received fresh orders from the 
leaders of the league, by whom he was 
now instructed to evacuate the land, inas- 
much as King Ferdinand, to whom it be- 



longed, had not as vet declared war against 
the Schmalkaldian league. Thus was 
evinced already, even at the commence- 
ment of operations, all that doubt and fear 
among the confederates whence mighteasily 
be foreseen the most unfortunate and dis- 
astrous results. For it was the height of 
folly and madness, after the war had 
become inevitable, to show consideration 
towards those who, although as yet not 
declared enemies, were nevertheless known 
to be decidedly hostile. Nevertheless, the 
general was obliged again to obey superior 
orders, and was thus unable to avail him- 
self of the advantages he already possess- 
ed, or might at any future period gain. 

Meantime, the Saxon and Hessian troops 
were brought into the field, and directed 
their march towards Upper Germany. The 
two chiefs of the league addressed, on the 
4th of July, a letter to the emperor as fol- 
lows : " That they were not conscious of 
having committed any act of disobedience, 
for which they had been accused by the 
emperor. If, however, they had laid them- 
selves open to such reproach, it was only 
just and equitable that they should be 
heard beforehand ; and if this did take 
place, then they would make it clear in 
the eyes of all, that the emperor undertook 
the war merely at the instigation of the 
pope, in order to oppress and crush the 
doctrine of the evangelists, and the liberty 
of the Germanic empire." This last and 
most grave accusation, now made for the 
first time against the emperor by his oppo- 
nents, was soon eagerly caught at and 
disseminated throughout the world. This 
one sentence, if it was held to be truly 
expressed, must have produced a startling 
change even in the Roman Catholics them- 
selves, have subdued all their zeal, and 
rendered them less desirous to behold the 
emperor succeed in overcoming his ad- 
versaries. 

Charles, indeed, immediately afterwards, 
by committing a most rash act, appeared 
to confirm the accusation thus made against 
him ; for when the document from the 
leaders of the league was laid before him, 
he would not even touch it, but proceeded 
at once, on the 20th of July, to reply to it 
by a declaration of the imperial ban against 
the two princes of Saxony and Hesse. He 
therein charged them with disobedience to 
the imperial authority, and a design to " de- 
prive him of his crown, his sceptre, and all 



284 



THE IMPERIAL CAMP. 



authority, in order to invest themselves 
therewith, and finally to subjugate every 
one to their tyrannical power." He called 
them "rebels, perjurers, and traitors," and 
absolved their subjects from all obligation 
of homage and obedience to them. Thus 
severely did he express himself in reply to 
their address, although quite in conformity 
with the excitement and violence of that 
turbulent period. By this, his last act, 
however, the emperor violated the ancient 
rights of the empire, according to which he 
was not empowered to declare the ban 
against any state, without the council and 
judgment of the princes. No exact esti- 
mate, therefore, can be made of the extent 
to which the emperor might have been car- 
ried, had circumstances continued favor- 
able ; for to minds like his, which subject 
themselves entirely to the dictates and 
guidance of prudence, circumstances con- 
stitute the only measure of restriction. 
They undertake only what appears to them 
practicable, and Charles accordingly was 
cautious in not attempting to do that which 
he could not complete. He held the sway 
over so many extensive states, and had op- 
posed to him so many powerful adversaries 
in Europe, that he felt it quite impossible 
to devote that continual and exclusive care 
to Germany, which a plan of absolute sov- 
ereignty, to be carried out successfully, 
strictly demanded ; whence he wisely ab- 
stained from the attempt. Nevertheless, 
Charles gave ample evidence of his char- 
acter as a proud and mighty emperor, and 
the ruler of half the world, by acting in 
particular circumstances, when everything 
depended upon prompt measures of execu- 
tion, independent of all forms of law ; 
whence it may be said that the violation of 
the rights and privileges of the empire rested 
more in his intentions than in his plans. 

Meantime he entered upon this opening 
scene of the Schmalkaldian war in con- 
scious superiority of mind and true heroic 
independence. Although having at com- 
mand but a small body of troops, and threat- 
ened by an army of at least fifty thousand 
men, the most complete and formidable 
force that Germany had produced for sev- 
eral years, he only replied to the decla- 
ration of the princes by the said document 
of excommunication, and then proceeded 
from Ratisbon to Landshut in order to be 
more immediately at hand to receive the 
succors marching from Italy. To re- 



move, however, all doubt or fear from the 
minds of his partisans, he declared to them 
that he would never abandon the German 
soil, but would adhere to it living or dead. 
His best guarantee was the state of dissen- 
sion existing in the camp of the allies. 
Scbartlin with the municipal troops had 
now joined the army of the two disunited 
princes. The citizen-general now advised 
that they should march with their combined 
forces against Landshut, and there surround 
the emperor at once ; but, as usual, they 
could come to no determination, and the 
valuable opportunity was lost once more. 
The emperor, on the contrary, lost no time 
in making the most of these valuable mo- 
ments ; he collected around him all the 
reinforcements as they arrived from Italy 
and Spain, as well as the auxiliary troops 
from Germany, and when he found him- 
self in sufficient strength, he ascended the 
banks of the Danube as far as Ingolstadt. 
There he encamped, and strongly fortified 
himself ; for as yet he could not venture 
to enter the open field and attack the ene- 
my, preferring to wait the arrival of Count 
Buren, who was advancing to join him with 
a considerable body of troops from the 
Netherlands. The allies had followed him 
to his present position, and now they at 
length determined to attack his camp, as 
yet not quite secured, with their artillery, 
and thus force him to draw up in line of 
battle. 

Accordingly, on the 31st of August, they 
advanced at break of day, and forming 
themselves into a half circle, occupied all 
the heights in the rear of the camp with 
their planted cannon. The allied troops 
were animated with courage and a desire 
for battle ; and at this favorable moment, 
a bold and decisive assault, conducted with 
prompt and energetic effect, would have 
produced for the allies an easy, but com- 
plete and glorious victory. For the em- 
peror was far inferior in force, and his 
camp was as yet only defended by a sim- 
ple trench. The idea of such an assault 
was not unthought of by the allies ; ac- 
cording to some accounts the Landgrave 
Philip, according to others General Schiirt- 
lin, had suggested it at the very moment 
when the fire from his twelve heavy can- 
nons was dealing destruction among the 
emperor's Spanish arquebusiers, and sent 
them back flying into the camp. But again 
this time irresolution and disunion among 



THE IMPERIAL FREE CITIES. 



285 



the leaders rendered futile the decision 
which ought to have been put into force 
immediately. The emperor, who with the 
greatest sang froid encouraged his troops, 
and himself defied all danger, now gained 
time to complete the fortifications of his 
camp, and was soon enabled to witness in 
perfect security how vain were the efforts 
of the enemy to point their cannon with any 
effect against him. From this moment 
Schlirtlin, as he himself relates, placed no 
longer faith in this war, " for he saw no 
serious efforts made to render it an honor- 
able and legitimate war." 

The princes continued during five entire 
days to cannonade the imperial camp, with- 
out producing any desired result ; and 
when they heard that Count Buren, with 
his auxiliary troops from the Netherlands 
had already crossed the Rhine, they raised 
the siege, and suddenly retired with their 
whole army in order to march against him. 
The emperor could scarcely believe his 
eyes, when he beheld the powerful army 
of his enemy thus retire without having ef- 
fected any thing, and mounting his horse 
he rode out of his camp escorted by the 
duke of Alba and others of his staff, to ob- 
serve their retreat more closely. 

Meantime the princes, notwithstanding 
their rapid march, were unable to prevent 
the junction of Count Buren with the em- 
peror, who being now so much reinforced, 
proceeded at once to march in advance, 
taking possession of one place after an- 
other along the Danube, and making him- 
self complete master of that river. When 
at length he approached and threatened 
Augsburg, the citizens summoned their 
general, Schartlin, to their aid and protec- 
tion. The allies, however, notwithstanding 
they had not understood properly how to 
avail themselves of their superiority, main- 
tained the war by an obstinate resistance 
until November, so that the emperor could 
not bring them to a general action ; while, 
in the mean time, the Spaniards and Ital- 
ians of his army already suffered greatly 
from disease and fatigue. 

The allies suffered likewise from severe 
weather, to which was added the want of 
supplies, both in provisions and money, and 
the army now began to show signs of dis- 
couragement and dejection, because the 
leaders were incapable of inspiring confi- 
dence ; the Swabian division of the army 
was more especially disgusted with the 



war, because the whole burden was thrown 
upon its shoulders, while the two armies 
had now been encamped face to face for 
more than six weeks, without doing any 
thing. The princes at length sent a 
dispatch to the imperial camp, in which 
they declared themselves ready to negoti- 
ate for peace, or at least a suspension of 
arms. By this act, however, they only 
betrayed and acknowledged at once their 
weakness, and yielded themselves as con- 
quered without striking a blow. Rejoicing 
triumphantly, the emperor commanded the 
document to be read before the whole army 
drawn up in order of battle, and in full of 
all reply, he briefly announced to the 
princes, through the margrave of Branden- 
burg : " That his majesty knew of no 
other way by which peace was to be 
restored, except by the submission of the 
electors themselves, and their adherents to 
the imperial authority, together with their 
entire army, their lands, and subjects." 

Upon receiving this reply, the allied 
princes broke up and separated on the 22d 
of November, at Giengen, and each re- 
turned to his own territories. 

The presence of the elector of Saxony 
had been more especially claimed by his 
country through a message dispatched to 
him in his camp, announcing that Duke 
Maurice had, with the exception of a few 
small places, taken entire possession of the 
whole land. For the emperor had author- 
ized his brother Ferdinand, as king of Bo- 
hemia, to execute, in conjunction with 
Duke Maurice, the sentence of the ban ad- 
judged against the elector ; and such was 
the position of affairs, that it appeared, if 
Maurice did not himself take immediate 
possession of the electorate, it would most 
probably be lost forever. Such at least 
was the representation made by Maurice 
when he summoned together the states of 
the country, in order to obtain their sanc- 
tion for such proceeding ; for without that 
he could not have commenced upon such 
an important undertaking. He employed 
all his powers of speech and argument, in 
order to give his conduct and wishes the 
semblance of right and justice. The sud- 
den arrival, however, of Ferdinand, with 
his Hungarian light cavalry, which he had 
brought with him from Bohemia, produced 
the decided effect ; their savage appear- 
ance spread universal terror, and it was 
regarded as a happy relief to yield to the 



286 THE CITIES 



Saxon warriors of Maurice. The entire 
electorate, therefore, with the exception of 
Wittenberg, Eisenach, and Gotha, was 
speedily in the hands of the ambitious 
duke. The voice of the people, neverthe- 
less, loudly condemned his proceedings ; 
he was looked upon by them as a renegade 
in the cause of the new doctrine of faith ; 
and by the clergy, both in the pulpit and in 
their various writings, he was most severe- 
ly censured and lashed. 

The elector himself now, in December, 
1546, returned to Saxony, full of sadness 
and dejection. He soon succeeded, how- 
ever, in reconquering his lands, and in 
seizing a portion of the duke's territory, 
after he had overthrown and taken prisoner 
in Rochlitz, Albert, margrave of Branden- 
burg, who had been sent to the aid of his 
friend, Duke Maurice, by the emperor. 
Maurice was likewise left without any as- 
sistance from Bohemia, as the estates of 
that country refused to fight against their 
co-religionists in Saxony, referring, at the 
same time, to a treaty of inheritance which 
existed between the crown of Bohemia 
and the electoral house of Saxony ; while 
Ferdinand himself began to feel rather 
uneasy on account of his own kingdom. 
That country had already ripened into a 
state of open revolt, and the states had 
even proceeded to collect together a con- 
siderable army, in order, as they pretend- 
ed, to protect the Bohemian territory 
against the attack of the unchristian Span- 
ish and Italian forces. Whence it resulted 
that Maurice, of his own land, only re- 
tained possession of the towns of Dresden, 
Pirna, Zwickau, and Leipsic, and he was 
reduced to place all his hopes in the em- 
peror Charles. 

Meantime Charles was occupied in 
bringing to subjection the Protestant cities 
in the south of Germany. This, however, 
was deemed no easy undertaking, these 
places being exceedingly strong, and might 
have resisted his arms for a length of 
time ; while, in the interval, the princes 
of the north could avail themselves of the 
opportunity, and make their preparations 
for a fresh campaign. It seemed, how- 
ever, as if both courage and resolution 
had suddenly deserted them altogether; 
for wherever the emperor presented him- 
self the cities submitted to him at once 
without offering any resistance. Bopfin- 
gen, Nordlingen, Dunkelsbuhl, and Roth- 



SURRENDER. 



enburg, threw open their gates without its 
being necessary for him to unsheath the 
sword at all ; while Ulm itself, powerful 
as that city was, dispatched messengers to 
meet him, who on their knees, and in the 
open field, besought his pardon in the 
Spanish tongue, (this act was especially, 
and with justice, most severely condemned 
by the allies,) and paid over to him as a 
fine 100,000 florins. Frankfort paid like- 
wise a sum of 80,000 florins, Memmingen 
50,000 florins, and the smaller towns paid 
sums in proportion ; and now the turn 
came for Augsburg. This city was pro- 
tected by walls almost invulnerable, mount- 
ed with two hundred pieces of artillery, 
and provided with a strong garrison, and a 
warlike population; if, therefore, it had 
only maintained its ground with deter- 
mined bravery, it must thereby have re- 
vived once more the sinking courage of the 
entire body of the allied forces. But the 
rich members of the municipality took 
fright when they found the danger so close 
to their own door ; and one of them, An- 
thony Fugger, proceeded as deputy to wait 
upon the emperor in his camp, and re- 
turned with the conditions exacted, viz. : 
that the city should pay a sum of 150,000 
gold florins ; that it should receive a Span- 
ish garrison, and banish its brave command- 
ant Sch'artlin. The latter employed every 
effort to prevail upon them to defend the 
place, but all his eloquence was in vain, 
he could not infuse courage into them ; 
finally, he reminded them of their contract 
with himself, according to which they had 
engaged to retain him in their service, and 
could not banish or discharge him. They, 
however, only replied, by begging him 
with tears in their eyes, for God's sake, to 
leave the city ; accordingly the brave old 
warrior quitted the place in disgust and in- 
dignation, and retired to Switzerland — the 
Spanish troops taking immediate posses- 
sion. The cities, indeed, had reason to 
congratulate themselves upon having the 
permission granted them to retain the same 
privileges in respect to religion as were 
enjoyed by Duke Maurice and the house 
of Brandenburg ; although this arrange- 
ment did not certainly accord with the 
promise made to the pope. 

Besides the cities, two princes in Upper 
Germany had taken an active part in the 
war : Ulric, duke of Wurtemberg, and 
Frederick, elector of the palatinate. The 



CHARLES V. IN SAXONY. 



287 



latter was not a member of the Schmalkal- 
dian league, and had only, in accordance 
with an hereditary treaty between him and 
Duke Ulric, furnished the latter with a 
subsidiary force of three hundred cavalry 
and six hundred foot soldiers ; added to 
this, he had been a juvenile companion and 
playmate of the emperor when together in 
Brussels as boys, whence he easily obtain- 
ed a pardon. The duke of Wurtemberg, 
however, was obliged, together with his 
council, to beg for pardon on their knees, 
as likewise to give up his strongest castles 
with all the cannon, and to pay a fine of 
300,000 gold florins, after having sworn to 
obey the emperor in all things. 

Thus the Schmalkaldian league in Up- 
per Germany was speedily destroyed, and 
the emperor resolved at once not to allow 
his army any repose, but to bring matters 
in the north of Germany to an equally 
prompt and decisive termination. He him- 
self stood, indeed, much in need of rest ; 
his hair during this war had become quite 
gray, his limbs were completely lamed 
from gout, while his countenance was so 
aeathiy pale, and his voice so weak and 
tremulous, thai he could hardly be recog- 
nised or understood. His spirit, however, 
still reigned with all its original power 
within that infirm body ; and he was now 
urged on by necessity to obtain his object, 
inasmuch as he was anxiously expected at 
Eger by King Ferdinand and Duke Mau- 
rice, who there tarried like two fugitives 
driven from their possessions until he came, 
lie joined them at length, on the 15th of 
April, and they celebrated together the 
Easter festival ; they then forthwith pro- 
ceeded on their march, and on the 22d of 
April, Charles found himself already en- 
camped within a short distance of the walls 
of Meissen on the Elbe. 

The elector cuild not, for a long time, 
believe it possible thai Charles was march- 
ing against him ; but now, when to his no 
little surprise, he found he was actually 
within sight and close upon him, he gave 
hasty orders to destroy the bridge near 
Meissen, and marched with his army along 
the right bank of the Elbe, in order to 
reach Wittenberg, his capital, where he 
would have at command all the means ne- 
cessary to maintain a long and vigorous 
resistance. The emperor, on the other 
hand, held it most important that an imme- 
diate attack should take place, by which 



to bring the war to a speedy end ; espe- 
cially as his army was four times as strong 
as that of the elector. Accordingly, he 
lost not a moment, but pursued his march 
along the opposite shore, almost in a line 
with the elector's troops, and searched 
along the river for a spot to ford it and get 
his army safely and expeditiously across. 
The elector halted near the small town of 
Miihlberg, while the emperor, very late at 
night, once more rode with his brother and 
Duke Maurice along the shore, seeking in 
vain for a favorable spot by which to cross 
over ; for the Elbe here was at least three 
hundred feet wide, and the opposite shore 
was considerably higher than on his side. 
At length his general, the duke of Alba, 
brought from a neighboring village a young 
miller, (his name — -preserved by history — 
was Strauch,) who promised to lead them 
to a fording-place. He was induced to 
commit this act of treachery by a feeling 
of revenge towards his fellow-countrymen, 
who, as they marched in the course of the 
day through his village, had taken with 
them two of his horses — this circumstance, 
and the tempting offer of a hundred crowns, 
made him by Duke Maurice, with the 
promise of two other horses to replace those 
taken from him, determined him to serve 
the enemies of his country. 

At the dawn of morning, and under favor of 
a very thick fog, several thousands of Span- 
ish arquebusiers now commenced crossing 
the river, and a select troop among them 
having cast aside their guns, and thrown off 
their armor, placing their swords in their 
mouths, holding them tight between their 
teeth, plunged into the stream, and swim- 
ming to the other side, seized the remains 
of the bridge which had been destroyed by 
the Saxons. This they succeeded in re- 
pairing while the cavalry forded the river, 
each horseman taking with him on his sad- 
dle a foot-soldier. Lastly followed the 
emperor, his horse guided by the said mil- 
ler, King Ferdinand, Duke Maurice, and 
the Duke of Alba, with the rest of the im- 
perial suite. 

On the morning of this eventful day — 
the sabbath — the elector attended divine 
service in Miihlberg, and when, in the 
midst of his devotions, a messenger arrived 
in breathless haste and announced to him 
that the enemy had crossed the river and 
was in full march in pursuit of him, he 
could not, would not believe it, but desired 



288 



BATTLE OF MUHLBERG. 



the service of God not to be interrupted. 
When it was over he found the news was 
too true, and he had scarcely time to retire 
with his army. He ordered his infantry to 
march in all haste for Wittenberg, but he 
directed the cavalry to keep the enemy at 
bay by skirmishing ; the artillery having 
already been sent in advance to Wittenberg. 
The imperialists, however, pursued the 
Saxons with such speed that they overtook 
them on the plain of Loch.au ; and although 
his artillery and the greater portion of the 
infantry still remained behind, the emperor, 
nevertheless, by the advice of the duke of 
Alba, gave orders for an immediate attack. 
The Spanish and Neapolitan troopers dash- 
ed with impetuous force against the Saxons, 
Maurice himself leading the attack. The 
elector's cavalry was soon thrown into con- 
fusion, and fell back upon the ranks of their 
own infantry, which was hastily drawn up 
in battle array on the borders of a deep 
forest. The elector gave his orders from 
a carriage, his weight of body not permit- 
ting him to mount on horseback ; the em- 
peror, on the other hand, in whom the signs 
of illness were less than ever perceptible on 
this day, rode an Andalusian charger, hold- 
ing in his right hand a lance, and wearing 
a helmet and cuirass gorgeously decorated 
with gold, his eye beaming with warlike 
ardor. The imperial cavalry, with their 
terrific shout of " Hispania ! Hispania !" 
broke now through the ranks of the Saxon 
infantry, which were completely put to 
rout. All now took to flight ; everywhere 
was confusion and terror. As they flew 
across the plain, the fugitives were overta- 
ken and struck down by their pursuers, 
covering with their bodies the whole line of 
road from Kossdorf to Falkenburg and 
Beiersdorf. One of the elector's sons was 
overtaken by some troopers of the enemy ; 
he defended himself with great courage, 
and shot one of them dead at the moment 
when, having received two sword-cuts, he 
was sinking from his horse ; some of his 
own men just coming up in time, rescued 
and bore him away in safety. But his fa- 
ther was not so successful ; he could not 
escape. He had been urgently entreated 
by his faithful adherents to seek safety in 
flight, and gain a secure asylum in Witten- 
berg ; but his only observation was, " What 
will become of my faithful infantry ?" and 
he remained on the field of battle. In the 
heat of action he had quitted his carriage 



and mounted a powerful Friesian charger ; 
he was, however, very soon surrounded by 
the enemy's cavalry, and as he valiantly 
defended himself, he received a. cut on his 
left cheek from the sabre of an Hungarian 
trooper. The blood streamed all over his 
face, but even in this sad condition the un- 
daunted warrior would not yield, until a 
Saxon knight in the suite of Duke Maurice, 
Thilo of Trodt, penetrated through the Hun- 
garians that surrounded him, and called 
out to him in German to save his life. To 
him, as he was a German, the elector gave 
himself up a prisoner, and in token thereof 
he drew from his finger two rings which 
he presented to him ; while to the Hunga- 
rian he gave his sword and dagger. The 
knight conducted his royal prisoner to the 
duke of Alba, and the latter, at the earnest 
and repeated persuasion of the elector, led 
him before the emperor, who still continued 
mounted on his horse in the centre of the 
plain. The elector, as he approached, 
sighed deeply, and raising his eyes up to 
Heaven, said, mournfully, " Heavenly Fa- 
ther, have pity on me, for behold I am a 
prisoner I" His sad condition and appear- 
ance excited the compassion and sympathy 
of all around ; his wounded face still 
streaming with blood, and his cuirass like- 
wise being covered with spots of gore. He 
was assisted to dismount by the duke of 
Alba, and was about to drop on his knees 
before the emperor, taking off the gauntlet 
from his right hand, in order, according to 
German custom, to present it to his majes- 
ty ; but the latter refused to take it, and 
with a stern and haughty look turned from 
him. The mortified prince now addressed 
him with the words : " Mighty, gracious 
emperor !" " Ay, now I am your gracious 
emperor, am I ?" returned Charles, haugh- 
tily. " It is long since you styled me thus !" 
The elector continued : " I am your impe- 
rial majesty's prisoner, and beg to receive 
the treatment due to me as a prince." 
" You shall receive the respect you merit," 
concluded the emperor. The elector was 
now conducted to the camp by the duke of 
Alba, together with Ernest, duke of Bruns- 
wick-Luneburg, who had also been taken 
prisoner. 

Thus was that day brought to a success- 
ful close for the emperor, on the subject of 
which, in the style of Csesar, he writes : " I 
appeared, I fought, and God vanquished." 
After a repose of two days, Charles 



THE ELECTOR CONDEMNED TO DEATH— HIS LIFE SPARED. 



289 



marched on to Torgau, which surrendered 
forthwith, and thence he proceeded to Wit- 
tenberg, the capital of the country. The 
place was defended by a strong fort and a 
good garrison, while the citizens themselves 
assisted with determined courage and loy- 
alty ; had they continued to make resist- 
ance for any length of time, the emperor 
would have been forced to withdraw from 
Saxony without having completed his work, 
as he was not at all prepared for a long cam- 
paign. Thence, in his impatience, and by 
the urgent persuasion of his confessor and 
others around him, he had recourse to an 
expedient which completely transgressed 
the limits of his prerogative, and was con- 
trary to the constitutional rights of the em- 
pire. He summoned a council of war, and 
pronounced sentence of death upon the un- 
fortunate prince ; an act which, however 
just the sentence, could not legitimately 
take place, except in a diet held by the 
German princes of the empire. Probably 
he may not seriously have contemplated the 
execution of the sentence, but only sought 
to use it as a means to terrify the friends 
and faithful adherents of the elector within 
the walls of the city, and thus induce them 
to surrender the place ; but the violation of 
the law was based in the form of the judg- 
ment, and in case it did not operate in the 
way, perhaps, originally intended by Charles, 
there was too much reason to fear from his 
stern nature, which never allowed him to 
waver or recede, that execution would fol- 
low. 

The elector, who, when in prosperity, 
was too often wanting in resolution and fix- 
ity of purpose, evinced at this moment all 
the heroic courage of a firm and energetic 
soul founded upon unchanging and indom- 
itable faith. The sentence of death pro- 
nounced upon him, was announced to him 
at the moment he was engaged in a game 
of chess with his fellow-prisoner, Duke 
Ernest of Brunswick-Liineburg. His ap- 
pearance and manner betrayed neither 
alarm nor despondency, but as he resumed 
his game, he calmly replied : " I can nev- 
er believe that the emperor will proceed to 
such extremes in his treatment of me ; if, 
however, his majesty has truly and defini- 
tively thus resolved, then I demand to be 
informed thereof in such positive and legit- 
imate form as will allow me to proceed to 
fix and arrange my affairs in regard to my 
wife and children." 

37 



It is not known whether Duke Maurice 
did at all interest himself on this occasion 
with the emperor in favor of the elector ; 
but, on the other hand, it is known for cer- 
tain, that the Elector Joachim of Branden- 
burg hastened immediately to the imperial 
camp, where he strenuously exerted all 
his powers of eloquence with the emperor 
to prevent, by some mediatory accommo- 
dation, the fulfilment of the sentence. He 
succeeded at length in his object, but un- 
der conditions most severe and painfully 
humiliating to the elector of Saxony. He 
was obliged to renounce for himself and 
descendants all claim to the electoral dig- 
nity, as well as the possession of the terri- 
tory, which were transferred to Duke Mau- 
rice. His castles of Wittenberg and Gotha 
were surrendered to the emperor, while he 
himself remained his prisoner during im- 
perial pleasure ; so that if deemed proper 
and necessary by Charles, he might even 
have been sent to Spain itself, and there 
placed under the immediate charge of the 
Infant Don Philip. The necessary pro- 
vision for him and his family was to be 
furnished by Maurice, produced by the 
revenues derived from the towns of Eisen- 
ach, Gotha, Weimar, and Jena. In one 
article of the conditions it was proposed, 
that the elector should even promise in ad- 
vance to accept of every thing that might 
be decreed by the council of Trent and the 
imperial power in religious matters — but 
to that the resolute prince would by no 
means be brought to agree, and on this 
point he remained so firm and immoveable, 
that the emperor was obliged to yield ; he 
struck out the passage with his own hand, 
and the Spaniards themselves even ac- 
knowledged the firmness of the elector to 
be both honorable and praiseworthy. 

When it became known in Wittenberg, 
that its city was to be delivered up to the 
emperor, although in religious worship it 
was guarantied the free exercise of the 
Augsburg confession, considerable indig- 
nation and consequent opposition and con- 
fusion arose. At first the citizens resolved 
to defend themselves to the last man, be- 
cause they found it impossible to place any 
confidence in the promise made that they 
should have their religious liberty ; partic- 
ularly after the cruel manner in which the 
Spaniards had acted towards their land.. 
The elector, however, commanded them 
not to make any further resistance, as the 



290 



WITTENBERG— THE ELECTRESS 



emperor would, he assured them, faithful- 
ly keep the promise he had given ; espe- 
cially as the latter granted them permis- 
sion to receive only German troops as a 
garrison. Accordingly on the 23d of May, 
1547, the Saxon soldiers marched out and 
the imperialists took possession of the town. 
In the course of a very short period an in- 
terchange of a more peaceful and friendly j 
feeling arose between the camp and the 
city, and mutual distrust disappeared more 
and more. The Saxons, to their great 
wonderment and admiration, beheld their 
deposed lord and prince comfortably lodged 
and entertained in the tent of the duke of 
Alba, where he was waited upon and treat- 
ed with the greatest distinction and rever- 
ence by the Spaniards. The electress her- 
self and her children, dressed in complete 
mourning, were led before the emperor by 
the sons of the Roman king and paid him 
their homage ; Charles assisted the princess 
to rise, and consoled her in her sorrow and 
affliction with words of sympathy and en- 
couragement, granting permission to the 
elector to pass an entire week with his 
family in his castle of Wittenberg, and 
there celebrate with them the festival of 
Whitsuntide. In addition to this, he him- 
self repaired to the castle and returned the 
visit of the princess. The impression pro- 
duced by his noble and exalted spirit, now 
•so much softened, diminished and almost 
extinguished that feeling of antipathy 
hitherto existing against him throughout 
the country ; while, on his part, he formed 
a much more favorable opinion of the peo- 
ple of the north of Germany than the ene- 
mies of the new doctrine had led him to 
conceive : " Things and people appear far 
different in this evangelical country to 
what I fancied and believed them to be be- 
fore I came among them,"' was his expres- 
sion now. And when he learned, that on 
his arrival the Lutheran form of divine 
service had been prohibited and had ceas- 
ed, he exclaimed : " Whence has that pro- 
ceeded ? By whose authority ? If it be 
in our name that the service of God has 
been interdicted here, then does it incur 
our high displeasure ! We have not alter- 
ed aught touching religious matters in 
High Germany, why should we do so 
here ?" He then visited the royal chapel 
of the castle, and examined the tomb of 
Luther. One or two of his suite — it is 
said the duke of Alba and the bishop of 



Arras, the son of Granvella — advised him 
"to have the remains of the heretic resus- 
citated and publicly burnt;" but Charles 
replied : " Let him repose in peace, he has 
already found his judge ; I war only with 
the living, not with the dead." 

Maurice, the new elector, showed him- 
self equally friendly and indulgent towards 
the Wittenbergians : "You have been so 
faithful to my cousin that I shall always 
remember and think well of you," were 
his words to the corporation as he left them. 
On the 6th of June the imperialists with- 
drew from Wittenberg, and, immediately 
afterwards, the soldiers of the new elector 
marched in and took up their quarters in 
the city. 

On the same day that the emperor Charles 
entered Wittenberg, his former rival, Fran- 
cis I. of France, was borne to the tomb, as 
if fortune had resolved to remove at once 
from before his path every obstacle to the 
plans he had formed. From Wittenberg 
he marched on to Halle, in order to attack 
the second leader of the Schmalkaldian 
league, the landgrave of Hesse, and the 
latter having now no longer any hope of 
deliverance but through the grace and par- 
don of the now all-powerful emperor, em- 
ployed every effort by means of his son-in- 
law Duke Maurice, and the margrave of 
Brandenburg, to obtain both. 

Both these princes exerted themselves 
most actively and zealously for him, and at. 
length they succeeded ; the emperor de- 
claring, through his chancellor, Granvella : 
"That if the landgrave came to him in 
person, surrendered himself at discretion, 
and signed the conditions which would be 
submitted to him, he promised not to seize 
his lands, neither would he take his life nor 
punish him with lasting imprisonment." 
Thus it is expressed in a copy, recently 
discovered, of the transactions of that period. 
The mediators, however, either did not well 
weigh the last sentence of the declaration, 
and imagined it was meant to convey that 
the prince should suffer no imprisonment, 
or, as they themselves admitted, some months 
afterwards, at the diet of Augsburg, " In 
their verbal negotiations with his majesty's 
counsellors too great confusion and misun- 
derstanding existed through ignorance or 
misconception of language ;" enough, they 
pledged their word of honor with the land- 
grave to give themselves up prisoners to his 
sons in case the emperor did not give him 



PHILIP OF HESSE DETAINED A PRISONER. 



291 



full liberty to return. Accordingly, on the 
18th of June, Philip, in full reliance on 
their word, came to Halle, and on the fol- 
lowing day he was led before the emperor. 
Charles was seated on his throne, sur- 
rounded by a crowd of Spanish grandees 
and Italian and German nobles, and among 
them stood conspicuous Henry, duke of 
Brunswick, lately the landgrave's prisoner, 
but whom he had been forced to release, 
and who now triumphed in his late con- 
queror's humiliation. With dejected and 
mortified mien the landgrave humbly knelt 
at the foot of the throne, while his chancel- 
lor, Giintherode, kneeling behind him, read 
aloud to the emperor the petition for pardon. 
It was expressed in the most humble terms, 
and an eye-witness relates, that in the ex- 
cess of shame and confusion with which 
the prince was overwhelmed at this moment, 
in the presence of such a large and august 
assembly, a slight smile played about his 
mouth, as if produced by an unconscious 
effort of nature to repress the feeling of 
shame by which he was so painfully tried. 
But this expression did not escape the lynx- 
eyed monarch ; he held up his finger mena- 
cingly, and said in his Netherland dialect 
— for he spoke the German very badly — 
" Wol, ick soil di lachen lehren !" (Ay, 
ay, I will teach you to laugh.) The im- 
perial chancellor, Dr. Seld, then read the 
emperor's reply : " That, although the 
landgrave, as he himself acknowledged, 
deserved the heaviest punishment, the em- 
peror, nevertheless, in his innate goodness, 
and in consideration of the intercession 
made in his favor, would allow mercy to 
take the precedence of justice ; he there- 
fore removed the ban of excommunication 
pronounced against him, and granted him 
the life he had by his acts forfeited." Af- 
ter this document had been read, the land- 
grave was about to rise as a free prince 
from his humble posture, but waited in vain 
for the signal from the emperor ; finding, 
therefore, that this was withheld, and that 
the clear and solemn promise of pardon was 
likewise refused to him, he rose of his own 
accord and withdrew from the assembly. 

In the evening he supped with the Elec- 
tor Maurice and the margrave of Branden- 
burg, in the quarters of the duke of Alba ; 
after the meal, he was about to retire, when 
the duke informed him he must consider 
himself his prisoner. He was seized at 
once with astonishment and indignation, as 



were also the two princes who ha<j guar- 
antied his liberty. They immediately ap- 
pealed to the emperor, and represented to 
him that they had pledged their princely 
word for the landgrave's liberty ; but 
Charles denied having promised him re- 
mission from all imprisonment — as the me- 
diators had falsely understood — although he 
declared at the same time that he would 
not punish him with perpetual captivity. 
And indeed it is very possible that his 
counsellors promised more than he himself 
intended to grant ; or that in the ignorance 
of the chancellor Granvella and his son of 
the German, and of the two electors of the 
Spanish and French languages, an error 
may have arisen in the correspondence. 

Still it would have been more noble and 
manly to have fulfilled the engagement to 
which the two princes had pledged them- 
selves towards the landgrave. On the other 
hand, it was certainly very important to the 
emperor that he should hold the leaders of 
the Schmalkaldian alliance his prisoners 
until he had completed the whole of his 
contemplated arrangements for the settle- 
ment of the religious affairs of Germany ; 
for he still believed in the possibility of 
effecting a reunion of parties, and these two 
imprisoned princes were the most obstinate 
and violent opponents to such a measure. 
But Charles did not consider that honesty 
and generosity became much more the 
sovereign, and led more securely to the 
attainment of the object in view than cold, 
calculating caution ; and forgot that when 
this is once established as a law, the inge- 
nious and clever politician may, in the 
course of time, be overreached by one still 
more cunning, and thus all his gains slip 
through his fingers. Duke Maurice, who 
was now unable to fulfil his engagement, 
and appeared in the character of a perjurer 
towards the landgrave, felt, no doubt, from 
the moment that the emperor would not 
acknowledge the pledge he had given to the 
landgrave in such good and confiding faith, 
that he was himself released from all obli- 
gations of gratitude and fidelity towards 
that monarch ; and thenceforth he consid- 
ered that in their relations together they 
must be governed alone by skilful and sa- 
gacious policy, and in this respect, at least, 
the duke needed not to yield in any thing 
to the emperor. 

The deposed elector and the landgrave 
were therefore obliged to follow as prison- 



292 



THE COUNCIL OF TRE^T. 



ers the court and camp of the emperor 
wherever he proceeded. Besides this, all 
the Hessian castles and strongholds, from 
Cassel to Ziegenhain, were razed, all the 
cannon and ammunition seized and taken 
away, and the states of that country forced 
to pay a fine of 150,000 florins. The 
emperor Charles, in his treaties with his 
adversaries, followed the principle of the 
Romans in the time when they contem- 
plated the conquest and sovereignty of the 
whole world. For in the same way as 
they had then exacted from the Carthagin- 
ians, and the kings of Macedonia and Syria 
large sums of money, together with the 
extradition of all their ships of war, war- 
like machines, and elephants, so also now 
Charles disarmed and rendered powerless 
his enemies, by forcing them to dismantle 
and raze their fortifications, to surrender 
all their heavy artillery, which at that peri- 
od it was seldom possible to replace, and 
finally to pay him heavy sums of money to 
enable him to undertake new enterprises. 
In his treaties with the cities of Upper 
Germany, the duke of Wurtemberg, the 
elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of 
Hesse, he gained more than five hundred 
pieces of cannon, which he caused to be 
conveyed to Italy, Spain, and the Nether- 
lands. The Spanish garrisons which he 
quartered wherever he found it possible, 
and especially in the cities of Upper 
Germany, excited everywhere the greatest 
discontent. The overbearing pride and 
shameful treatment displayed and exer- 
cised by these haughty foreigners, ani- 
mated as they were by their religious ha- 
tred, were insupportable, while it was not 
forgotten that the emperor, in the stipula- 
tions of his election, had promised not to 
bring or introduce any foreign troops into 
the empire. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Council of Trent— Rupture between the Emperor 
and the Pope — The Interim or Temporary Code of 
Doctrines— Its Condemnation by both Parties— The 
Captive Elector of Saxony — Refuses to adhere to the 
Interim— His Declaration— Shameful Treatment in 
consequence— The Elector Maurice— Magdeburg- 
Maurice marches against that City — The Emperor 
and Maurice— Maurice deserts the Emperor, and 
with Albert of Brandenburg joins the Protestants — 
Their Declaration against the Emperor— His Reply 
— Albert's Depredations— Maurice's Separation from 
him— Charles V. at Inspruck— Pursued by Maurice 



—The Emperor a Fugitive in the Mountains of the 
Tyrol — His desolate and forlorn Condition — His re- 
turn to Augsburg— Release of the Elector John 
Frederick — His Welcome Home — Jena — Treaty of 
Passau — Liberation of Philip of Hesse — Charles V. 
in France — Metz — Unsuccessful Campaign — Albert 
of Brandenburg— Defeated at Liineburg by Maurice 
—Death of Maurice and Albert— Religious Peace of 
Augsburg— Final Separation of the two Religious 
Parties— Abdication of Charles V.— Retreat to a 
Hermit's Cell — Rehearsal of his Funeral Procession 
—His Death, 1558. 

It now became more and more evident 
that peace in matters of religion would not 
emanate from the council of Trent, for as 
its members consisted altogether of Italians 
and Spaniards, they could not possibly be 
regarded as the representatives of the 
Christian world in the sense of the former 
convocations of the church. The Protestants 
now, as well as previously, refused not only 
to acknowledge their authority, but, on the 
contrary, insisted upon a council " in which 
the pope should not have the presidency, 
and where the Protestant theologians should 
enjoy the privilege of voting with and on the 
side of the bishops, and where the decrees 
recently made should undergo fresh exami- 
nation and revision." 

The papal party, on the other hand, 
would not consent to these demands, al- 
though the princes of Germany, including 
even the Catholics, urgently demanded that 
the states who had assisted at the confession 
of Augsburg should be admitted to join 
the council. Nay, the cardinals them- 
selves viewed the circumstance of its being 
held at Trent with a very unfavorable eye, 
and they strenuously endeavored to have it 
transferred to the interior of Italy ; for 
they were afraid that if the aged Pope 
Paul III. died during the period of its 
being assembled, the council, supported by 
Charles, would take upon itself the office 
of electing a new pope in opposition to the 
rights enjoyed by the college of cardinals, 
and by which the interests of that institution 
must be materially affected. At length, 
a case of fever came fortunately to their 
aid and seconded their wishes ; and al- 
though it was feared that the disease would 
have proved more generally fatal, still one 
only of the bishops became its victim. This, 
however, was sufficient to produce the ac- 
complishment of their object, and on the 
9th of March, 1547, the council was re- 
moved from Trent to Bologna. The em- 
peror, on hearing it, was highly indignant, 
and flew into a most violent passion, while 
the pope approved of the step taken by his 



RUPTURE BETWEEN THE 



EMPEROR AND THE POPE. 293 



iegate ; whence the division already exist- 
ing between him and the emperor — owing, 
on the one part, to the former having with- 
drawn his troops from Germany immediate- 
ly after the expiration of the agreed term of 
six months' service, and on the other, to the 
latter not having availed himself of the 
triumph he had obtained in his empire by 
forthwith extirpating the Protestant party — 
became more confirmed. The emperor 
told the pope's nuncio in plain language : 
" It could not be expected that the Pro- 
testants, who were willing to submit to the 
council, would themselves repair to Bologna, 
or even pay attention to what might be 
concluded there ; while the rest did not 
require this motive for refusing to attend. 
If, therefore, Rome did not furnish him with 
a council, he himself would speedily have 
one assembled which should be so formed 
as to satisfy every one, and produce all the 
reforms required ;" adding, "that the pope 
was an obstinate old man, whose only de- 
sire was to ruin and demolish the church 
to its foundation." Such were the angry 
terms in which Charles, against his usual 
manner, addressed the prelate, and by that 
we have another proof of his anxiety and 
zeal to promote the peace of the church. 
The German bishops, on their part, now 
likewise most urgently besought the pope 
to remove the seat of council to Trent, but 
their efforts remained for a length of time 
without producing any effect. 

In consequence, Charles now proceeded 
to re-establish of his own accord, at a diet 
held in Augsburg, in 1548, order and 
peace in religious matters in Germany, 
and with this view, he opened a new con- 
ference, to which, on the side of the Cath- 
olics, two moderate men were appointed — 
the bishop of Naumburg, Julius Pflug, and 
the grand-vicar of Mentz, Michael Held- 
ing ; while the court-chaplain of the elec- 
tor of Brandenburg, John Agricola of Ber- 
lin, was selected on the part of the Protest- 
ants. They applied themselves to the 
subject with great industry and zeal, and 
marked out a plan of reunion which they 
laid before the emperor. Agricola, how- 
ever, from his too great anxiety to estab- 
lish the desired peace, had deviated in 
several essential points from the original 
principles of his faith. He had succeeded, 
it is true, in gaining for his own party the 
admission of the two articles, viz., of the 
marriage of clergymen, and the celebra- 



tion of the Lora~s Supper in both forms, 
but to continue valid only until the council 
should have given its decision upon the 
subject. As to the rest, he recognised the 
authority of the pope, the celebration of 
mass, and the Catholic church and its 
signs of faith generally ; whence it was 
easy to foresee that great discontent and 
opposition must arise. As, however, the 
elector of Brandenburg, and likewise the 
elector palatine, engaged both to sanction 
and adopt it, Charles considered he should 
now be able to compile therefrom his code 
of doctrines, called the "Interim." He 
convoked his states on the 15th of May, 
and then caused to be read to them the 
work in question, which was entitled : 
" Declaration of his imperial and royal 
majesty, which determines how religion 
shall be exercised and maintained within 
the holy empire until the decision of the 
general council shall be pronounced." 
After the reading, and a short discussion 
had taken place between a few individual 
members, but which led to no result, the 
elector of Mentz rose, and in the name of the 
states returned thanks to the emperor for 
the trouble, labor, industry, and love he 
had taken and shown for the sake of the 
country ; and as none ventured to make 
any objection, the emperor concluded that 
the sanction of the entire body of the states 
was given to the measure, and regarded it 
now as the law of the empire. 

While the emperor Charles thus sought, 
on the one hand, to make himself indepen- 
dent of the proceedings of the pope, and, on 
the other, to maintain the unity of the Ger- 
man church — by which that of the Ger- 
manic empire itself must be rendered still 
more firm — he was guided by the one 
grand and fundamental principle observed 
throughout his entire reign ; viz., to re- 
store the importance and dignity of the 
ancient empire, as had formerly been pro- 
jected, and in part effected by the great 
Charlemagne, the Othos, and other high- 
minded emperors. His aim was to render 
the empire replete with spiritual and tem- 
poral power. The emperor, according to 
Charles's plan, was to be made in reality 
the chief authority of entire Christendom ; 
with his temporal power he was to unite a 
material and effective influence over the 
church, and not only protect, as a machine 
of the spiritual power, the order of the 
church, and assist in enforcing duty to its 



294 



THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY. 



commands, but he was to have an impor- | 
tant share and interest in its councils and i 
resolutions. Like Charles the Great, who 
presided at the synods of his bishops, and j 
whose decrees were sanctioned by his sig- \ 
nature, so, likewise, it was the desire of j 
Charles V. to partake in the direction of 
the general council, or at least maintain j 
next the pope, and as the central point of 
the ecclesiastical order of the Germanic ! 
empire, the dignity with which he was in- 
vested. 

The emperor was well aware that a 
most grand and important step would be 
gained towards the establishment of his 
" Interim, " if the imprisoned elector of 
Saxony, whose spiritual influence in the 
Saxon territories had recently very much I 
increased — he being now regarded as a 
martyr to his faith — could be persuaded 
to give it his approval. Accordingly, he 
sent his chancellor Granvella, and his son, 
the bishop of Arras, together with the 
vice-chancellor Selb, to submit to him the 
proposals to accept that code of doctrines, j 
and likewise to recommend its adoption to 
his sons. The elector, however, in reply 
to their request, handed over to them a 
declaration which, in anticipation of such j 
a visit, he had already prepared and writ- j 
ten with his own hand : viz., " That the 
education he had received from his youth 
upward at the hands of the servants of 
the divine word, together with the profound 
researches he had himself since made in 
the writings of the prophets and apostles, 
nad united to convince him that the true 
Christian doctrine was to be recognised in 
the Augsburg confession, and his conscien- 
tious belief therein remained unshaken. 
If he accepted the 1 Interim' as a Chris- 
tian and divine doctrine, he should be 
forced, against his conscience, to deny and 
condemn the Augsburg confession in many 
articles upon which his immortal happi- 
ness depended, and sanction with his lips 
what in his heart he held to be completely 
contrary to the doctrines of the Holy Scrip- 
ture : in doing this, he should consider he 
was shamelessly abusing and blaspheming 
the holy name of God, for which sin he 
must severely and bitterly suffer in his 
soul. His imperial majesty, therefore, 
would not, he hoped, feel ungracious to- 
wards him, if he refused to accede to the 
' Interim,' and persisted in adhering strict- 
ly to the Augsburg confession." 



The ministers refused to accept of this 
declaration, and reminded the elector, " that 
the emperor was empowered to make laws 
and decrees even in religious matters, and 
that several Roman emperors, ancestors of 
his present majesty, had created such, which 
even to that day were obeyed by all the sub- 
jects of the Roman empire." The elector, 
however, remained immoveable ; and as 
during the discussion they were interrupted 
by a loud peal of thunder, the elector felt 
rejoiced and strengthened by the conviction 
that this was sent as an indication from 
Heaven that his conduct met with divine 
approbation, and that he should be guided 
by the judgment of God alone, and not by 
that of mortals. 

The act committed against the elector, 
immediately after this interview — although 
it is believed to have been done without the 
sanction of the emperor himself — was both 
petty and unjustifiable. He was deprived 
at once of the society of his chaplain, 
Christopher Hoffmann, and a seizure was 
made of all his books, among the rest, of 
his own especially-treasured copy of the 
Bible, beautifully illuminated ; but amid 
the painful mortification he endured, while 
forced to submit to this trial, his firmness 
did not forsake him, for as the minions 
quitted the place with these, to him, invalu- 
able treasures, he said, resignedly : u You 
may take the books ; but that which I have 
learned from them you can never take or 
even tear from my heart." 

The sons, following the example of their 
father, refused to introduce the " Interim" 
into their territory, and, in fact, the em- 
peror soon found himself deceived in his 
hopes of succeeding to bring his code into 
general use. The Protestant theologians 
rose in one body against the measure, and 
many were forced to vacate and abandon 
their offices, and take up the pilgrim's staff 
as wanderers ; viz., in Augsburg, Nurem- 
berg. Regensburg, Ulm, Frankfort, and 
other cities : the number of banished ec- 
clesiastics in the upper countries alone 
amounted to four hundred. What, how- 
ever, is still more astonishing is, that the 
Catholics themselves disapproved of this 
" Interim," although it was by no means 
pretended that it should be put into prac- 
tice among them. The Catholic church 
would have reaped the greatest advantage 
therefrom ; for if the emperor had suc- 
ceeded in his plan, the reunion of both 



THE ELECTOR MAURICE. 



295 



would have been a necessary consequence. 
Thence their opposition can only be inter- 
preted into a declaration, that they would 
not regard as valid any regulation in mat- 
ters of religion coming from him as a lay- 
man. 

Thus, during his sojourn of two years in 
the Netherlands, whither he had repaired 
after the diet of Augsburg, the emperor was 
forced to receive continual complaints from 
Germany ; his " Interim" was only ac- 
knowledged outwardly in a few places, 
while, generally, in all parts of the em- 
pire much bitter feeling was expressed 
against it, and even the Elector Maurice 
himself gave it but a very limited reception 
in his land. He had commissioned several 
theologians, including Melanchthon, to pre- 
pare a church formulary for his own sub- 
jects, and with great trouble, and not with- 
out incurring severe censure from the more 
rigid of the Lutheran clergymen, they com- 
pleted what was called " the Leipsic Inte- 
rim," and which, certainly, deviated in 
many points from, but as a whole adhered 
to, the Protestant faith. It was introduced 
in several parts of the north of Germany, 
although here and there with considerable 
alterations; but, on the other hand, in many 
other parts of the country the greatest stand 
was made against any change whatever. 
The cities of Constance, Bremen, and Mag- 
deburg especially, declared themselves 
most firmly opposed to it, and refused to 
submit to the imperial order; whereupon 
the emperor pronounced the ban of the em- 
pire against them, and the two former places 
returned to their obedience. But Magde- 
burg continued obstinate, being influenced 
in a great measure by several theologians 
who had taken refuge there after their 
banishment from Wittenberg on account of 
the "Interim;" among whom a certain 
Flacius, with the by-name of Illyricus, was 
the most violent and zealous. The Elector 
Maurice received at the new diet of Augs- 
burg, in 1550, orders to execute forthwith 
the sentence of the ban pronounced against 
that city. He accordingly marched with 
his army at the commencement of the au- 
tumn in the same year, and laid siege to the 
place. 

At this diet Charles sought to gain for 
his son Philip, whom he had sent for from 
Spain, the title of king of the Romans. 
However, neither his brother Ferdinand, 
nor the latter's son, Maximilian, nor, in 



fact, any of the electors or princes, would 
give their consent ; for, besides other causes, 
the haughty, gloomy, repulsive appearance 
and manner of the prince could not possibly 
operate in his favor among the Germans. 
His father, therefore, saw himself obliged to 
send him back to Spain, whither Philip in- 
deed was too glad to return, for he was more 
attached to that country than any other. 

The emperor, at the conclusion of the 
diet, left Augsburg for Inspruck, as the 
new pope, Julius III., having now removed 
the seat of the council from Bologna to 
Trent, Charles was anxious to be in its 
vicinity. 

Meantime the new elector of Saxony 
nourished in his heart a most bold and 
determined design against the emperor, 
the immediate motives for which, how- 
ever, we are not able to define, inasmuch 
as the whole of this man's thoughts and ac- 
tions have remained an enigma in all his- 
torical research. Still there is no doubt he 
was influenced in his conduct by at least 
two grand causes: firstly, the severe and 
unjust confinement of his father-in-law, the 
landgrave of Hesse, towards whom he con- 
sidered he was still bound to redeem the 
word and guarantee he had given for his 
liberty, while neither the arguments nor 
prayers resorted to by him had the least 
effect upon the emperor ; and, secondly, 
the sad condition of the Protestants in Ger- 
many. These latter felt more and more 
convinced that the emperor only waited 
now for the resolutions of the council of 
Trent, in order to establish them as the 
laws of religion throughout the empire ; 
and as he had already commenced hostili- 
ties against Magdeburg, on account of the 
" Interim," so likewise, as soon as he had 
collected fresh troops, it might be expected 
that he would force all the states of the 
land to submit to all those decrees of the 
church. Indeed, at this moment, the whole 
body of the Protestants were in a state of 
anxious expectation and suspense. Those 
who dreaded the worst results condemned 
the Elector Maurice as the most culpable 
party : inasmuch as he had betrayed the 
league of Schmalkald, and it was through 
him that John Frederick of Saxony and the 
landgrave of Hesse were now suffering im- 
prisonment. Those, on the other hand, who 
still cherished some hope of relief, turned 
their eyes towards him, for to them he ap- 
peared the only one now left capable of 



296 



MAURICE DESERTS THE EMPEROR. 



protecting the new faith. The moment had 
now, indeed, arrived, when with one grand 
and mighty stroke he might expunge all 
recollection of the past and regain the pub- 
lic opinion. Maurice was not long in de- 
ciding the course he should take, and he 
determined to put his plan into execution 
at once. He availed himself of the oppor- 
tunity presented in the expedition against 
Magdeburg, to collect, without exciting 
suspicion, a numerous body of troops, while 
at the same time, in accordance with the 
object in view, the siege of the city itself 
was conducted as tardily as possible. At 
length, in September of the following year, 
1551, he, of his own authority, agreed to a 
suspension of arms, and in the succeeding 
November, he concluded a treaty with the 
city — the terms of which were extremely 
mild and favorable for the latter — while, 
however, he took care not to discharge his 
troops on this account. He secretly dis- 
patched his early friend and companion, 
Albert, margrave of Brandenburg-Culm- 
bach, to the court of Henry II., king of 
France, the son of Francis I., in order to 
conclude an alliance with him, and he im- 
mediately engaged in his service the leader 
of the Wurtemberg troops, John of Hey- 
deck, who, together with Schurtlin, had 
been previously placed under the imperial 
ban. These proceedings, however, had not 
escaped observation, and were communi- 
cated to the emperor ; but Charles remain- 
ed deaf to all the warnings given to him. 
He placed the greatest confidence in the 
man whom he thought he had thoroughly 
tested, and when thus cautioned against 
him, he replied : " That as he had never, 
to his knowledge, given cause, either to 
Maurice or the Margrave Albert, to act 
inimically towards him, but, on the contra- 
ry, had shown to both great proofs of his 
favor and consideration, he could not be- 
lieve it possible that they would be guilty 
of such ingratitude ; and he was convinced 
that with them their acts would go hand in 
hand with their words, and that they would 
not swerve from that honorable line of con- 
duct for which the German nation had ever 
distinguished itself." And thus, while, on 
the one hand, the emperor placed his firm 
reliance upon German fidelity, his minis- 
ter, Granvella the younger, calculated up- 
on the simplicity of the Germans, for the 
observation he made in reply was : " That 
it was wholly impossible for a phlegmatic 



German to conceive a plan and endeavor 
secretly to bring it to bear, without its be- 
ing immediately discovered and known in 
all its details." 

Both the emperor and his minister, how- 
ever, were struck as it were with a clap of 
thunder, when Maurice, in the month of 
March, 1552, suddenly appeared with his 
whole army and invaded Franconia, aug- 
menting his forces with those of the land- 
grave of Hesse and the troops of the Mar- 
grave Albert. At the same time both these 
princes drew up a declaration against the 
emperor, which they made public, wherein 
they sought to justify the war they com- 
menced. They complained of the prolong- 
ed imprisonment of the landgrave, as like- 
wise of the attacks made by the emperor 
upon the liberty of Germany. They re- 
proached him with having confided the 
seals of the empire to foreigners, who were 
totally unacquainted both with the language 
and laws of Germany, so that the Germans 
themselves were actually forced to learn a 
foreign tongue before they were allowed to 
make known their demands to the imperial 
government. "Contrary to the oath he 
took, he had," they said, " introduced into 
the country foreign troops, who pillaged 
and ruined the unfortunate inhabitants, 
whom they likewise abused and ill-treated 
in every possible way ; nay, he had gone 
to such extremes, that he had clearly shown 
he was swayed by no other thought or feel- 
ing than that of subjecting all and each to 
the most shameful servitude, whence his 
conduct had been such, that if the sweep- 
ing torrent of destruction was not speedily 
and effectually checked, posterity itself 
would have too great reason to abominate 
the negligence and cowardice of the pres- 
ent generation, during which the liberty of 
our fatherland — its greatest and most pre- 
cious treasure — had been allowed to fall a 
sacrifice." 

Although in many of these reproaches 
there was much exaggeration, still we find 
therein reflected, in the most striking and 
glaring colors, the great and especial evil 
in Charles's character, and to which his 
unjust treatment of the Germans is to be 
undeniably traced. This great error he 
evinced in the contempt he expressed for 
the nation, while on the other hand he 
showed the greatest preference and favor 
towards his Spaniards and Netherlander, 
of whom the former, more especially, by 



INSPRUCK— CHARLES'S FLIGHT— TYROL. 



297 



their proud and overbearing conduct, to- 
gether with the cruelty practised by their 
common soldiers, brought down upon them- 
selves the just indignation and hatred of 
the country. The love of the nation Charles 
never could possess, for he himself cher- 
ished none towards the people ; condescen- 
sion was the utmost his pride would allow 
him to vouchsafe to the Germans. But 
this cold and formal display of affability is 
more insupportable to a brave and loyal 
nation than even arrogance and tyranny ; 
while the discontent and mortification ex- 
pressed by the princes when they saw that 
a haughty foreigner, like Granvella, was 
installed in his office as chancellor, and 
had thus confided to his charge the entire 
control of the government, were but too 
well founded. It was, however, less the 
acts than the disposition of the emperor as 
evinced against the Germans, which drew 
upon him this humiliating war with Mau- 
rice. The Margrave Albert, in his decla- 
ration to the emperor, introduces an accu- 
sation, the nature of which appears still 
more striking, but which had its origin in 
that very arrogance then so openly and di- 
rectly displayed by these foreigners towards 
the nation. Albert, in his furious indigna- 
tion against the historian of the Schmalkal- 
dian war, Louis d'Avila, bestows upon him 
the epithets of "liar and villain," inasmuch 
as in his work he speaks of the Germans 
being a savage and unknown people, " de- 
void of all honorable, manly, and noble 
virtue, and of whose descent and origin no- 
thing was known." 

The emperor again, whose actions were 
better than as in these declarations they 
were represented, in the feeling of his dig- 
nity made no other reply than : " That 
the accusations of the two princes being so 
childish, unconnected, and absurd, they 
only contained in themselves their own 
falsehood and want of foundation, while 
•hey laid bare in ample evidence the mis- 
chievous character of those who had in- 
vented them." 

The enterprise of the two princes, how- 
ever, very soon lost character in public 
opinion through the conduct of the margrave 
himself, who, with his people, committed 
violence and devastation, equalled only by 
the most lawless band of freebooters and 
mcendiarists, everywhere throughout the 
flat portions of the country. Thence Mau- 
rice and the young Landgrave William 
38 



of Hesse, both of whom had nobler objects 
in view, were forced to separate from him 
and leave him to act for himself. 

The emperor was now in a state of great 
embarrassment ; he was in want both of 
troops and money, which latter, to his 
mortification, the money-lenders of Augs- 
burg refused to advance him, and he was 
reduced to the extremity of deputing his 
brother Ferdinand to open negotiations 
with Maurice. As, however, they led to 
no result, and Maurice easily perceived 
that the design of Charles was to gain time, 
he broke up at once from Svvabia and 
marched his troops into the Tyrol, in order, 
if possible, to fall upon him unprepared. 
His progress was so rapid, that he actually 
preceded in person the announcement of 
his advance ; he marched on to Ehren- 
berg, which fell into his hands, and had 
he not been detained an entire day by a 
mutiny which broke out in one of his regi- 
ments, he would have succeeded in gaining 
Inspruck in time to have surprised the 
emperor there and taken him prisoner. 
Charles, however, was thus enabled to 
escape on the previous night, (of the 19th 
May,) during a most dreadful thunder- 
storm, and arrived in safety at Trent ; he 
himself was conveyed there upon a litter, 
being at the time extremely ill, and his 
brother Ferdinand, the captive elector of 
Saxony, and the rest of the suite followed, 
some on horseback, others even on foot, 
while servants with torches lighted them 
on their road through the narrow passes 
of the Tyrolese mountains — such had been 
their haste. But even Trent itself was no 
longer secure, and after a few hours of 
repose, Charles was again forced to resume 
his flight across the most difficult and dan- 
gerous roads as far as the village of Villach, 
in Carinthia ; the assembled council at 
Trent having also in their alarm broken 
up and taken flight on every side. Maurice, 
however, on finding that Inspruck was 
evacuated, turned back again, after he 
had distributed among his troops the impe- 
rial booty collected, and inarched on to 
Passau, whither an assembly of the princes 
had been convoked. 

Meantime it cannot be doubted but that 
these reverses of fortune, which, together 
with his bodily afflictions, had humbled the 
proud heart of Charles in these days of 
disgraceful flight, were sent by Providence 
for his justification. It was, no doubt, 



298 



THE ELECTOR RELEASED. 



during this trying period that he formed 
the resolution of voluntarily laying down 
his crown as soon as ever he had quelled 
this new war, and, renouncing the world's 
pomp, to retire into solitude, and devote his 
remaining days to the exclusive service of 
the eternal and immutable Creator. 

He now gave the imprisoned elector of 
Saxony his liberty once more ; stipulating 
only that he should remain with the court 
a short time longer. And truly, the sight 
alone of this suffering prince must have 
produced within him bitter and painful 
feelings ; for it was only five years previ- 
ously that, on the plain of Lochau, the 
elector, with bleeding form, appealed to 
him on his knees for grace ; while now the 
same prince beheld him, the former con- 
queror, sick and helpless, traversing almost 
impassable mountains as a fugitive, and 
pursued, too, by another elector of Saxony, 
whom he in his days of pride and glory 
had himself promoted and rendered power- 
ful. What, however, afflicted the emperor 
more than any thing else, was to find him- 
self deserted by all his states — not even 
being aided by the Catholics — while they 
all preferred submitting patiently to be 
plundered by the Margrave Albert, rather 
than uniting together for the succor and 
protection of their emperor. Then it was 
that he but too truly felt the conviction at 
heart, that it is only in the love of his peo- 
ple that a sovereign can hope to find a sure 
protection in the hour of danger. 

In Augsburg, the Elector John Fred- 
erick took leave of the emperor, who, in 
their parting scene, testified much respect 
and even emotion towards the prince. The 
latter left Augsburg immediately, and has- 
tened to return to his own lands. As he 
proceeded he was everywhere welcomed 
and received with sincere and hearty re- 
spect and congratulation ; and when he 
approached Nuremberg, he was met on the 
road by a train of fifty deputies from the 
magistrates of that city on horseback, and 
the whole populace greeted him with shouts 
of joy, while at the same time many were 
affected even to tears. When, at length, 
he arrived at his own town of Coburg, his 
beloved wife Sibella — who had now thrown 
aside the mourning robes she had worn 
during the entire five years — on finding 
that the wish she had so often expressed 
had now become fulfilled, viz., that before 
she died she might see her husband re- 



leased from his captivity, was so overpow- 
ered that she fell into his arms completely 
insensible. On his arrival at Jena, where 
his sons had built a university in lieu of 
that taken from them at Wittenberg, he 
was especially rejoiced in meeting and 
once more holding communion with the 
learned professors and their students. His 
old and faithful friend, Lucas Cranach, 
the painter, together with the eldest of the 
princes, sat in the same carriage with him : 
" Behold !" exclaimed the delighted elector 
to his son ; " this is the true fraternal study 
of the sciences;" and the entire body of 
professors having now advanced to wel- 
come him with an address of congratula- 
tion, the gratified prince listened to it with 
uncovered head. Such was the reception 
experienced, and such were the feelings 
produced on the reappearance of this truly 
German prince among his subjects, by 
whom he was regarded in the light of a 
father. Charles V., however, was unfor- 
tunately never so received in Germany. 

The emperor meantime left it to his 
brother Ferdinand to negotiate with Mau- 
rice at Passau. He himself had a great 
objection to the whole transaction, but he 
was nevertheless very desirous to make 
peace with Maurice, in order to be enabled 
to turn all the power of his arms against 
the enemy he most hated — the French ; 
who, during this interval, had invaded Lor- 
raine and taken one city after another. 
Under such circumstances, the treaty of 
Passau was concluded on the 31st of July, 
1552. Therein it was stipulated : " That 
the Landgrave Philip of Hesse should at 
once be set at liberty, and that the ban of 
the empire pronounced against all who 
had joined in the war of Schmalkald should 
be withdrawn. That with respect to the 
other religious grievances, a new diet 
should be convoked, and that until then the 
imperial chamber of justice should exer- 
cise its judgment with equal impartiality 
for both parties, but that the imperial 
council should be composed of Germans 
only." 

After the conclusion of this peace, Mau- 
rice, in order to prove the justice of his 
intentions, disbanded all the foreign troops 
of his army, and marched with his own 
soldiers to Hungary in aid of King Ferdi- 
nand. Philip of Hesse was liberated, and 
returned to his family and country. The 
long and severe imprisonment he had en- 



DEATH OF MAURICE— DEATH OF ALBERT. 



299 



dured had humbled and depressed his in- 
dependent spirit, and destroyed all farther 
inclination for great undertakings ; he em- 
ployed the remaining years of his life in 
the praiseworthy task of healing, as far as 
possible, the wounds inflicted during the pre- 
vious unhappy period of anarchy throughout 
his dominions. 

The emperor having, in the mean time, 
collected an army from Italy and Hungary, 
marched against Henry II., king of France, 
and sick and enfeebled as he was, he fol- 
lowed it in a litter and commanded it at 
the siege of Me%tz. But it appeared now 
as if fortune had abandoned him entirely; 
the city defended itself with great obsti- 
nacy, and however determined the em- 
peror and his army might have been to 
carry on the siege, they were nevertheless 
compelled to yield to the severe effects of 
the winter, and to withdraw from its walls. 
Much discontented, Charles returned to the 
Netherlands, and commenced making pre- 
parations for the next campaign, 1553. 
This, however, as well as the two follow- 
ing expeditions of 1554 and 1555, produced 
nothing decisive for the two nations : the 
French, when Charles sought to bring 
them to an open engagement in the field, 
fortified themselves in their strongholds, 
and the entire war limited its operations to 
merely devastating the provinces of the 
frontiers. Charles was accordingly forced 
to transfer its achievement to his son Phi- 
lip II. 

The treaty of Passau had produced in 
Germany a happy state of repose ; one 
man alone appeared determined not to al- 
low its uninterrupted enjoyment — the tur- 
bulent Margrave Albert of Brandenburg. 
He pursued his war of pillage and incen- 
diarism against the bishops and several 
cities in Franconia, Swabia, on the Rhine 
and Moselle, with unheard of impudence 
and daring, and as at length all the warn- 
ings given to him were of no avail, Duke 
Maurice, to whom the peace of Germany 
had now become more and more dear, uni- 
ted with Henry, duke of Brunswick, and 
both made a combined attack upon the 
margrave, in 1553, on the plain of Liine- 
burg, near Silvershausen ; he having by 
this time extended his depredations even to 
Lower Saxony. The battle was severe 
and bloody ; the margrave, however, was 
completely beaten ; but two sons of the 
duke of Brunswick, a prince of Luneburg, 



fourteen counts, and nearly three hundred 
of the nobility besides, were left dead on 
the field, while Maurice of Saxony him- 
self was mortally wounded. He was con- 
veyed to a tent erected close to a hedge, 
and there he received the captured ban- 
ners and papers of the margrave, which 
latter he examined with all the eager cu- 
riosity his sinking state would permit. 
Two days afterwards he expired, exclaim- 
ing with his dying breath : " God will 
come — !" the rest of the sentence was 
unintelligible. Although only thirty-two 
years of age, he had already acquired 
greater authority and commanded more 
influence in Germany than any one of his 
contemporaries. Hence any farther testi- 
mony is unnecessary in order to prove the 
preponderating power of his genius. The 
final efforts he so patriotically made for 
the promotion and establishment of general 
tranquillity, and his love for peace and or- 
der, which he sealed with his own blood, 
have in a great degree served to throw the 
mantle of oblivion over his earlier pro- 
ceedings, and conciliated the critical voice 
of public opinion. He was succeeded in 
the electorate by his brother Augustus. 

Albert, the restless margrave, in whom 
the turbulent spirit of the times of the 
Faustrecht was revived in all its destruc- 
tive form, still continued, in spite of the 
severe defeat he had suffered, to harass 
the country. Completely reduced after 
this last battle, he, in his extremity, sought 
the aid of the king of France, and support- 
ed by the money he received from that 
monarch, he immediately began, in 1556, 
to collect fresh troops and make arrange- 
ments for another campaign — or rather se- 
ries of depredations. Happily, however, 
his death, which occurred suddenly amid 
his warlike preparations, prevented him 
from committing further devastation. He 
was likewise a prince of extraordinary 
powers, and resembled very much his an- 
cestor Albert, the Achilles of Germany ; 
but the innate wildness of his disposition 
and character generally, combined with 
the disordered state of those times, which 
destroyed all principle, however firmly 
based, had operated to give to his energies 
a direction fatally destructive. 

In the treaty of Passau it had been fixed 
that a diet should be held in order to regu- 
late the affairs of religion, and to investi- 
gate the accusations of the Elector Maurice 



300 



RELIGIOUS PEACE. 



against the emperor. Charles himself 
urged its assembling with great zeal, in 
order that it might not appear as if he stood 
in any fear of the inquiry ; but the affairs 
of Germany having now become altogether 
equally indifferent to him. nay — and who 
could blame him — even odious, he confided 
their direction to his brother Ferdinand, 
who devoted all his energies with noble and 
praiseworthy zeal to the undertaking. In 
spite of the lethargy and indolence of the 
German princes, and not discouraged by 
several vain attempts to effect his object, 
he at length succeeded, in 1554, in forming 
a diet at Augsburg. A committee was 
immediately named to examine and settle 
the various matters of religious contention, 
composed of the ambassadors of x\ustria, 
Bavaria, Brandenburg, Wurtemberg, Eich- 
stlidt. Strasburg, Juliers, Augsburg, and 
Weingarten, and they all worked with sin- 
cere and laudable industry in the great 
cause. The Roman king aided them 
therein most strenuously ; he removed 
every external difficulty presenting itself 
in the progress of their task, and when he 
learned, among other things, as is related 
by his chancellor Zasius, " that several of 
the spiritual princes were engaged in fruit- 
less disputes, that they were occupied in 
strewing the path with every sort of dis- 
quisition and difficulty, adapted more to 
destroy altogether even to the foundation 
the building they were engaged to recon- 
struct, while such proceedings must pro- 
duce, on the other side, bitter and inimical 
feelings," he dispatched Zasius and his 
vice-chancellor Jonas to them, and warned 
them, in most grave and solemn terms, to 
desist from such a line of conduct ; and in 
thus acting he effected his object. 

And by proceeding, in another circum- 
stance, to act with equal firmness towards 
the Protestants, he caused them likewise to 
yield to his wishes. The point was one of 
great importance, inasmuch as they de- 
manded that the ecclesiastical body of Ger- 
many should be at liberty to adopt the 
Augsburg confession, and retain at the 
same time their offices and lands ; but the 
Catholic party rose in strong opposition 
against it : " If this demand/' they declared, 
" was conceded, the whole of the ecclesias- 
tical possessions in Germany would very 
soon be transferred into the hands of the 
Protestants. Much rather, on the contrary, 
ought the law to be thus : that as soon as 



a spiritual prince, in his own person, passed 
over to the new doctrine, he should be forth- 
with succeeded by a Catholic." Eventu- 
ally the Protestants were obliged to cede 
the point for the moment, but they held it 
in reserve, meantime, to be discussed on a 
future occasion : a subject of dispute which 
became important under the title of the 
" Ecclesiastical Reservation." Thus was 
concluded at length, on the 26th of Sep- 
tember, 1555, at Augsburg, the religious 
peace which for a time put an end to the 
long contest. Free exercise of religion 
was granted legally to the Protestants 
throughout the whole of Germany, and they 
retained possession of all the revenues 
hitherto received from the ecclesiastical 
institutions. Neither Protestants nor Cath- 
olics were allowed to seek proselytes at the 
expense of either party, but every person 
was permitted to freely follow his own faith. 
And while every reigning prince was priv- 
ileged to fix and establish the religion of his 
dominions, he was not at liberty to force any 
of his subjects to adhere to any one church 
beyond another ; on the contrary, it was 
left open to any one, who might desire to 
do so from religious motives, to remove 
from one territory into another. Hence, 
in this respect, the progress of reform had 
not as yet attained that degree of toler- 
ance which allowed the subject professing 
a faith different to the established creed 
of the country, equal rights to those en- 
joyed by all the rest of his fellow-subjects. 
Another law, however, by which the inter- 
ests of the Protestants w 7 ere beneficially 
promoted, was that their co-religionists 
became now likewise members of the im- 
perial chamber of justice. 

After the conclusion of this religious 
peace, the subject-matter of the accusations 
brought by Prince Maurice against the 
emperor came on for discussion in the col- 
lege of the electoral princes ; but, to the 
satisfaction of Charles, none of the other 
states of the empire would join in the in- 
vestigation, and consequently the whole 
question was abandoned. 

The division of the two religious parties 
in Germany was now established forever 
by this peace. Charles, who had devoted a 
great portion of his existence and power 
towards their reunion, experienced little or 
no satisfaction when he contemplated the 
present state of things — so different to the 
objects he had in view ; and consequently, 



ABDICATION OF CHARLES V. 



301 



Germany had now become to him a coun- 
try more and more indifferent and estranged. 
Meantime, the war with France proceeded 
at a very slow and unsatisfactory pace, 
and Charles was forced to witness how 
increasingly that power interfered in the 
affairs of Germany, while his genius saw 
beforehand the influence that government — 
to him so hateful — would gain over Europe, 
when once the power of the Spanish-Aus- 
trian house became divided, and which 
even now, while united under his reign, 
had scarcely been able to confine that ambi- 
tious nation within its boundaries. Hence 
he already beheld all the grand plans cre- 
ated within his comprehensive mind, either 
incompletely executed or altogether de- 
stroyed, and accordingly, the greater his 
desire to bring them to bear, the greater 
was the mortification he was forced to ex- 
perience in the contemplation of their fail- 
ure, and more especially did he feel this in 
his present afflicted state of body. On the 
other hand, the country towards which he 
had ever turned his eye with pleasurable, 
genial feelings — Spain — had now found in 
his son, Philip, a protector who possessed 
the general confidence of the nation. Ac- 
cordingly, every thing now combined to 
strengthen the motives for the plan deter- 
mined upon by Charles, and which, in 
imitation of Diocletian, he had some time 
had in contemplation, viz., to abdicate his 
throne, and end his days in the retirement 
of a monastic life. 

In the autumn of 1555, he summoned 
his son Philip, who had shortly before mar- 
ried Mary, queen of England, to Brussels, 
and on the 25th of October of the same 
year, he solemnly transferred into his hands 
the dominion of the Netherlands. This 
ceremony took place in the same hall in 
which forty years before Charles had been 
declared of age. Here, when all were 
assembled, the invalid emperor, having 
with great difficulty risen from his seat, 
and supporting himself upon the shoulders 
of Prince William of Orange, addressed 
the princes and nobles in a speech so touch- 
ing, that all were deeply affected, some 
even to tears. He declared, " that since 
the seventeenth year of his age, his whole 
thoughts had been occupied in promoting 
the glory of his empire ; that he had been 
always anxious to be personally present in 
all his undertakings, that he might be an 
eye-witness of their progress and results, 



for which reason his entire reign had been 
almost one uninterrupted scene of pilgrim- 
age and travelling ; that he had been 
nine times to Germany, six to Spain, four 
to France, seven to Italy, ten to the Nether- 
lands, twice to England, twice to Africa, 
and, finally, that he had made eleven voy- 
ages by sea. That now, however, his 
sinking body warned him to withdraw from 
the tumult and vexation of temporal affairs, 
and to transfer the burden of all these cares 
to younger shoulders. That if, during his 
many long-tried efforts, he had neglected 
or imperfectly settled any matters of im- 
portance, he earnestly besought the pardon 
of those who might thereby have suffered ; 
and that, finally, he himself should always 
remember his faithful Netherlanders with 
love and affection to the end of his life, 
and continue to pray to God for their pros- 
perity." — He then turned to his son Philip, 
who had dropped upon his knees and kiss- 
ed the emperor's hand, and exhorted him 
in the most urgent and impressive manner 
to seek by every effort in his power to 
render his reign one replete with glory ; 
and overcome with fatigue and emotion, 
he sunk down exhausted upon his chair. 

On the 15th of January, in the ensuing 
year, 1556, his abdication of the crowns of 
Spain and Italy, in favor of his son Philip, 
took place in Brussels with equal solemni- 
ty ; and in the following August, that of 
the Germanic empire, in favor of his bro- 
ther Ferdinand, was effected by an embas- 
sy, at the head of which was Prince Wil- 
liam of Orange. Ferdinand assumed the 
government from that moment on his own 
authority, but was only formally acknow- 
ledged by the body of electoral princes in 
the beginning of the year 1558, at Frank- 
fort, where he swore to the stipulated terms 
of his election, and the imperial crown was 
solemnly placed on his head by the arch- 
chancellor of the empire, the Elector Joa- 
chim of Brandenburg, which, together with 
the sceptre, had been brought from Brus- 
sels at Charles's desire, by the imperial 
deputation. 

Charles embarked with his two sisters 
for Spain, on the 17th of September, 1556, 
and he kept them with him until he reached 
Valladolid ; there he parted from them, 
and now left entirely alone, he proceeded 
to a small building near the convent of St. 
Just, belonging to the order of St. Jerome, 
situated in the beautiful country of Estre- 



302 



DEATH OF CHARLES V.— FERDINAND I. 



madura, and which he had caused to be 
built expressly for himself. Here he now 
dwelt until his death, two years afterwards ; 
living quite alone, not even seeing his sis- 
ters. His hours were divided between 
pious meditation and mechanical inven- 
tions, to which latter occupation he was much 
attached ; he, however, still continued in 
correspondence with his son, and interested 
himself in the affairs of Spain. He, like- 
wise, employed himself in his garden, 
which he took great pleasure in cultivating. 
It is related of him that he once made two 
watches, upon which he bestowed much 
ingenuity and labor, and placing them to- 
gether on the table, he endeavored to make 
them go exactly alike. Several times he 
thought he had succeeded in his object, but 
all in vain — the one went too fast, the other 
too slow. At length he exclaimed : " Be- 
hold, not even two watches, the work of 
my own hands, can I bring to agree with 
each other according to a law, and yet, 
fool that I was, I thought I should be able 
to govern, like the works of a watch, so 
many nations, all living under a different 
sky, in different climes, and speaking a 
different language !" 

Finally, shortly before his death, in 
order to celebrate in the most awe-striking 
manner the renouncement of life, and the 
mortification and corruption of all sense 
and feeling, he caused a solemn rehearsal 
to be made of his own funeral. Being 
placed in the coffin he had already pre- 
pared, the monks of the neighboring con- 
vent carried him in solemn procession to 
the church, where they performed over 
him the service of the dead. It was now 
that the mortal fever which had been so 
long raging in his body broke out. Medi- 
cine it was useless to offer him, his only 
desire being now to take the holy sacrament, 
which he received from the hands of the 
archbishop of Toledo. Shortly afterwards 
he died, on the 21st of September, 1558, in 
the fifty-sixth year of his age. 

In his youth, and before he was bowed 
down with illness, Charles was of a noble 
manly figure, full of majesty and dignity. 
He spoke but little, and a laugh or smile 
was rarely seen upon his countenance, 
which was extremely pale ; the color of 
his hair was blond, and his eyes blue ; and 
in his whole appearance there was a mix- 
ture of the Flemish and Spanish charac- 
ter. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Ferdinand L, 1556-1564— His industrious Habits— Mod- 
eration and Tolerance — The Calvinists and Luther- 
ans—Their Hostility towards each other— Ferdinand 
and Protestantism — The Foundation of the Order of 
Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, 1540 — Its rapid and uni- 
versal Dissemination — The Council of Trent — Fer- 
dinand's Ambassadors — Their Propositions refused — 
Their Letter to the Emperor— Death of Ferdinand I., 
1564— Maximilian II., 1564-1576— His Qualifications 
and good Character — Bohemia— Poland — State of 
Tranquillity — William of Grumbach in Franconia — 
His Revolt and Excommunication— Gotha— The 
young Prince of Saxony — Joins Grumbach — His per- 
petual Captivity and Death in Styria — Grumbach's 
Execution — The mercenary Troops — Evils they pro- 
duce — German Soldiers in Foreign Service — Death 
of Maximilian II., 1576— Rudolphus II., 1576-1612— 
His Indolence and Irresolution— Bad Counsellors- 
Religious Excitement renewed — The Netherlands — 
The Duke of A.lba— The Elector Gebhard of Cologne 
and Agnes of Mansfeld, Canoness of Gerresheim — 
Gebhard excommunicated — John Casimir the Count 
Palatine — Calvinism — Donauwerth — Austria— R u- 
dolphus against the Protestants— Deprives them of 
their Churches — Hungary — Revolt of Stephen Botsch- 
kai — The Emperor an Astrologist and Alchymist — 
Neglects his Government more and more— Tycho 
Brahe and Keppler — Rudolphus resigns Hungary to 
his brother Matthias— Bohemia— The Letter of Ma- 
jesty — The Palatinate — The Evangelical Union — Ju- 
liers— Henry IV. of France joins the Union— The 
Catholic League — Prague — Revolt — The Emperor a 
Prisoner— His Death, 1612. 

Ferdinand, when he became sovereign, 
continued to exhibit the same spirit of 
peace and justice he had shown during the 
reign of Charles V. All his actions and 
his whole character expressed a special 
goodness of heart, and the most kindly in- 
clinations. Experience had rendered his 
mind more and more mature and settled, 
while he never swerved from his word, and 
occupation and activity were to him so 
necessary, that his vice-chancellor, Wal- 
dersdorf, says of him : " His club might 
have been more easily wrested from the 
hands of Hercules, than affairs of business 
from the emperor." He had read with 
great attention when a youth, the celebra- 
ted work by Erasmus on the education of 
princes, and he knew almost by heart the 
treatise of Cicero on our duties. 

This excellent prince, who was a Cath- 
olic with his whole soul, and in his last 
will addressed the most urgent exhortations 
to his sons, to be firm and constant to the 
ancient and true religion, as their ances- 
tors had been before them, including the 
Roman emperors and kings, as likewise 
the glorious princes of Austria and Bur- 
gundy, together with the kings of Spain — 
whence they had drawn down upon them- 
selves the blessing of God — this prince, 
nevertheless, maintained and cherished 
within his heart a firm and unchanged tol- 



THE CALV1NISTS 



AND LUTHERANS. 



303 



erance and generosity towards those of a 
different opinion, which is innate in every 
well-disposed mind. In his own hereditary 
lands the new doctrine spread more and 
more, owing principally to the great want 
felt there for educational institutions, which 
obliged all those who were desirous of giv- 
ing education to their children, more espe- 
cially the nobility and higher classes, to 
send them in foreign countries, and gene- 
rally in preference to the university of 
Wittenberg, which was distinguished above 
all the rest for its learning and science. 
Nevertheless, it never for a moment enter- 
ed the mind of the emperor that it was 
necessary to prevent this from taking 
place ; on the contrary, he only sought the 
means to produce reconciliation and union, 
and for this purpose he was especially 
anxious to avail himself of the council of 
Trent. 

Religious peace had, it is true, restored 
the tranquillity of the empire externally; 
but internally, after such mighty storms, 
it could only proceed with difficulty and 
by slow degrees. The two parties con- 
tinued to watch each other with fear and 
doubt ; and the most absurd reports as to 
their hostile intentions were eagerly caught 
at and believed by either side. " If a 
prince happens to take into his service," 
says Zasius, the emperor's chancellor, 
" either a general or a cavalier, then dis- 
trust is immediately awakened ; and every 
rustling leaf gives rise to suspicion." 

The division among the Protestant party 
added materially to that already existing 
in Germany. The Calvinists, who, coming 
from Switzerland and France, became 
more and more distributed throughout the 
empire, gained increasing numbers of ad- 
herents, and were objects of hatred to the 
Lutherans, while the latter were equally 
so to the former. Among the princes the 
elector palatine was the first to declare in 
their favor. The Lutherans, however, di- 
vided themselves into two parties, that of 
the moderate and that of the extreme party. 
The former followed the spirit and princi- 
ples of Melanchthon, the latter held to the 
very letter the doctrine of Luther, for 
which they battled with fiery zeal, because 
they venerated that alone, and believed 
they possessed its whole nature in words 
and forms. All those who at this time 
raised their voices so loudly in the Protest- 
ant church, only gave another proof how 



difficult it is for the human mind to main- 
tain itself within the strict limits of mod- 
eration, and when it has exceeded them to 
resume its former equanimity. Instead of 
entering upon those calm and peaceful re- 
searches so desirable to enlighten the mind, 
or those Christian discussions in which the 
first principle is to pay homage to truth, 
they rendered Christianity the vehicle of 
the most furious passion, and employed it 
as a vent of the severest language against 
each other — produced often by the criti- 
cism of a sentence and even of a word. 
The emperor Ferdinand was but too cor- 
rect, too well justified when, in his will, to 
which we have already referred, he thus 
expressed himself to his sons upon the sub- 
ject of the numerous Protestants of his 
time : " While, instead of being of one mind 
among each other, they are so disunited, 
so unenlightened in their opinions and feel- 
ings, how can they be assured that what 
they put so much faith in is good and just ? 
It is not the many beliefs, but only the one 
that can hold good. As they themselves, 
therefore, do not deny that they have 
among them so many different beliefs, 
the God of truth cannot surely be with 
them." 

It has often been matter of astonishment, 
that the Protestant doctrine did not spread 
with equal rapidity throughout the whole 
of Germany, considering the favorable dis- 
position evinced by the people to receive 
it ; but the enigma is in a great measure 
explained by the speedy degeneration of 
Protestantism itself. How was it to be ex- 
pected that a doctrine which so soon dis- 
solved into a frivolous, spiritless dispute of 
words, and the converts to which over- 
whelmed each other with maledictions, 
could possibly succeed in gaining the 
hearts of the multitude ? On the contrary, 
many parties were found in various direc- 
tions, who, having gone over to the cause, 
in the course of a short time abandoned it, 
and returned to their ancient faith. 

Another great obstacle to the rapid pro- 
gress of the stream was, at this moment, 
presented in the institution of the order of 
Jesuits, founded in 1540 by a Spaniard, 
Ignatius Loyola, a man glowing with zeal, 
and of a very profound mind. This or- 
der, which was established more properly 
with the object of supporting the pontifical 
chair, spread its principles more and more 
widely throughout the whole of Europe. 



304 



THE JESUITS — COUNCIL OF TRENT. 



Its constitution was based upon the unity 
and powerful co-operation of its members, 
and the most rigid obedience was its law. 
The head of the order lived in Rome ; to 
him were addressed, with the most minute 
detail, the reports made by the directors or 
chief agents established in the provinces, 
and who again had under their control 
many sub-agents : thus descending gradu- 
ally to the last member, whence the entire 
fraternity were governed by one spirit. 
The superiors examined each member's 
qualifications strictly, and during a suffi- 
cient length of time to enable them to place 
him in the office considered by the order 
as the most calculated to promote its views. 
Thus was formed a finely woven net, the 
meshes of which were laid with cunning 
and sagacity, and extended all over Eu- 
rope. When, in 1540, Loyola received 
the approbation of the pope, he had ten dis- 
ciples ; in 1608, they numbered more than 
ten millions, and in 1700, they had aug- 
mented to twenty millions. As the mem- 
bers of the order were exempt from all ec- 
clesiastical functions, and, indeed, even 
from clerical duties altogether, they were 
enabled to devote their whole time to 
science, and thus it resulted that they soon 
included in their ranks a considerable 
number of excellent teachers and writers, 
distinguished preachers, enthusiastic mis- 
sionaries, and professors of every depart- 
ment of science. It was they who were 
enabled to enter the lists against the Pro- 
testants, defending the Catholic system 
with all their zeal, and rivalling them in 
pow ers of spiritual eloquence from the pul- 
pit. All their efforts were directed against 
the new doctrine ; they worked against it, 
whether in the character of confessors and 
governors of princes, or teachers among 
the people ; and the efficient management, 
produced by the cordial co-operation so 
zealously exercised by the order, rendered 
their exertions successful. This institu- 
tion, indeed, promoted materially the de- 
velopment of modern ages. It must not 
be forgotten that, in its day, this order ren- 
dered essential service in the education of 
youth ; and if the civilization of the Cath- 
olic world in subsequent times has become 
far more perfect, and has ranked far above 
that existing at the end of the middle ages, 
it is to be ascribed alone to the exertions 
of the society or order of Jesuits. If, there- 
fore, the operations of its members had 



been less devoted to external matters ; if 
they had been more limited to the domin- 
ion of the mind ; if the morality of the or- 
der had been equally simple and sincere 
in proportion as its wisdom was great and 
comprehensive ; and if it had not attempt- 
ed to grasp with invisible hand at the di- 
rection and government of states, then the 
entire world of Catholicism would have 
had just cause to bless unanimously its 
memory. We shall have occasion more 
than once in the course of our history to 
refer to the influential actors belonging to 
this order, whose operations in important 
moments produced great effect. 

The emperor Ferdinand already learned 
to know their influence in the most clear 
and decided manner at the Council of Trent, 
although to his disadvantage. Matters did 
not proceed here as he wished. In order 
to appease the minds of his subjects in his 
hereditary lands, and in the hope, perhaps, 
of being able to avoid all division, he caused 
his ambassadors at the council to argue 
with great zeal in favor of certain proposi- 
tions, whence he anticipated the most hap- 
py results. These points embraced the 
service of the holy communion under both 
forms and the marriage of priests, the sanc- 
tion of which depended, as he said, only up- 
on the indulgence of the church. The am- 
bassadors, likewise, of France and Bava- 
ria spoke on the same side, and the latter 
especially, concluded their arguments thus : 
" We can assure this assembly, with the 
most sincere and conscientious feeling, that 
nothing could or would prove more ser- 
viceable and beneficial at the present mo- 
ment, towards reconciling the minds of 
Christians with each other, terminating the 
disputes of religion, preserving our own 
party in their faith, and restoring to it 
those that may have deserted from it, than 
the accordance of these legitimate and 
Christian demands of the emperor's ambas- 
sadors." But an equitable and acute 
judgment upon the subject of our affairs 
was not to be expected from an assembly 
composed for the greater part of foreigners 
and men totally unconversant with that 
which was peculiar to Germany, and what 
was best adapted for it under those circum- 
stances ; this, indeed, is sufficiently con- 
firmed by the reports made to the emperor 
by his ambassadors, among whom were 
four bishops: "We now behold quite 
clearly," they write, "and the facts stare 



DEATH OF FERDINAND I.— MAXIMILIAN II. 



305 



us in the face, although we can scarcely 
bring ourselves to acknowledge it without 
real pain and mortification, that nothing 
can be effected here without having re- 
course to intrigue. The Spaniards will 
not swerve an inch from the instructions 
of their king, while the Italians watch with 
eager eye the slightest signification made 
by the pope and his cardinals. The bish- 
ops . from the other countries, who per- 
chance are best aware of the present state 
of things, comprise the minority, and con- 
sequently can do nothing ; because the 
majority of voices decide all things. 
From Germany itself we have only had 
the bishop of Louvaine, who attends in the 
name of the archbishop of Salzburg, and 
a few days since he was joined by the 
grand- vicar of Eichstadt. On the other 
hand, the Italian archbishops and bishops 
continue to arrive in troops, especially such 
as are highborn and wealthy. All, how- 
ever, are dependent upon the nod of the 
pope's legate Simonetta ; while it is gen- 
erally known that a few good and pious 
bishops who spoke warmly in favor of a 
reform in the church, have, in consequence, 
been marked down in Rome on the con- 
demned list. If, therefore, no end be put 
to these secret machinations and human 
passions, truly we know not what good can 
be expected from this quarter." 

Such complaints were repeatedly made, 
and thence this last effort made by the 
emperor Ferdinand to restore the peace of 
Christendom by a searching investigation 
of ecclesiastical affairs, made under the 
sanction of the Church, completely failed. 
The cause of this ill success, however, 
was the same as that which had prevailed 
at Constance, and which rendered all at- 
tempts of the same kind — suggested by the 
German representatives with the most sin- 
cere and honest intentions — perfectly use- 
less. This evil consisted in the mixture 
of foreigners presiding at these councils, 
whose knowledge of our nation was little 
or nothing, but whose influence, from the 
commencement of our history, in all ex- 
ternal as well as internal affairs, always 
deprived us of peace. 

Meantime, however, the council of Trent, 
besides a great number of dogmatical de- 
cisions, has pronounced some most excel- 
lent principles upon the morals of Chris- 
tianity, which operate even to this day as 
rules in the doctrine of the Catholic church. 
89 



It is in this field of the service of God that 
all parties are united ; it is the same for 
all, and indicates equally to all the means 
by which they may show themselves to be 
true Christians in mind, word, and deed. 

The council closed its sitting on the 9th 
of December, 1563 ; and shortly after- 
wards the emperor Ferdinand died, on the 
15th of July, 1564, in the sixty-second 
year of his age. The convincing testi- 
mony in his favor recorded in history is, 
that during the difficult period when hatred 
and violence so often decided opinions, he, 
nevertheless, carried with him to his grave 
the glory of being praised as an excellent 
monarch by all parties, Catholics as well 
as Protestants. 

Ferdinand had already proposed his 
eldest son, Maximilian, as his successor, 
at the assembly of electoral princes in 
Frankfort, in 1560, and they had acknow- 
ledged him as such. The father recom- 
mended his son in language worthy of 
record : " Endowed," he says, " with con- 
siderable intellectual powers, great ad- 
dress, mildness, and goodness of heart, he 
is likewise gifted with all the other prince- 
ly virtues and good morals ; possessing a 
disposition open to all that is truly just, 
good, and honorable, together with a sin- 
cere love for the holy empire of the Ger- 
man nation, the glory and prosperity of 
which it was his earnest desire to promote. 
Finally, he was master of the six princi- 
pal languages usually spoken in Chris- 
tendom, and wa-s consequently enabled to^ 
regulate in person all transactions with) 
foreign powers." Another honorable tes- 
timonial was rendered him by his Bohe- 
mian subjects when they recommended 1 ' 
him to the Poles as their king : " Our Bo- 
hemia," they said, "is far better under his 
government than if it were ruled even by 
a father born among us ; our rights, our 
liberties, and our laws are protected by 
him ; he allows every thing to take its 
course without making any change. And : 
what we justly regard as almost a work of 
miracle, is the generous impartiality andi 
tolerance he evinces towards all classes 
of believers, by which he leads them to 
reciprocal love and harmony." And let 
it be remembered, that he exercised this • 
spirit of peace in a period when the word: 
tolerance was scarcely understood or per- 
haps known ; nay, he publicly avowed the 
principle, " that G)d alone could hold do. 



306 



THE FAUSTRECHT. 



minion over the conscience." Such was 
the glorious character of this emperor, and 
it was by meritorious and praiseworthy 
conduct such as this, after the example of 
his good father, that he happily succeeded 
in establishing generally, throughout Ger- 
many, that tranquillity which, until that 
moment, it had never enjoyed since the re- 
ligious divisions ; a circumstance rendered 
still more striking, as it was effected at a 
period when, in the cause of religion, vio- 
lent and sanguinary scenes were taking 
place in the Netherlands, and more espe- 
cially in France, where the most dreadful 
acts were committed, and the universal 
massacre (on the eve of St. Bartholomew) 
of the Protestants, excited a feeling of hor- 
ror throughout Europe. 

The imperial chamber of justice, origin- 
ally instituted for the purpose of eradi- 
cating the system of the Faustrecht, now 
succeeded completely in gaining the upper 
hand, and abolishing forever that brutal 
law. We find that the last expiring effort 
made to exercise its power was attempted 
about this time by a Franconian knight, 
William of Grumbach, who, with the re- 
mains of the savage horde formerly col- 
lected by Albert of Brandenburg, resumed 
operations in Franconia and spread devas- 
tation in different parts of that country. 
His attacks were more especially directed 
.against the territory of the bishop of Wurz- 
burg, and which prelate he actually shot 
in his own city. The imperial chamber 
pronounced the ban of the empire against 
the murderer, who took to flight and sought 
refuge in Gotha at the hands of the son of 
the unfortunate Elector John Frederick. 
■He had succeeded, it appears, in filling 
that young and weak-minded prince with 
hopes of being able to reconquer for him 
the electorate of Saxony, and he was thus 
the means of leading the young duke to 
experience a fate far more distressing than 
that undergone by his father. The Elector 
Augustus, the brother of Maurice, march- 
ed with his army to execute the imperial 
ban, laid siege to Gotha during the entire 
winter, until both the duke and Grumbach 
were reduced to the necessity of surren- 
dering themselves. The young prince was 
•conveyed a prisoner to Vienna, where, on 
his arrival, a straw hat was placed on his 
head, and he was led through the streets in 
an open cart as a show, amid the mockery 
and derision of the populace.' He was 



then taken to Styria, in Austria, where he 
died after a close imprisonment of twenty- 
eight years ; Grumbach, however, was 
executed at once by being torn into quar- 
ters by four horses, after having previously 
undergone the most dreadful torture. 

In lieu, however, of the Faustrecht, 
which contributed so much to degenerate 
the art of war under the feudal system, 
other evils, caused by those who regarded 
war merely in the light of a lucrative 
employment, now produced much calamity 
throughout the empire, as if to make the 
people feel the injurious results of all mili- 
tary institutions in which every free man 
is not required to arm and fight for his 
country. Those troops of mercenaries 
whose reckless ravages commence the mo- 
ment they have sold themselves to a par- 
ticular standard ; the numerous depots es- 
tablished for recruiting and mustering the 
men ; the continual marching to and fro in 
all parts of the land ; together with the 
billeting of the wild and uncouth men 
thus suddenly collected together — all com- 
bined to create great discontent and irrita- 
tion. The same complaints were now 
made as in the time of Maximilian I. In 
the representations made by Maximilian 
II. to the diet, he says : " The present 
system pursued by our German soldiers — 
in former times, distinguished beyond those 
of any other nation for their discipline, 
loyalty, and devotion — renders them more 
fit to be regarded in the character of bar- 
barous savages ; so much so that in the end 
their wanton and dissolute conduct will be 
carried on to such an extent that no honest 
man will be able to remain in his dwelling, 
nor will either house or farm be left longei 
in possession of their owner." 

These complaints were met by creating 
new and more stringent laws for the disci- 
pline of the army ; but the adoption of the 
most essential means of reform, and which 
had been suggested by the emperor himself, 
viz., the prohibition against the enlistment 
of troops in Germany by foreign princes, 
was not agreed to. The princes maintain- 
ed : "That from time immemorial to serve 
for the honor and distinction of accomplish- 
ing chivalrous feats at arms in the armies 
of foreign princes, had ever continued to 
be regarded as an honorable privilege of 
national liberty, so long as such practice 
caused no injury to their native country * 
and that if this custom was abolished, the 



RUDOLPHUS II. — RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 



307 



warlike spirit of the empire would be an- 
nihilated at once, and in the moment of 
danger no warriors would be at hand 
to aid in the general defence." In this 
language may be traced that of the time 
of Tacitus, when the youth of Germany, 
during the period of peace in their own 
tribe, incited to deeds of valor, entered the 
ranks of such other races as at that mo- 
ment were engaged in war with each other. 

In 1575 the emperor Maximilian suc- 
ceeded in having his son Rudolphus elect- 
ed king of the Romans, and he died in the 
following year in Ratisbon, on the same day 
and in the same hour that the conclusion of 
the imperial diet was made public. 

The long reign of his successor, Rudol- 
phus II., whose government accumulated 
over Germany fresh tempests and violent 
disorder, serves as another melancholy 
proof, that in difficult times irresolution 
and indolence may operate with greater 
evil than is produced even by a disposition 
the most wicked. The emperor Rudol- 
phus cannot certainly be reproached with 
the latter feeling, neither can he be charg- 
ed with ignorance or mental incapacity, 
but his mind was much more occupied 
with other subjects than the duties he had 
to fulfil as emperor, and consequently, 
almost every thing that occurred took place 
without his knowledge, and often against 
his wish. He was in fact in the hands, 
and entirely under the influence of bad 
counsellors. 

The state of excitement on the subject 
of religion, which had recently become 
somewhat allayed, began now to resume 
its former violence when the Catholic 
princes, by the advice of the Jesuits, com- 
menced the task of reforming their own 
dominions by forcing their Protestant sub- 
jects either to return to their ancient faith 
or quit the country. According to the 
treaty of the Augsburg peace of religion, 
the other princes could not venture to re- 
proach or condemn them for this proceed- 
ing ; at the same time, however, the Pro- 
testants perceived but too clearly that in so 
acting the Catholics had made a violent 
attack upon their liberty of conscience, 
and had given a fresh proof of their hostile 
intentions towards the Protestant party. 
France and the Netherlands presented a 
melancholy instance of the result to which 
these inimical acts must lead. The con- 
test carried on by the latter country against 



Philip and the merciless duke of Alba,* 
for the sake of its religious liberty, pro- 
duced not only the greatest excitement 
throughout Germany, on the frontiers of 
which the most dreadful scenes took place, 
but transferred by degrees the horrors of 
war and rapine to the empire itself, whither 
the Spanish army, impelled by disease and 
want, took refuge, and retreating from the 
Netherlands, marched into the Westphalian 
territory, where it extended its devastation 
throughout the land. 

In addition to this, serious events took 
place at this moment in the German portion 
of the frontier countries. At Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle a body of emigrants from the Nether- 
lands, with their Protestant minister, had 
augmented the number of their adherents 
to such an extent, that, emboldened by their 
success, they considered themselves justi- 
fied in claiming the same rights as those 
enjoyed by the Catholics. They chose 
from among their number two burgomasters, 
and when their adversaries refused to ac- 
knowledge their authority, they flew to arms, 
and making themselves masters of the arse- 
nal, they succeeded in obtaining what they 
demanded by force. In the neighboring 
district of Cologne scenes of still greater 
revolt took place. The Elector Gebhard 
was at this time enamored with the beauti- 
ful Agnes of Mansfeld, canoness of Ger- 
resheim, and in order to make her his wife, 
he adopted the Protestant religion, a pro- 
ceeding insisted upon by the counts, her 
brothers. The chapter of the cathedral and 
the corporation of Cologne, immediately 
appealed to Rome and the emperor, and ob- 
tained from both the ban of excommunica- 
tion against the archbishop. As his succes- 
sor, the chapter selected Prince Ernest of 
Bavaria, who, by means of the Bavarian 
and Spanish troops, took immediate posses- 
sion of the land. 

Gebhard took refuge at first in the Neth- 
erlands, and subsequently he removed to 
Strasburg, where he became dean of the 
chapter, and died in 1601. The Protest- 
ant princes quietly submitted to his depo- 
sition and expulsion, although the acquisi- 
tion of a new vote in the electoral council 

* The duke of Alba boasted, on his return to Spain, 
that he had put to death with the sword more than 
i eighteen thousand men in the Netherlands, and he 
vowed that he would willingly, old as he was, sacrifice 
one of his own less if the king— who was not endowed 
with too much indulgence— would only show a greater 
desire for war and its sanguinary accompaniments. 



308 



CALVINISM— HUNGARY. 



would have been to them of the utmost con- 
sequence. Possibly, they may have been 
induced to act this neutral part from their 
respect for religious peace, a principle 
both honorable and noble ; but the public 
voice reproached them with having refused 
to assist Gebhard, because being themselves 
strict Lutherans they disapproved of his 
adopting the Calvinistic doctrine, which 
they hated almost as much as Catholicism 
itself. However this may be, it is quite 
certain that only one prince — a Calvinist — 
stepped forward to assist Gebhard : John 
Casimir, the count palatine, who advanced 
with a few troops against Cologne, and 
blockaded that city for a short time, but 
the return of the Bavarians and the want 
of money to pay the men very soon pro- 
duced their dispersion. 

This prince, John Casimir, was a zeal- 
ous partisan of his church, and would hear 
nothing of the Lutheran doctrine, refusing 
it admission altogether into his territory ; 
whence no part of Germany suffered so 
much from the melancholy effects of the 
hatred of the Protestant parties as this pala- 
tinate. The Elector Frederick III. had, 
previous to his decease, gone over to the 
Calvinists ; and of his two sons, the younger 
and before-mentioned palatine, John Casi- 
mir, adhered to his father's principles, 
while the elder, Lewis the elector, was so 
devoted to the Augsburg confession, that he 
would not even allow the Cal vinistic chaplain 
of his late father to pronounce the funeral 
oration over his remains. In accordance with 
this hostile feeling, he deprived the Calvin- 
ists of all their churches, and sent all their 
clergymen as well as teachers out of the 
country : their number amounting to more 
than two hundred. At the premature death, 
however, of Lewis, the guardianship of his 
son Frederick IV. devolved upon John 
Casimir, whence every thing underwent an 
entire change ; the Lutherans in their turn 
were treated as his brother had treated the 
Calvinists, and young Frederick, then only 
nine years old, was forthwith removed from 
all connection with Lutheranism, and strict- 
ly educated in the catechism of Calvin. This 
was called Christian zeal of faith ! Through 
such zeal, however, the palatinate was 
forced to change its religion three times 
in the course of sixty years. No wonder, 
therefore, if the old church felt itself justi- 
fied in proceeding as it did against the new 
one, since the latter was so zealous against 



its own disciples. Subsequently, indeed, 
this very dissension of Cologne produced 
a similar contest in Strasburg, whither 
Gebhard had withdrawn with three can- 
ons of his chapter, Protestants like him- 
self ; and the town of Donauwerth, which 
until then had remained a free imperial 
town, and had adopted the reformed 
principles of faith, brought upon itself the 
ban of the empire on account of its reli- 
gious disputes, and, in 1607, fell into the 
hands of the duke of Bavaria, who exe- 
cuted the sentence of excommunication pro- 
nounced against it. 

But, during the reign of Rudolphus II., 
Austria itself was more especially the 
scene of great agitation and discord. Maxi- 
milian II. had granted to the Protestant 
states the free exercise of their religion, 
and even allowed them to supply themselves 
with a form of church service which was 
prepared for them by a theologian of Ros- 
tock, David Chytraus ; as, however, the 
emperor wished at the same time to exclude 
theirstyleof worship from Vienna altogether, 
he furnished them with various churches 
situated in the vicinity of that city. Their 
number became very soon considerbaly aug- 
mented, several of their teachers, particu- 
larly a certain Doctor Opicius, were, very 
unjustifiably, most zealous in their endeav- 
ors to gain over to their side all they could 
of such as were of an opposite or different 
faith ; and the complaints against them 
growing more and more numerous, Rudol- 
phus, swayed as he always was by the in- 
fluence of party counsellors, proceeded in 
his measures against the Protestants to such 
extremes, as to deprive them altogether of 
the churches so recently given to them, and 
withdrew from them even their right of 
citizenship throughout all the towns of Aus- 
tria. These proceedings, however, very 
soon excited so much discontent and indig- 
nation, while, on the other hand, the in- 
ternal disorders of Hungary, together with 
the troubles produced by the presence ot 
the Turks in that country, were so great, 
that he was forced to return to measures of 
a more mild and pacific nature. 

In Hungary itself great discontent was 
produced by his government, partly be- 
cause he paid little or no attention to the 
affairs of that country, but more especially 
because he not only never attended in per- 
son at any of the states' assemblies, and 
had never even once visited that kingdom, 



BOHEMIA— THE EVANGELICAL UNION. 



309 



but permitted his German soldiers to com- 
mit every sort of insolence and violence 
without control. Thence, at the commence- 
ment of the seventeenth century, a most 
serious revolt took place there, at the head 
of which was a nobleman, Stephen Botsch- 
kai, who united with the Turks, and took 
possession of the greater portion of the 
country. Nevertheless, in spite of this 
dangerous state of his kingdom, the empe- 
ror grew more and more indifferent and 
negligent, and took no longer the least in- 
terest in its government. Celestial and 
natural science occupied his attention 
much more than the affairs of his dominion, 
and this application very soon brought him 
into the association of those who pretended 
to teach him the prophecies of the stars and 
the art of making gold. Thence, while 
his court comprised a mixture of such de- 
ceivers, and the most learned men of the 
day — such as Tycho Brahe and Keppler — 
so likewise in the mind of the emperor, 
trivial and puerile indications became pro- 
portionably confounded with sentiments of 
a nobler nature. Productions of ancient 
art, statues, chiselled stone work, as well 
as pictures, were objects of his greatest de- 
light, and he devoted large sums of money in 
their collection ; while, however, on the other 
hand, his alchymical laboratory, where he 
sought to produce his manufacture of gold, 
possessed no less attraction for him, and 
such members of his government as wished 
to communicate with him upon important 
and pressing affairs connected with the em- 
pire, were often forced to extend their re- 
searches after him to the retirement of his 
stables, where he was accustomed to pass a 
portion of the day. This inactivity and 
carelessness, the revolution in Hungary, 
together with the disorders prevailing in the 
hereditary Austrian provinces themselves, 
could not be regarded with an eye of indif- 
ference by the brothers and cousins of the 
emperor, more especially as he himself had 
no family. They accordingly deliberated 
together what was best to be done for the 
well-being of their house, and they finally 
concluded a treaty, in 1606, according to 
the terms of which Matthias, the eldest 
brother of the emperor, was empowered to 
restore order forthwith both in Hungary and 
Austria. At first, the emperor was much 
dissatisfied with this arrangement ; after a 
few years, however, he yielded his consent, 
and voluntarily resigned to Matthias the 



upper and lower portions of the Austrian 
territory along the Ens, together with the 
kingdom of Hungary : in order that this 
country which, in the absence of the em- 
peror, had endured so much during a war 
of sixteen years, might, under the govern- 
ment of Matthias, recover its tranquillity 
and prosperity." And, in reality, this 
prince did succeed in restoring peace in 
Hungary, and shortly afterwards, on the 
death of Botschkai, in subjecting it alto- 
gether to his authority. 

Beyond his imperial dignity, nothing was 
now left to the emperor Rudolphus but the 
kingdom of Bohemia. The Protestant states 
of this country, anxious to avail themselves 
of the favorable moment in which their 
sovereign was placed without power, and at 
variance with the other members of his 
family, left him no peace until they at 
length obtained from him, in 1609, the per- 
mission for the free exercise of their religion, 
the establishment of their own consistory, 
the surrender of the academy of Prague, 
together with the right of building fresh 
churches and schools in Bohemia, in ad- 
dition to those they already possessed. This 
important document is called the letter of 
majesty, and it was this said document which 
formed the first pretext for the thirty years' 
war. 

Feelings of distrust and doubt had now 
gradually resumed their sway among the 
religious parties of Germany. At the same 
time, the division existing in the house of 
Austria, which had been the support of the 
Catholics, produced a more immediate alli- 
ance between the Protestant states, and 
urged them to form a new league, offen- 
sive and defensive. The palatine house 
was more especially active in the promo- 
tion of this object, and zealously contribu- 
ted all its influence ; their efforts in the 
cause, however, only produced a fatal re- 
sult to the league, for as the palatinate ad- 
hered so closely to the Calvanistic doctrine, 
the Lutherans were induced to think un- 
favorably of the alliance, and the majority 
of their party refused to join it. When, 
therefore, Frederick, the elector palatine, 
succeeded in the year 1603, after great ex- 
ertion, in constituting a new alliance, to 
which the name of the Evangelical Union 
was given, he found himself joined only by 
the margraves of Brandenburg, the Count 
Palatine Philip Lewis, of Neuburg, the 
duke of Wurtemberg, and the margrave of 



310 



HENRY IV. OF FRANCE A UNIONIST. 



Baden, together with the three principal 
cities: Strasburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm. 
This union was based upon the principle 
of mutual support in council and arms, and 
its especial object was to protect religion ; 
the palatine to have the direction of affairs 
during peace, and its term to extend to ten 
years. Endeavors were made to enrol 
several other members, and the elector of 
Brandenburg was not altogether unwilling 
to join it, but Saxony was most decided in 
its refusal to do so, replying, " That if the 
nature of the affair was gravely considered, 
it would be found on the one hand, that the 
union was not at all necessary ; and on the 
other, that in reality its results must be 
nothing else but a separation and dissolu- 
tion of the whole empire." In truth, if the 
palatine house was really influenced in the 
affair by ambitous and impure motives, it had, 
subsequently, but too much reason to regret 
it, for it suffered severely in consequence. 

In the following year, 1609, an event 
took place in which the Evangelical Union 
took an immediate and active share. Duke 
John William of Juliers, who possessed 
the beautiful lands of the Lower Rhine, 
Juliers, Cleves, Berg, and Mark, died the 
25th of March in that year, without leav- 
ing any children. He had four sisters, 
who were all married to German princes, 
and not only their husbands, but likewise 
other distant relations, laid claim to the 
inheritance. Two of the claimants, how- 
ever, the elector of Brandenburg, and the 
count palatine of Neuburg, took first pos- 
session and signed a treaty at Diisseldorf, 
by which they agreed to govern the coun- 
try in conjunction until the matter was 
definitively settled. The emperor, however, 
displeased with the arbitrary conduct of 
these two princes, sent his brother, the 
Archduke Leopold, bishop of Passau, in 
order to take possession of the land as a 
vacant fief of the empire. He arrived 
with some troops, but could gain nothing 
more of the country than the city and for- 
tress of Juliers, where he was admitted by 
the governor ; he, however, caused fresh 
bodies of soldiers to be raised in Alsace, 
and resolved to maintain the rights of the 
emperor by force. The Evangelical Union, 
finding the house of Austria mixing itself 
up in this affair, came forward and pre- 
pared to march to the aid of the two princes 
thus threatened ; while Henry IV. of 
France now joined the league, and prom- 



ised to give the cause his support. It is 
well known with what grand projects this 
monarch was constantly occupied, even to 
the entire transformation of the whole of 
Europe, and how desirous he was to re- 
duce the Austrian house in order to form 
Europe into a federative republic, which it 
was his intention should furnish one com- 
mon army wherewith to drive the Turks 
out of Europe. His alliance with the Evan- 
gelical Union had these objects in view ; 
and he fixed the year 1610 for the com- 
mencement of his plans against Austria. 
The army of the union accordingly march- 
ed into Alsace in the spring of this same 
year, attacked and defeated the few thou- 
sands collected there by the Archduke 
Leopold, and, in order to justify these pro- 
ceedings, accused the emperor of having 
acted illegally in the affair of Juliers. The 
emperor, it was said, according to the an- 
cient right of the empire, ought not to have 
attempted to decide this matter alone, but 
in conjunction with an appointed number 
of electoral and other princes. 

The sudden assumption of arms, and the 
hostile measures pursued by the union 
wherever their army appeared throughout 
the territories of the spiritual princes, ex- 
cited the most bitter feeling among the 
Catholics ; for their troops had now dis- 
tributed themselves throughout all the sees 
of the Rhine : Mentz, Treves, Cologne, 
Worms, Spires, and others, levying eontr.% 
butions, and exercising the greatest vio. 
lence in every direction. The Catholics, 
however, now determined to unite together 
likewise, and concluded an alliance at 
Wurzburg, in 1610, for nine years against 
the union, which they called the Catholic 
League. The members it comprised in- 
cluded all the spiritual princes, together 
with the princes of the house of Bavaria ; 
and in order to ensure uninterrupted unity 
among them, the chief direction over the 
entire body was confided into the hands of 
Maximilian, duke of Bavaria. Thus this 
Catholic League was rendered much more 
firm than the Evangelical Union, which, 
not having any especially chosen head 
during the war, was forced to appoint a 
general, to which honor, as they all con- 
sisted of lay princes, each considered him- 
self entitled. In other respects the Catho- 
lic League was based nearly upon the 
same principles as the Evangelical Union. 

This league now took to arms likewise ; 



DEATH OF RUDOLPHUS II. — MATTHIAS I. 



311 



but as Henry IV. of France was assassi- 
nated about this time, the members of the 
union showed themselves more disposed to 
terminate matters in an amicable way, and 
both parties shortly afterwards laid down 
their arms. 

The old emperor embittered his few re- 
maining years with vexatious quarrels with 
his family. He was much dissatisfied with 
his brother Matthias, nor was he indeed 
attached to any other of his relations ex- 
cept the aforesaid Archduke Leopold, bish- 
op of Passau. He felt, therefore, desirous 
of giving him his kingdom of Bohemia — 
the last in his possession — and in the year 
1611, according to a plan calculated very 
badly for the promotion of his object, he 
empowered him to march with his troops 
from Passau and enter Bohemia at their 
head. The states of the kingdom, who 
naturally imagined that in this proceeding 
hostile intentions were directed against 
their religion, took to arms, and making the 
emperor a prisoner in his own castle of 
Prague, they summoned to their aid Mat- 
thias, who for a considerable time had cal- 
culated upon the crown of Bohemia. He 
obeyed their call at once, and entered the 
city amidst their acclamations, while Ru- 
dolphus was obliged, after a bitter and 
mortifying negotiation, to yield the crown 
to his brother. It is said, that during this 
time of trouble, and in the irritation of the 
moment, he burst open the window of his 
room and exclaimed, in words fatally pro- 
phetic — as they turned out : " Prague, un- 
grateful Prague ! through me you became 
elevated, and to-day you ungratefully de- 
sert and turn your back upon your benefac- 
tor ! May you be pursued by the vengeance 
of God, and may His curse fall upon you 
and throughout Bohemia !" 

Of all his crowns, the last and only one 
remaining to him now was that of the em- 
pire ; death, however, which soon after- 
wards delivered him from all his troubles, 
saved him likewise from the final disgrace 
of resigning this, which mortification, it is 
but too probable, he would have been forced 
to undergo ; he died on the 20th of Janua- 
ry, 1612, aged sixty years. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Matthias I., 1612-1619— His Coronation— Its Pomp and 
Splendor deceptive— The Protestants— Increase of 



General Discontent— Austria— Aix-la-( !hapell» — ( Co- 
logne — The Prince-Palatine Wolfgang William, and 
the Elector of Brandenburg— Their Quarrel— Box on 
the Ear — Baneful Consequences — Foreign Allies — 
The young Archduke Ferdinand— Elected King of 
Bohemia— His Character— His Devotion to Catholi- 
cism and Hatred of the Protestants— Banishes the 
New Faith from his Lands— The Electoral Prince — 
Ferdinand warned against his Proceedings by the 
Elector of Saxony— Bohemia— The Letter of .Ma- 
jesty shamefully infringed— Thr Protestant ( Inure s 
destroyed— Indignation and Revolt of the Protest- 
ants — Their Defender, Count Matthias of Thurn— 
Counts Martinitz and Slavata — Their Hostility to the 
Protestants— Prague — The Council-Hall— Martinitz 
and Slavata thrown out of the Window— General 
Revolution— The Emperor's Alarm and Desire for 
Peace — Ferdinand's Declaration in Reply — Com- 
mencement of the Thirty Yeans' War— Count Ernest 
of Mansfeld, the Leader of the Protestants— His 
great Military Genius and Heroic Character— Death 
of Matthias I., 1619— Ferdinand II., 1019 to 1037— 
Count Thurn and the Bohemians in Vienna— Sur- 
round the Emperor in his Palace — Ferdinand unex- 
pectedly rescued— The Bohemians depose him— The 
Elector-Palatine Frederick V., Son-in-law of James 
I. of England, King of Bohemia, 1619— His Irresolu- 
tion and Pusillanimity — Ferdinand and Maximilian 
of Bavaria— Their Ailiance— Superiority of the Im- 
perialists over the Bohemians — Battle of Weissen- 
berg, near Prague, 1620 — The Bohemians defeated 
and their King put to flight— His Abdication— Prague 
capitulates— Bohemia severely punished by Ferdi- 
nand—Thirty thousand Families banished the Coun- 
try. 

Matthias, the eldest brother of the late 
emperor, was now chosen successor to the 
imperial crown, and was crowned at Frank- 
fort, on the 24th of June, 1612. The cere- 
mony was performed amid a display of 
stately pomp and splendor such as had not 
been witnessed for a length of time — if, 
perhaps, at all. All the electors, except 
the elector of Brandenburg, were present, 
and a host of the other princes of the em- 
pire. " It seemed," says an historian, " as 
if they had assembled in such numbers in 
order to take a final leave of each other, 
for after this occasion they never again 
collected in a body so numerous." Mat- 
thias himself had in his suite alone three 
thousand persons, two thousand horses, and 
one hundred carriages, drawn each by 
four horses ; and the other princes ap- 
peared equally well attended, in proportion 
to their means. Festival succeeded festi- 
val, and foreigners, witnessing all the 
grand and brilliant scenes that passed, and 
all the joy and hilarity that everywhere 
prevailed, must have regarded Germany as 
the first country in the world, especially 
when they beheld this assemblage of all 
its princes thus met in, apparently, friend- 
ly association. But behind this galaxy of 
royal and noble personages hovered the 
spirit of dissension ; the profound observer 
might have recognised in the joy expressed 
by the Catholics the hopes they entertained 



312 



ELECTORS OF COLOGNE AND BRANDENBURG. 



for their party, based upon the activity 
and firmness of the new emperor ; and in 
the delight evinced by the Protestants, he 
might have perceived the expectations they 
formed, founded upon the illness expressed 
in his appearance. Prince Christian of 
Anhalt, one of the most active among 
the latter party, made rather a humorous 
observation in reference to the double 
meaning in which this festival must be re- 
garded : " If it should come to a dance, 
our emperor Matthias will make no very 
high springs." 

In truth, the new emperor did not by 
any means show the activity and energy 
which had been anticipated from him ; it 
appeared as if he had only compelled his 
late brother to resign his crowns in order 
to perpetuate his indolence and irresolu- 
tion. On the other hand, the passions of 
the multitude continued to operate more 
and more seriously, and prepared the way 
for those violent and disastrous eruptions 
which burst forth again even during the 
reign of Matthias. In the Austrian terri- 
tories, the religious parties, excited by 
their preachers from the pulpit, resumed 
their violence towards each other with re- 
doubled fury, all human relationship be- 
tween the contending parties disappeared 
and became annihilated, for such hatred 
as adheres to that which is held most sa- 
cred in man remains the most implacable 
of all. 

In other parts of Germany, some very 
serious occurrences took place about this 
time. Fresh disturbances broke out in 
Aix-la-Chapelle as well as in Cologne, be- 
tween its inhabitants and the two princes, 
governors of the territory of Juliers, be- 
cause the latter, to the injury of the for- 
mer, had raised the small town of Mtihl- 
heim, on the Rhine, to the rank of a city. 
In both these cases, the emperor decided 
in favor of the Catholic party, and conse- 
quently excited fresh anxiety in the minds 
of the Protestants. His judgment, how- 
ever, in the cause of the Muhlheim dispute 
would have produced but little effect, had 
not both the princely houses who had pos- 
session of the patrimonial estates of Juliers, 
become divided with each other. The 
prince-palatine, Wolfgang William, had 
been accepted as the future husband of a 
princess of the house of Brandenburg, and 
he paid a visit to the court of Berlin upon 
business connected with this affair. There, 



however, while at dinner, and heated with 
wine, a dispute arose between him and the 
elector; both forgot each other, and the 
latter gave the prince-palatine a blow on 
the ear. Never, perhaps, did such an in- 
significant circumstance produce more 
grave and serious results in the history of 
the country ; they operated upon the whole 
system of the empire down to the latest 
period of its records. The indignant prince 
quitted Berlin immediately ; and out of 
hatred to the house of Brandenburg, he 
allied himself with the house of Bavaria, 
by marrying one of its princesses, and 
adopted the Catholic religion. The elector 
of Brandenburg, on the other hand, who 
was in dread lest Wolfgang William, with 
the aid of the league or the Spaniards, 
should attack his portion of the Juliers 
territory and wrest it from him, claimed 
the assistance of the Netherlanders, who 
were still at war with the Spaniards ; and 
in order to satisfy them and ensure their 
aid, he abandoned the Lutheran church 
and adopted that of the Calvinists. Ac- 
cordingly, the Juliers possessions were at- 
tacked by the allies of both sides ; the 
Netherlanders occupied Juliers itself, and 
the Spaniards, commanded by Spinola, 
held possession of Wesel ; and thus both 
these armies brought into effect the decree 
of the emperor pronounced against Aix-la- 
Chapelle and Muhlheim. Accordingly, 
the dissensions throughout the empire be- 
came more and more confirmed in their 
hostility, and the German states commenced 
forming alliances with foreign countries. 

The uneasiness and anxiety of the Pro- 
testants became now much increased by 
the selection which was made of a succes- 
sor to the imperial throne. Matthias him- 
self, as well as his two brothers, Maxi- 
milian and Albert, were without any chil- 
dren, and as the affairs of the empire pre- 
sented no attraction sufficiently great to 
induce the latter princes to undertake the 
government, they renounced all claim to 
the succession of the Austrian states, and 
proposed as their substitute their cousin, 
the young Archduke Ferdinand, who al- 
ready possessed Styria, Carinthia, and Car- 
niola. The emperor was very much op- 
posed to this arrangement, but his brothers 
were so urgent in their representations that 
he was obliged finally to yield. Accord- 
ingly, Ferdinand was acknowledged at the 
diet of 1617 as future king of Bohemia, and 



FERDINAND OF AUSTRIA KING OF BOHEMIA. 



313 



three weeks afterwards he was crowned 
as such with great pomp at Vienna. The 
states demanded nothing beyond the con- 
firmation of the rights they had hitherto en- 
joyed, and the non-interference of the new 
king with the affairs of government during 
the lifetime of the emperor. 

This Ferdinand, in the course of his 
reign, became a principal cause of all the 
violent commotions and revolutions that 
were produced in his time, and as he has 
at all times been more or less subjected to 
severe condemnation or impassioned praise, 
his acts merit here a more impartial inves- 
tigation and equitable judgment. His edu- 
cation, which he received in the university 
of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, was superin- 
tended more especially by the Jesuits, under 
the eyes of William, duke of Bavaria, a 
zealous Catholic, and, from his boyhood 
upward, the most strict principles of Ca- 
tholicism were instilled into his mind. Con- 
sequently he firmly believed in that one 
church, by which alone he could hope to 
obtain salvation, and he held it to be the 
first duty of his life to use every means at 
his command, whether by the gentle power 
of reason, or by the more definite argument 
of the sword to bring back those who had 
renounced the faith, and support all who 
adhered to it — for the salvation of the soul, 
as he had been taught, " took the prece- 
dence of every other human consideration." 
Whence the faithful maintenance of these 
principles constituted the aim and direction 
of his whole life ; he looked upon himself 
as appointed by God to be the champion of 
the Catholic church and the restorer of the 
ancient faith. And of this conscientious 
belief he never attempted to make the least 
mystery ; he entered the arena openly and 
honestly, and herein is presented a grand 
and noble feature in his history. For every 
man who undeviatingly and obstinately pur- 
sues, with all the power and energy of his na- 
ture, that which he has recognised as just 
and sacred, is assuredly worthy of honorable 
appreciation. And if Ferdinand, throughout 
his entire career, and in the error of his con- 
viction, did continue to believe that that same 
God who vouchsafes to spread the light of 
his sun with equal mercy over nations of 
every faith, was only to be worshipped in 
one exclusive form, and persisted in his ef- 
forts to establish with fire and sword this 
said form of devotion all over the world, 
those alone were answerable for such re- 
40 



suits who filled his mind while yet a 
child with such intolerant doctrines, and 
which they only strengthened more and 
more in the youth, and matured in the 
man. 

The young prince had no sooner become 
lord over his states than he commenced re- 
forming them, by reintroducing the an- 
cient form of divine service. He maintained 
the principle, that the sovereign of a coun- 
try, in order to promote one uninterrupted 
unity of thought and action, ought not to 
tolerate more than one established religion 
in his dominions ; and as, by the treaty of the 
Augsburg religious peace, no other resource 
was left to the Protestants but expatriation, 
he compelled those who would not join the 
ancient faith to leave the country. These 
measures were very severe, as nothing can 
be more trying to the feelings of a truly 
sincere and conscientious man, than to be 
forced to quit the soil of his ancestors and 
the home rendered so dear to him from 
childhood by the ties of love and affection. 
Such harsh proceedings necessarily pro- 
duced most serious consequences through- 
out the territories of Ferdinand. Above 
all others of his subjects, the inhabitants of 
the mountainous districts were the first to 
rise in opposition ; accustomed as they 
were to live uninterruptedly amidst their 
mountains, and existing in a state of com- 
plete isolation from the rest of their fellow- 
subjects in the lowlands — wholly occupied 
as they were with the grand and eternal 
creations of nature around them — they 
scarcely troubled themselves with the scenes 
of human contention and dissension occur- 
ring beyond their native hills. They ad- 
hered, therefore, with far greater obstinacy 
and firmness to their peculiar habits and 
opinions, which they regarded, like the soil 
they dwelt upon, as their hereditary birth- 
right. Nevertheless, in the measures 
adopted by the young prince, so much re- 
solution was combined with temper, and he 
evinced so much determined seriousness, 
that he succeeded in quelling the distur- 
bances excited by this discontent almost 
before their outbreak ; and although, as a 
warning, he had caused to be erected in 
various parts places of execution for the 
most turbulent, still tranquillity was effect- 
ed without its being necessary to have re- 
course to them, or even to shed a drop of 
blood. Thence, within a few short years, 
as if produced by a miracle, not a single 



314 



FERDINAND'S DEVOTION TO CATHOLICISM. 



Protestant church was left standing, nor a 
Protestant sermon allowed to be preached 
throughout the whole of those dominions in 
which, until then, the majority of the in- 
habitants had professed the Protestant faith. 
Such persevering energy displayed by so 
young a prince, very naturally excited 
great hopes in the one party, while it pro- 
duced serious alarm in the other. The 
united states of Germany, and especially 
the electoral-palatinate, beholding now, in 
the elevation of Ferdinand as chief of the 
Austrian house, fresh cause for exertion, 
renewed and strengthened their bond of 
union. They endeavored, by every means 
in their power, to gain over to their party 
the elector of Saxony : but all in vain. 
His unwillingness to join the union was, no 
doubt, produced principally by his dislike 
to the Calvinistic doctrine ; but in this res- 
olution he was also influenced by his sin- 
cere desire for the preservation of peace 
throughout the empire — a desire participa- 
ted in by all the Lutheran princes, more 
particularly since the death of Maurice. 
A letter from the elector of Saxony to the 
Archduke Ferdinand proves, at least, that 
this feeling was sincerely cherished by him ; 
he therein exhorts him thus : " That as 
things had reached that sad state that little 
or no good understanding could be found to 
exist any longer among the states of Ger- 
many, and all confidence had nearly van- 
ished, he would earnestly recommend him 
to do his utmost towards the re-establish- 
ment of both, if only in a partial degree. 
For if matters continued to remain in their 
present dangerous condition, when recourse 
was had to measures of extreme severity 
rather than to those of a more mild and 
simple nature, it was evident these attempts 
to effect a cure of the evils existing must 
lead either to the total ruin of the one or the 
other of the two parties ; or, after having 
caused much sacrifice of blood, and pro- 
duced the destruction of the country and 
its inhabitants, end in adopting that middle 
course which might now still be made avail- 
able without any violent or dangerous 
means." The import of these words was 
like an announcement of future events, and 
might have opened the eyes even of Ferdi- 
nand himself to the contemplation of the 
coming struggles, if he had not held them 
immoveably fixed upon one point. Circum- 
stances, however, very soon indicated, in 
still more expressive and forcible colors, 



the danger which threatened even the prox- 
imity of his own house. 

Since the nomination of Ferdinand as 
future king of Bohemia, the whole body of 
Protestants in that country very soon had 
reason to observe much greater activitv and 
assurance among the Catholics. Report, 
which in extraordinary times is ever more 
active in spreading alarm and terror than 
in ordinary periods, was now busily occu- 
pied in announcing the most arbitrary 
measures against the Protestants. " The 
letter of majesty which guarantied their 
security and liberty, was now no longer 
valid, it having been extorted from King 
Rudolphus," — such was the language of the 
Catholics. " When King Ferdinand ar- 
rived," they said, " it would be found that 
with their new king they would receive 
likewise new laws ;" while some again 
exclaimed, " Then more heads must be 
decapitated, and property transferred into 
other hands, and many a beggar would be 
made rich therewith," &c. In addition to 
this, when Ferdinand did homage in Mo- 
ravia, pictures were everywhere circulated 
in which the Bohemian lion and the Mo- 
ravian eagle were represented bound in 
chains, while a sleeping hare, with eyes 
open, was introduced to indicate that the 
states, with their eyes widely opened as 
they were, were still not able to perceive 
the fate that threatened them : these, and 
many similar demonstrations, augmenting 
in number as they progressed from place 
to place and mouth to mouth, excited in- 
creasing terror and dismay in the minds of 
all. 

At length a cause was soon presented 
whereupon to base the foundation of open 
hostility. In the aforesaid letter of majesty 
the Protestants of Bohemia were granted 
the privilege of building new churches, but 
the present government restricted its mean- 
ing to the Protestant provinces of the king- 
dom, and refused its application to the 
Catholic provinces. The Protestant party, 
nevertheless, insisted that the article in- 
cluded all their co-religionists throughout 
the land. Accordingly, in 1617, the Pro- 
testants residing in the jurisdiction of the 
archbishop of Prague, built for themselves 
a church in the small town of Clostergrab, 
while those in the territory of the abbot of 
Braunau also erected one in the latter 
place. The archbishop and abbot would 
neither of them tolerate their existence, 



MARTIN ITZ AND SLAV ATA EJECTED. 



31c 



and they both appealed to the emperor; 
and as soon as ever the buildings were 
completed, the archbishop put into execu- 
tion an imperial decree, according to which 
the church in Clostergrab was razed to 
the very foundation, and that in Braunau 
was closed ; and as in consequence of this 
arbitrary act the inhabitants of the town 
rose up in opposition against it, several of 
them were cast into prison. 

The Protestants, however, now loudly 
complained of this violation of the letter of 
majesty, and they found a determined 
champion for their cause in Count Matthias 
of Thurn. This nobleman, who was a na- 
tive of Gratz, on the borders of Italy, but 
who had long since resided in Bohemia, 
supported their cause and its privileges 
with all the warmth and zeal of his Italian 
blood, and being chosen at once as defender 
of the Evangelists in Bohemia, he, as such, 
convoked the Protestant states to meet in 
Prague. Several petitions were forwarded 
to the emperor, in which his majesty was 
earnestly besought to remove the causes of 
complaint, and to order the liberation of the 
imprisoned citizens of Braunau. 

The emperor's reply was very harshly 
worded. Therein he characterized the resist- 
ance made by the inhabitants of Braunau and 
Clostergrab as a revolt, and he condemned 
the states for having occupied themselves 
with the affairs of citizens who to them 
were strangers, and for having held illegal 
meetings, and seeking, by the false reports 
they made of the danger to which the letter 
of majesty was exposed, to alienate from 
his majesty the love and fidelity of his sub- 
jects, &c. ; while the threat with which it 
concluded, " that the matter should be in- 
vestigated, and each should be treated ac- 
cording to his merits," sufficed to produce 
in the minds of all, excited as they alreadv 
were, still greater cause to anticipate and 
prepare for the worst results. To this 
was now added the report that the said 
document had not issued from Vienna, but 
had been prepared in Prague itself, in the 
office of the imperial governors, and more 
especially superintended by two Catholic 
privy-counsellors, Martinitz and Slavata. 
The indignation of the Protestants was now 
directed at once against them, as the more 
immediate objects. Both these noblemen 
had long been hated, because they refused 
to take any part in the procuration of the 
letter of majesty nine years previously ; 



I while many cruel acts were laid to their 

I charge, by which they had at various times 
displayed their zeal for the Catholic church. 

I Among the rest, it was related of Martin- 

I itz, that he had caused his Protestant de- 
pendents to be hunted out of the Catholic 

| church on his estate, with his own dogs ; 
while of Slavata it was said, that he had 
compelled his people to adopt the Catholic 

•j faith by refusing to allow them the service 

I of baptism in the church, or burial in con- 
secrated ground. 

Rendered more indignant and furious 
by these reports, the deputies of the states, 
armed to the teeth, presented themselves, 
on the 23d of May, 1618, befDre the im- 
perial governors and such of the council 
as were then assembled in the council-hall 

■ of the castle of Prague, and demanded 
whether or not they had been present in 
council when the imperial document in 
question, so harshly and inimically worded, 
had been deliberated upon, and if they had 
voted for it ? And when the governors re- 
plied, that in order to decide upon the an- 

I swer to be given to such an important 
question, it would be necessary to have the 
presence of the absent members of the 
council, several of the deputies stepped 

j forward and exclaimed : " We know full 
well that the head burgraves, Adam von 
Sternberg, and Diphold von Lobkowitz, 
now present, did attend during the compo- 
sition of that hated writing, but we are 
likewise aware that they did so unwillingly, 
and did not sanction its adoption/*' Say- 
ing which they advanced and conducted 
them into another room for safety. The 
other deputies meantime rushed upon 
Count Martinitz, and dragging him to the 
window, ejected him forthwith into the 
court below. All stood now aghast and 
trembling ; when Count Thurn, pointing 
to Slavata, exclaimed to his confederates : 
" Noble friends, yonder you behold the 
other !" upon which they immediately seiz- 
ed him and precipitated him after his col- 
league. The next doomed to the same 
fate was the private secretary, Fabricius, 
who was known to be the sycophant of the 
two preceding victims. Wonderful to re- 
late, however, although the depth of their 
fall was more than fifty-six feet, they es- 
caped with life, because, in their descent, 
they fell, happily for them, upon an im- 
mense pile of paper shavings and other 
soft materials ; and even afterwards, when 



316 



THIRTY YEARS' WAR BEGUN. 



they were assisted to their homes, they 
were no less fortunate in getting clear of 
the shots that were fired at them as they 
were led away. 

The Bohemians endeavored to justify 
this act by referring to several examples 
of the same kind in ancient history ; among 
the rest to the period when the Romans 
precipitated traitors from the Tarpei'an 
rock, and to the portion of the Old Testa- 
ment in which it is found recorded that 
Queen Jezebel was thrown from a high 
window for having persecuted the people 
of God. Nevertheless, they were well 
aware that such a plea of justification 
would not secure them against the punish- 
ment that must follow, unless they made 
immediate preparations for self-defence. 
Accordingly, the castle was garrisoned 
with their own troops ; all persons in office 
took the oath of fidelity to the states; all 
the Jesuits, who were considered as the 
main cause of the hostile feeling evinced 
against the Protestants, were banished from 
the country ; and, finally, a council of 
thirty noblemen was established for the 
government of the land. All this indi- 
cated the determination of the people to 
defend themselves to the last, and in all 
these preparations the chief mover and di- 
rector was Count Thurn, whose whole soul 
was devoted to the cause. 

The emperor was not a little discon- 
certed when he received the news of what 
was passing. For whence could he re- 
ceive the aid necessary to put down these 
revolutionary acts and restore order in Bo- 
hemia ? Discontent, indeed, was scarcely 
less formidably expressed even in his Aus- 
trian territories, while in Hungary its de- 
monstration was equally as serious. 

Conciliation appeared to be the only 
means of preserving to the house of Aus- 
tria that important country, and even the 
confessor and usual counsellor of the em- 
peror, Cardinal Klesel, the most zealous 
opponent of the Protestants, advised that 
course. But such considerations were 
most strenuously opposed by young Ferdi- 
nand : " It is of the utmost importance that 
men should know," says he, in writing to 
the emperor, "that God himself has ap- 
pointed the troubles of Bohemia ; for he 
has manifestly struck the Bohemians with 
blindness, that by means of the direful 
deed, which to every rational being, what- 
ever his religion, must appear to be hate- 



ful, unchristian, and culpable, the grand 
pretext of the rebels, that they were en- 
gaged in the cause of religion, might be 
completely frustrated. For under this pre- 
text they have hitherto only sought to rob 
their rulers of all their rights, all then 
revenues, and all their subjects. If, there 
fore, government is of divine authority, the 
conduct of these men must originate with 
the devil, and it is impossible that God 
should approve of the concessions hereto- 
fore made by the government. Possibly 
He may have permitted these extremities 
to come to pass in order that the rulers 
may at once break loose from this state of 
bondage to their own subjects." Accord- 
ingly, it w r as his opinion, that nothing re- 
mained but to have recourse to arms. 

From this epistle of Ferdinand we at 
once perceive the firmness of his princi- 
ples. From words he immediately pro- 
ceeded to action, levied soldiers in every 
quarter, and manifested such determina- 
tion, that it was evident he would not suffer 
the indecision of the emperor to thwart 
his career. And at his instigation, and 
that of the other archdukes, backed by the 
pope, the pacific Cardinal Klesel was un- 
expectedly arrested, and charged with a 
variety of crimes. The intention was to 
remove him from the presence of the old 
and weak emperor, who was now without 
support, and obliged to resign all to the 
archdukes. From this moment the impo- 
tency of the emperor was complete, and 
all hopes of an amicable pacification of 
Bohemia lost. 

The Bohemians, likewise, took to arms, 
and possessed themselves of every city in 
their country as far as Budweis and Pilsen, 
which were still occupied by the imperial 
troops. They obtained assistance, quite 
unlooked-for, in the person of one who may 
be regarded as one of the most remarkable 
heroes of that day, and furnishes a distin- 
guished example of a single individual, 
who, without territory and people, by the 
mere celebrity of his name, gathered round 
him legions of brave soldiers, and, like the 
ancient warrior-princes of Germany in the 
time of the Romans, conducted them as his 
Gefolge or retinue, for hire and booty, 
whithersoever his prowess was needed. Men 
of this character came forth at this period 
likewise, as the signs of an extraordinary 
age thrown out of its usual course. Their 
armies were maintained and furnished by 



DEATH OF MATTHIAS I— FERDINAND II. 



317 



the war ; the war had to sustain itself ; and 
therein is the mystery explained how it con- 
tinued to rage on upon the German soil for 
thirty years. Count Ernest of Mansfeld, a 
warrior from his youth, was of a bold and 
enterprising spirit ; he had already encoun- 
tered many dangers, and had just been 
raising some troops for the duke of Savoy 
against the Spaniards. The duke, who 
now no longer required them, gave him 
permission to serve in the cause of the 
Evangelical Union of Germany ; and by 
that body he was dispatched with 3000 
men to Bohemia, as having apparently re- 
ceived his appointment from that country. 
He appeared there quite unexpectedly, and 
immediately took from the imperial army 
the important city of Pilsen. 

Meanwhile the emperor Matthias died on 
the 10th of March, 1619, after having wit- 
nessed in quick succession the interment 
of his brother Maximilian and his consort ; 
and the Bohemians, who acknowledged his 
sovereignty while living, now resolved to 
renounce his successor Ferdinand, whose 
hostile intentions were already too clearly 
expressed. 

Ferdinand attained the throne under cir- 
cumstances the most perplexing. Bohemia 
m arms, and threatening Vienna itself with 
invasion ; Silesia and Moravia in alliance 
with them ; Austria much disposed to unite 
with them ; Hungary by no means firmly 
attached, and externally menaced by the 
Turks ; besides which, encountering in 
every direction the hatred of the Protest- 
ants, against whom his zeal was undis- 
guised. But in these circumstances Ferdi- 
nand manifested his undaunted firmness 
and courage : " Notwithstanding these im- 
minent perils," says Khevenhuller, " this 
illustrious prince never desponded ; he still 
retained his religion and confidence in God, 
who took him under His protection, and, 
contrary to all human expectation, deliv- 
ered him through this Red sea." 

Count Thurn advanced upon Vienna 
with a Bohemian army, and when he was 
questioned respecting the purpose of his 
expedition, he answered, " That he marched 
in search of any collected bodies of troops 
or people, and wherever he found them he 
would forthwith disperse them. That in 
future there must be perfect equality be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants, and the 
former must not, as heretofore, hold the as- 
cendency, and, as it were, float on the sur- 



face like oil." He came before Vienna, 
and his men fired even upon the imperial 
castle itself, where Ferdinand, surrounded 
by open and secret foes, had taken up his 
quarters. He dared not leave his capital, 
for by so doing, Austria, and with it the 
preservation of the empire itself, must have 
been sacrificed. But his enemies looked 
upon him as lost ; and they already spoke 
of confining him in a convent, and educa- 
ting his children in the Protestant faith. 
At this most critical moment, when Thurn 
was in the suburbs of Vienna, encamped 
before the gate of Stuben, on the 10th of 
June, 1619, sixteen members of the Aus- 
trian states appeared before Ferdinand, and 
vehemently demanded his consent to their 
taking arms, and to the treaty which they 
wished to conclude with Bohemia. Nay, 
their leader, Thonradel, went even so far 
as to hold the king by the button of his 
coat, urging their demand, that he would 
put his signature to the proposed articles, 
in the most impressive manner. But just 
then, as if by miraculous interference, five 
hundred of the imperial cavalry arrived in 
the city from Krems, and, ignorant of what 
was passing in the castle, with a flourish 
of trumpets marched into the court-yard. 
The deputies immediately retired and made 
their exit in the greatest consternation and 
alarm, imagining that the arrival of the 
cavalry was preconcerted, and thus Ferdi- 
nand was extricated from his distressing 
situation.* 

Count Thurn was obliged soon to return 
to Bohemia, as Prague was menaced by the 
armies of Austria, and Ferdinand availed 
himself of this moment in order to under- 
take another hazardous and daring project. 
Although the Austrian provinces had not 
yet declared their allegiance, and during 
his absence much that was untoward might 
occur, he nevertheless resolved to proceed 
to Frankfort to attend the election of em- 
peror. The spiritual electors had been 
gained over; Saxony also adhered closely 
to the house of Austria ; Brandenburg was 
not unfriendly ; hence the opposition of the 
palatinate alone against him could accom* 
plish nothing ; accordingly Ferdinand was 
unanimously chosen emperor on the 28th 
of August, 1619. By a strange reverse 



* Since this period, in commemoration of that im- 
portant event, this regiment of cavalry lias permission, 
in passing through Vienna, to ride over the Burgplatz, 
which others are not allowed © do. 



318 FERDINAND DEPOSED IN 



BOHEMIA — FREDERICK V. 



of fortune it happened, that at the very- 
moment when, after the conclusion of the 
election, he, with the electoral princes, was 
retiring from the hall to proceed in proces- 
sion to the church of St. Bartholomew, he 
received the intelligence of his deposition 
in Bohemia, and which had just been made 
public among the people. 

The Bohemians having, on the 26th of 
August, 1619, at a general assembly of the 
states, deposed Ferdinand, " for having, in 
opposition to the fundamental compact 
which he had entered into with them be- 
fore the emperor's death, intermeddled with 
the administration of state affairs, intro- 
duced war into Bohemia, and concluded a 
treaty of alliance with Spain to the preju- 
dice of the liberty of the country they 
proceeded at once to another election. 
The Catholics proposed the duke of Savoy 
and Maximilian of Bavaria, while, in the 
Protestant interest, the Elector John George 
of Saxony, and Frederick V. of the pala- 
tinate, were put forward. The latter ob- 
tained the election, being a son-in-law of 
King James I. of England, from whom 
they expected assistance, and who person- 
ally was regarded as resolute, magnani- 
mous, and generous. The incorporated 
provinces of Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, 
supported the election, and even the Cath- 
olic states of Bohemia pledged their fidelity 
and obedience. Frederick was warned 
against accepting so dangerous a crown by 
Saxony, Bavaria, and even by his father- 
in-law ; but his chaplain Scultetus, and 
his own consort Elizabeth, who as the 
daughter of a king aspired to a royal crown, 
persuaded him with all their influence to 
accept it. Frederick was accordingly ruled 
by them, received the regal dignity in Bo- 
hemia, and was crowned at Prague with 
great pomp on the 25th of October, 1619. 
He considered it to be his duty, as he him- 
self says, not to desert those of his own 
faith by whom he had been appointed. If 
this youthful king of twenty-three years of 
age had possessed the strength of mind re- 
quisite for a successful prosecution and 
accomplishment of the work, history would 
have ranked him among those daring men, 
who, relying upon their own internal re- 
sources, never hesitated to venture upon 
great and noble enterprises ; but fate had 
decided against him, and in adversity he 
failed to show that energy and presence of 
mind which must ever be at the command 



of him who has resolved to wear a hazard, 
ous crown. 

Ferdinand in returning from Frankfort 
passed on to Munich, and there concluded 
with the duke of Bavaria that important 
treaty which secured to him the possession 
of Bohemia. These two princes had been 
companions in youth, and the Evangelical 
Union had by several incautious proceed- 
ings irritated the duke. Maximilian un- 
dertook the chief command in the cause of 
the Catholic party, and stipulated with the 
house of Austria that he should be indem- 
nified for every outlay and loss incurred, 
to the extent even, if necessary, of the sur- 
render of the territories of Austria itself 
into his hands. 

With Spain also the emperor succeeded 
in forming an alliance, and the Spanish 
general, Spinola, received orders to invade 
the countries of the palatinate from the 
Netherlands. 

Subsequently the elector of Mentz ar- 
ranged a convention at Muhlhausen with 
the Elector John George of Saxony, the 
elector of Cologne, and the Landgrave 
Lewis of Darmstadt, wherein it was deter- 
mined to render all possible assistance to 
the emperor for the maintenance of his 
kingdom, and the imperial dignity. 

Frederick, the new Bohemian king, was 
now left with no other auxiliary but the 
Evangelical Union ; for the Transylvanian 
prince, Bethlen Gabor, was, notwithstand- 
ing all his promises, a very dubious and 
uncertain ally, while the troops he sent 
into Moravia and Bohemia were not unlike 
a horde of savage banditti. Meanwhile the 
union commenced its preparations for war 
as well as the league. The whole of Ger- 
many resembled a grand depot for recruit- 
ing. Every eye was directed to the Swa- 
bian district, where the two armies were 
to meet ; there, however, at Ulm, on the 
3d of July, 1620, they unexpectedly enter- 
ed into a compact, in which the forces of 
the union engaged to lay down their arms, 
and both parties pledged each other to 
preserve peace and tranquillity. The 
unionists felt themselves too weak to main- 
tain the contest, since Saxony was now 
likewise against them, and Spinola threat- 
ened them from the Netherlands. It was, 
however, a great advantage for the em- 
peror, that Bohemia was excluded from 
this treaty, for now the forces of the league 
were at liberty to aid him in subjugating 



BOHEMIA— BATTLE 



OF WEISSENBERG. 



319 



his royal adversary. Maximilian of Ba- 
varia, therefore, immediately took his de- 
parture, and on his way reduced the states 
of Upper Austria to the obedience due to 
Ferdinand, joined the imperial army, and 
made a spirited attack upon Bohemia. On 
the other side, the elector of Saxony took 
possession of Lusatia in the name of the 
emperor, after lying four weeks before 
Bautzen, which he subdued after a smart 
resistance. 

Frederick of Bohemia felt now the dif- 
ficulty of his situation ; nevertheless, with 
the aid of a faithful and courageous people, 
who had already two hundred years before 
defended their country in the Hussite wars 
against the combined power of Germany, 
he might still have maintained his ground. 
But, either from ignorance or indifference, 
he failed "completely in gaining the con- 
fidence of the nation. His life was care- 
less and his time wasted in extraneous mat- 
ters, and his mind without that inward dig- 
nity of self-possession and calm reflection 
so necessary at a moment so portentous ; 
while he even made the Bohemians sub- 
servient to his German counsellors and 
generals. The Bohemian nobility, who 
had in fact brought about and directed the 
entire movement, availed themselves of 
their preponderating influence for their own 
advantage, inflicted great injury upon the 
citizens in their trade, and transferred to 
them and the rural districts the whole 
weight of taxation. There was one gen- 
eral complaint against the imposts and 
the burden and oppression of the soldiery, 
besides which the Calvinistic party, by 
their ecclesiastical domination, annoyed 
no less the Lutherans than the Catholics. 
Frederick was not able to govern these 
conflicting elements, and this weakness 
effected his ruin. 

As the imperialists advanced, the Bohe- 
mian forces marched into Prague and in- 
trenched themselves on the Weissenberg 
(white mountain) near the city. But be- 
fore the intrenchments were concluded, the 
Austrians and Bavarians advanced and 
gave battle at once, as Maximilian's impa- 
tience would not suffer the event to remain 
undetermined for a single hour. And in 
less than an hour the fate of Bohemia was 
decided. Frederick's troops, in spite of the 
bold resistance made by several companies, 
were beaten, and the whole of his artillery, 
together with one hundred standards, were 



taken by the enemy. Frederick himself, 
who, at the commencement of the battle, 
was quietly seated at his dinner-table, 
which he would not leave, saw its termi- 
nation only at a distance from the ramparts 
of the city, and with it lost all the little res- 
olution he still retained. Against the ad- 
vice of a few of his more intrepid friends, 
he on the following night, with Count Thurn 
and some others of his suite, fled from 
Prague — which otherwise might still have 
defended itself — into Silesia ; there, how- 
ever, he could not resolve to stay, although 
he might have rallied his friends around 
him, but fled still farther into Holland, and 
dwelt there without a kingdom, and with- 
out courage to reconquer it — maintained at 
the expense of his father-in-law, the king 
of England. The emperor, however, pro- 
nounced the imperial ban of excommunica- 
tion against him, in Consequence of which 
all his estates were confiscated. 

Prague at once yielded submission ; the 
whole of Bohemia, except Pilsen, which 
Mansfeld bravely defended, followed the 
example ; the countries of the palatinate 
were occupied by the Spaniards, under 
Spinola, and the union, alarmed at their 
proximity, was, in 1622, quite dissolved. 
Like the Schmalkaldian league it termi- 
nated ingloriously, and both were, through 
a concurrent fatality, destroyed by the in- 
fluence of the Netherlands ; for it was by 
means of the Netherland troops under Count 
Buren that formerly Charles V. became the 
vanquisher of that league. 

Sad for Bohemia was the punishment 
which the emperor now inflicted upon the 
country. During the first three months 
nothing took place, but many of the fugi- 
tives having meantime returned, forty-eight 
leaders of the Protestant party were sud- 
denly taken prisoners, on the same day 
and in the same hour, and, after a judicial 
investigation, twenty-seven of their number 
were condemned to death ; of whom three 
belonged to the nobility, seven were knights, 
and the others citizens. The property of 
those condemned was confiscated, as well 
as that of the absentees, who were declared 
traitors, among whom Count Thurn was 
included. Afterwards by degrees all the 
Protestant clergymen were banished from 
the country, and finally, in 1627, it was 
declared to all nobles, knights, and citizens, 
that no subject would be tolerated in Bohe- 
mia who did not adhere to the Catholic 



320 



MILITARY EXPEDITIONS IN GERMANY. 



church. It is calculated that the number 
of families who at this time were forced to 
leave Bohemia amounted to thirty thou- 
sand ; they for the most part resorted to 
Saxony and Brandenburg. The lot of Si- 
lesia was much more fortunate, for through 
the intervention of the elector of Saxony it 
obtained the establishment of its religious 
and civil liberties and a general amnesty, 
securing Protestantism within its borders. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Military Expeditions in Germany, 1621-1624— Generals 
Mansfeld and Tilly— Successes of Mansfeld— Joined 
by the Margrave of Baden- Durlach and Christian, 
Duke of Brunswick— Tilly— The Palatinate— The 
Heidelberg Library— Ferdinand resolves to continue 
the War— The Duke of Bavaria made Elector-Pala- 
tine—Tilly defeats the Duke of Brunswick in Mini- 
ster—War with Denmark, 1624-1629— The Protestant 
forces under Christian IV. of Denmark, the Duke of 
Brunswick and Mansfeld— The Emperor without a 
Leader — Count Wallenstein — His extraordinary Cha- 
racter — Ambition — Astrological Studies — Faith in 
Destiny — His Bravery— Weissenberg— Wallenstein 
Duke of Friedland — His stately Palace and royal 
style of living — Raises an Imperial Army — His Ap- 
pearance—Pursues Mansfeld— Death of Mansfeld, 
1626— Death of the Duke of Brunswick— Christian 
IV. of Denmark — His Flight — Dukes Adolphus and 
John of Mecklenburg banished— Their Estates seized 
by Wallenstein — Created Duke of Mecklenburg and 
a Prince of the Empire, 1628— Pomerania — Stralsund 
— Besieged by Wallenstein — Its Brave Resistance — 
Forces Wallenstein to retire — Peace between the 
King of Denmark and the Emperor, 1629 — The Edict 
of Restitution, 1639— Its Effect— Augsburg— The Ca- 
tholic League — Tyranny and Cruelty of Wallenstein 
and his Army — Complaints of the Catholics and Pro- 
testants against Wallenstein to the Emperor— The 
Princes and the Nation insist upon his Dismissal— 
His Resignation. 

According to all human calculation, the 
contest appeared now decided ; Bohemia 
was subjugated, the Evangelical Union dis- 
solved, the palatine house overthrown, and 
the elector a mere fugitive. Whence, there- 
fore, could resistance be apprehended ? 
And yet it came, and that, too, from the 
restless activity of Count Mansfeld, who 
would not abandon victory at so easy a 
price, and who knew the age in which he 
lived too well, not to calculate upon those 
unexpected means which a change of for- 
tune must present to men of a daring and 
confident disposition. He knew how high- 
ly the minds of the people were excited, 
and that they were only waiting for leaders 
in order to recommence the obstinate strug- 
gle in favor of their faith. Whoever com- 
manded their confidence might venture 



upon the adoption of extraordinary meas- 
ures. 

Accordingly, he collected quite unex 
pectedly, after having left Pilsen, new 
troops, and declared that he would still 
farther maintain the cause of Frederick 
against the emperor. In a short time he 
had an army of about 20,000 men, and 
obliged the forces of the league, under the 
Bavarian general, John Tserklas Tilly, 
(raised by the emperor, since 1623, to the 
dignity of count,) to keep the field against 
him. By rapid and well-planned marches 
he deluded his antagonist, and in his course 
spread desolation among the Catholic bish- 
oprics of Franconia, Wurzburg, Bamberg, 
and Eichstadt, together with those of Spires, 
Worms, and Mentz on the Rhine ; and, 
finally, in the beautiful and flourishing 
provinces of Alsace. 

His example was followed by others. 
First of all, George Frederick, margrave 
of Baden-Durlach, took the field in favor of 
the palatine house, collected a strong army 
and united with Mansfeld. He would not 
fight as a prince of the German empire, 
lest his land should be made to suffer for it, 
but as a knight and champion in that 
cause which, to him, appeared the most 
just ; accordingly, before he entered into 
action, he transferred into his son's hands 
the government of his country. For him, 
united with Mansfeld, Tilly was no equal 
match ; but when, however, they separated, 
he defeated the margrave at Wimpfen on 
the 8th of May, 1622. 

Mansfeld next found an ally in Christian, 
duke of Brunswick, brother of the reigning 
duke, who, full of youthful ardor, likewise 
came forward in the cause of the banished 
electoral prince. After a variety of adven- 
tures, he at length joined Mansfeld with a 
considerable body of men, and, thus united, 
they entered Alsace once more, extending 
their march to the provinces of Lorraine, 
and, in fact, made even Paris itself tremble 
for the moment, as they threatened to ad- 
vance thither to the aid of the Huguenots. 
After devastating all the neighboring prov- 
inces, they finally marched into Holland, 
where they joined the Netherlanders in 
their struggle against the Spaniards. 

Tilly, meantime, retained possession of 
the entire palatinate, and it was on this oc- 
casion that he seized upon the magnificent 
library of Heidelberg, of which the duke 
of Bavaria made a present to the pope^ 



CHRISTIAN IV. OF DENMARK— WALLENSTEIN. 



321 



Gregory XV. ; it was conveyed to Rome, 
and placed in the Vatican.* 

It appeared now as if the moment had once 
more arrived when peace might have been 
restored to Germany, if the victors had 
been at all inclined to act with moderation. 
But Ferdinand had no idea of halting in 
the midst of all his revolutionary move- 
ments. He considered himself, as he states 
in a letter written by himself and sent to 
Spain, as called upon by Providence " to 
crush all the seditious factions, which had 
been supported chiefly by the heresy of 
Calvinism, and he recognised in the success 
which had hitherto rewarded his efforts, an 
intimation from God that he ought to perse- 
vere in the course he had entered upon." 

A grand step would be gained towards 
the promotion of his plans, if he could ar- 
range the investiture of his friend the duke 
of Bavaria as electoral-palatine, and as a 
recompense for his faithful services ; a 
matter upon which they both agreed in se- 
cret together. In the aforesaid letter of 
Ferdinand, he says : " If we could gain 
one more vote in the electoral college, we 
should be forever secured in our object of 
placing the empire in the hands of the 
Catholics, and ensuring its possession to the 
house of Austria." 

But this step was one of great danger, as 
it was likely to bring upon him the most 
determined opposition of all the Protestants, 
and more especially might make an enSmy 
of the electoral house of Saxony, hitherto a 
friend so faithful. Nevertheless, Ferdi- 
nand accomplished his wish ; he hastened 
to summon together the electors at Ratisbon 
in 1623, in order to confer the investiture 
upon Maximilian, and after many negotia- 
tions Saxony was induced to give its con- 
sent by the concession of Lusatia. 

In the same year, Duke Christian of 
Brunswick was routed by Tilly near Stad- 
lov in Miinster, at the moment when he 
was about to recommence operations, and 
thus fortune appeared to realize the antici- 
pations of the emperor, and crown his con- 
fidence with continued success. Neverthe- 
ess, many links were still necessary to form 
-he chain of this war. 

The Protestants, meantime, considered 
that they could not remain in a state of in- 
active expectation of the fate to which they 

* This library, at the intercession of the emperor of 
Austria and the king of Prussia, was restored to Hei- 
delberg in the year 1815 

41 



might be subjected, but felt themselves 
bound to exercise forthwith the little energy 
and self-possession still at their command. 
The first movement was made in the states 
of the circle of Lower Saxony, on the fron- 
tiers of which Tilly, the terror-striking 
general of the Bavarians, had taken up his 
position with his formidable army. After 
having made in vain their representations 
for his recall, they took to arms, and chose 
the king of Denmark, Christian IV., as duke 
of Holstein, for their commander-in-chief. 
He promised them considerable aid, and 
England on its part did the same. Chris- 
tian of Brunswick and Mansfeld reappeared, 
and enlisted troops with English money. 
Hitherto the war in Germany, on the Catho- 
lic side, had been carried on almost wholly 
by the army of the league ; but as the pre- 
parations of the Protestants became now 
more extensive, they demanded from the 
emperor supplies of troops accordingly. 
At the same time it was likewise the em- 
peror's wish to furnish an imperial army 
himself, in order that the house of Bavaria 
might' not claim the merit of performing 
every thing alone ; but he was in want of 
the necessary means to effect this object, 
and he was at a loss how to raise and equip 
the number of men required. Under these 
circumstances, however, an individual pre- 
sented hfrnself to his notice, who contem- 
plated carrying on the war by means of his 
own resources, and single-handed — simi- 
larly to Mansfeld ; and offering at once to 
relieve the emperor from his difficulties, he 
lost no time in bringing his plans into opera- 
tion. 

Albert of Wallenstein — more properly 
Waldstein — the descendant of a noble fami- 
ly in Bohemia, was born in the year 1533, 
in Prague, of Lutheran parents ; as they 
died when he was young, he was sent by a 
maternal uncle to a celebrated convent of 
Jesuits at Olmiitz, and was thus educated in 
the Catholic religion. Later he travelled with < 
a wealthy nobleman from Moravia through 
a great part of Europe, and became ac- 
quainted with Germany, Holland, England,. 
France, and Italy. The learned compan- 
ion of the illustrious pair, the mathematician 
and astrologer Peter Verdungus, (subse- 
quently a friend of Keppler,) encouraged 
Wallenstein's predilection for astrology, 
and in Padua he was initiated in cabalistic 
lore and the other occult sciences of the 
stars by Professor Argoli. A mysterious 



322 



WALLENSTEIN'S EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER. 



inclination of his nature led him to this 
dangerous study, which at that time was 
universally pursued, and occupied even 
great minds like that of Keppler ; his soul 
was lost in its dark labyrinths ; but this 
much he saw with the greatest certainty in 
the stars, since he intuitively felt it, viz.. 
that he was destined to effect something ex- 
traordinary. An unbounded ambition pos- 
sessed his whole soul, and he was conscious 
of an energy sufficient to carry the entire 
age with him ; whence he regarded as within 
his reach the accomplishment of the greatest 
enterprise. 

He attached himself to the Archduke 
Ferdinand, whose firmness and determina- 
tion he recognised, and set out in 1617, 
accompanied by 200 cavalry, raised at his 
own expense, to render him aid in an ex- 
pedition against Venice. By way of re- 
muneration, Ferdinand assigned to him the 
rank of a commander of the militia in 
Moravia. During the troubles of Bohe- 
mia he aided the Viennese in their defence 
against the Bohemians, fought against 
Bethlen Gabor of Transylvania, who 
raised his pretensions to the crown of 
Hungary, and filled the situation of quar- 
ter-master-general in the imperial forces 
under Boucquoi. when he, with Maximilian 
of Bavaria, gained the battle of Weissen- 
berg near Prague. After this* battle he 
had another engagement with Bethlen. by 
whom the imperial generals Dampierre 
and Boucquoi had been defeated, made 
him retreat, and obliged him to accede to 
terms of peace, and to relinquish his claims 
to the Hungarian crown. For these ser- 
vices, and at the same time as an indemni- 
fication for the devastation of his estates in 
this war and the expenses he had incurred 
— having at his own cost furnished and 
supported several regiments — Wallenstein 
received, in 1622, the territory of Fried- 
land in Bohemia, together with the title of 
prince, and later that of duke. In addi- 
tion to this, he purchased for a large sum 
of money about sixty estates of the Bohe- 
mian nobility, which had been confiscated 
by the emperor after the battle near 
Prague, and thus came into possession of 
more than princely wealth. The duchy 
of Friedland alone comprised nine towns 
and fifty-seven castles and villages. Sub- 
sequently, and while Tilly was in com- 
mand at the head of the league, he lived 
retired on his estates, although at the same 



time he felt much discontented at finding 
the war carried on without him. Now, 
however, when he found the emperor was 
anxious to raise for himself an army, he, 
as we have already seen, offered his ser- 
vices to levy troops of his own for the im- 
perial service, taking upon himself nearly 
the whole cost. He stipulated only that 
he should be allowed to exercise unlimited 
control over them, and possess the exclu- 
sive power of appointing officers, and col- 
lecting a force, not of 20,000 but of 50,000 
men — as such an army, he said, would 
soon be enabled to maintain itself. He 
obtained, accordingly, the full authority 
required, and in a few months afterwards 
the army was raised and completely 
equipped — such was the influence his very 
narae already produced. 

Wallenstein was born to command ; his 
acute eye distinguished at the first glance, 
from among the multitude, such as were 
competent, and he assigned to each his 
proper place. His praise, from being but 
rarely bestowed, animated and brought 
into full operation every faculty, while his 
steady, reserved, and earnest demeanor se- 
cured obedience and discipline. His very 
appearance inspired reverence and awe ; 
his figure was lofty, proud, and truly war- 
like : his jet-black hair was cut close 
above his high and commanding forehead, 
while in his bright piercing eye was ex- 
pressed profundity of thought, combined 
with gravity and mystery — the character- 
istics of his favorite studies and researches 
in the language of the stars and the laby- 
rinths of the planets. 

He marched with his new army, in the 
autumn of 1625, through Swabia anc 
Franconia into Lower Saxony. Tilly 
withheld from joining a rival whose ambi- 
tion he saw was to excel him, and both 
conducted the war apart. Wallenstein, 
after having put to rout a body of armed 
peasantry who had attempted to intercept 
his march near Gottingen, advanced to the 
districts of Halberstadt and Magdeburg, 
which had not as yet been subjected to the 
devastations of the war. The campaign 
of 1626 commenced with more serious 
deeds of arms. Count Mansfeld, who ad- 
vanced along the Elbe against Wallen- 
stein, having been defeated on the bridge 
of Dessau, directed his course with a bold 
determination towards Silesia, in order to 
join Prince Bethlen Gabor, and carry the 



DEATH OF MANSFELD— WALLENSTEIN IN DENMARK. 



323 



war into the Austrian dominions, whither 
Wallenstein, to his great regret, was forced 
to follow him. After a most harassing 
and difficult march, Mansfeld arrived in 
Hungary ; he was, however, very badly 
received there, because he had not brought 
with him the sums of money expected by 
the prince. Pursued by Wallenstein, his 
retreat cut off. and without the means of 
procuring supplies in such a remote coun- 
try, he was forced to sell his artillery and 
ammunition, and disband his soldiers ; and 
then crossing Bosnia and Dalmatia, he 
proceeded with a small suite along the 
road to Venice. Thence it was his inten- 
tion to repair to England, in order to pro- 
cure the necessary supply of money ; but 
on arriving in the village of Urakowitz, 
near Zara, his nature, already completely 
overwhelmed by the superhuman struggles 
and fatigues undergone, finally sank be- 
neath these heavy trials, and the noble 
warrior breathed his last on the 20th of 
November, 1626, in the forty-sixth year 
of his age. When the dying man felt at 
length the approach of death, he had him- 
self clothed in his military coat, his sword 
buckled on, and thus equipped, and stand- 
ing supported by the arms of two friends, 
he patiently awaited the final moment of 
his mortal career. His remains were in- 
terred in Spalatro. 

In this same year died likewise his friend, 
Duke Christian of Brunswick, who was only 
twenty -nine years of age ; and thus the 
Protestants were deprived of their best gen- 
erals. Christian, king of Denmark, was 
not able to replace them, for in him was 
wanting all that warlike spirit and energy 
so necessary in a commander ; added to 
this, there was no union between the prin- 
ces of the circle of Lower Saxony, and one 
of whom, indeed, George, duke of Celle, a 
general of the Saxon army, passed over to 
the emperor, whose service he entered. 
Thence, although Lower Saxony was much 
relieved by the retreat of Wallenstein, King 
Christian was, nevertheless, not only unable 
to defend it against Tilly, but he was com- 
pletely defeated by him on the 27th of Au- 
gust at Lutter near Barenberg, in Hanover, 
and lost all his artillery, together with sixty 
ensigns. 

In the year 1627, Wallenstein marched 
back again through Silesia, whence he 
drove all his enemies before him into the 
north of Germany, crossed Brandenburg 



and Mecklenburg, and with Tilly entered 
Holstein, in order to force the king of Den- 
mark to abandon Germany altogether. 
The whole of that country, with the ex- 
ception of a few fortifications, was speedily 
conquered. Silesia and Jutland were next 
invaded and fearfully devastated. The 
king was obliged to take refuse in his 
islands, and some letters of Wallenstein 
even mention that he seriously contemplated 
causing the emperor Ferdinand to be chosen 
king of Denmark, having been informed 
that the states were dissatisfied with their 
own king. It was in this same year that 
Wallenstein added to his immense posses- 
sions the duchy of Sagan and the territory 
of Priebus in Silesia, which he purchased 
of the emperor for 150,000 florins. 

Meantime the army of Wallenstein had 
gradually increased to 100,000 men, and 
this mysterious and incomprehensible man 
continued enlisting fresh troops with still 
greater zeal in proportion as the numbers 
of the enemy diminished and disappeared. 
It was not known whether it was for him- 
self or for his sovereign that he was thus 
paving the way for the attainment of unlim- 
ited dominion. The Catholic princes them- 
selves regarded him with suspicion and 
doubt, for it became more and more evident 
that his grand object was to abolish their 
league, while Tilly especially hated him 
because he monopolized for himself all the 
fruits produced by their victories. The 
princes of Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and 
Brandenburg, appealed to the emperor to 
remove the heavy and oppressive burden of 
war from their lands ; but the will of his 
general was more powerful than that of the 
emperor himself, and the whole of North 
Germany obeyed his slightest nod, and 
trembled beneath his wrath. He himself 
lived in a style of pomp and splendor far 
beyond his imperial master, in which ex- 
ample he was imitated by all his officers 
in proportion ; while around him thousands 
of human beings were forced to languish in 
inexpressible misery, and without exagger- 
ation, literally died through starvation. In 
addition to all this, the general brought 
against the emperor a heavy account of the 
sums he had advanced out of his own funds 
for the expenses of the war, and which he 
calculated at more than three millions of 
florins. This sum the emperor found it im- 
possible to pay, and resolved, therefore, to 
seize the territories of the dukes Adolphus 



324 



SIEGE OF STRALSUND. 



Frederick and John Albert of Mecklenburg, ! 
and transfer them into the hands of his gen- 
eral, in consideration of the debt. Thus 
Wallenstein was made a prince of the em- 
pire, and while on a visit at the castle of 
Brandeis, in Bohemia, put into immediate 
practice the privilege he now commanded 
of appearing with covered head in the im- 
perial presence. 

In vain did the inhabitants supplicate to 
have their rightful dukes, whose family had 
reigned in their dominions for nearly a 
thousand years, restored to them, and who, 
they said, had not committed themselves 
more than the princes of the other provin- 
ces in the circle of Lower Saxony. Ferdi- 
nand forgot again, this time, the laws of 
moderation in victory, and shamefully vio- 
lated the constitution of the empire in thus 
banishing these princes from their territo- 
ries without legally impeaching them before 
the electoral princes, and without giving 
them a hearing or pronouncing judgment 
against them. On the contrary, it was to 
him an object of great importance to secure 
for himself the presence of a Catholic prince 
of the empire on the coast of the Baltic Sea, 
who would thus be enabled to keep in check 
the north of Germany, and form a protec- 
tive power to watch the proceedings of the 
Protestant kings of Denmark and Sweden ; 
while from this point he confidently hoped 
to be enabled to re-establish the Catholic 
faith throughout the north. He also ap- 
pears to have contemplated holding com- 
plete dominion over the maritime commerce 
of the Baltic from this quarter, for Wallen- 
stein even assumed the title of admiral of 
the north and eastern seas, and it is seen by 
his letters addressed to Arnim, general-in- 
chief of the army in the north of Germany, 
during his absence, that the desire he had 
most at heart was to burn all the Swedish 
and Danish vessels that sailed within the 
range of his dominion, and to collect and 
establish a fleet of his own. 

From Mecklenburg Wallenstein now 
turned his looks towards its neighboring 
territory, Pomerania. The old duke, Bo- 
gislas, was without any family, and after 
his death his duchy might be very conve- 
niently united with that of Mecklenburg. 
What, however, was to this ambitious man 
of the utmost importance, was the possession 
of Stralsund, which, it is true, was in the 
dominion of the duke of Pomerania, but 
whiciv at the same time, as forming part of 



the Hanseatic league, enjoyed many privi- 
leges, and an independent administration 
in all its internal affairs. This city, as 
well as the whole country, had contributed 
very large sums towards the maintenance 
of the imperial troops ; and now it was in- 
tended to furnish it with a garrison. This 
the citizens refused to receive ; and in the 
spring of the year 1628, Wallenstein gave 
orders to General Arnim to march against, 
and lay siege to the place. The citizens, 
however, defended their walls with deter- 
mined courage and perseverance, while the 
kings of Sweden and Denmark furnished 
them with liberal supplies of troops, together 
with ammunition and provisions from the 
sea-side. Their obstinate resistance exci- 
ted the furious wrath and indignation of the 
imperious general, and he exclaimed : 
" Even if this Stralsund be linked by chains 
to the very heavens above, still I swear it 
shall fall !" He then advanced in person 
against the city, and repeatedly assaulted 
it ; but he now learned to know what the 
heroic courage of citizens can effect under 
prudent guidance ; for after having remained 
before the walls for several weeks, and suffer- 
ed a loss of at least twelve thousand men 
in the various desperate assaults made, he 
was forced, to his no little mortification, to 
withdraw without accomplishing his object. 

Meantime, the king of Denmark had de- 
manded peace, which, contrary to all ex- 
pectation, the emperor was advised by Wal- 
lenstein to conclude ; from which it may be 
presumed that as he was now a prince of 
the empire himself, he no longer considered 
it desirable to destroy farther the power of 
the German princes. The king, through 
the mediation of the general, made on the 
12th of May, 1629, in Lubeck, a very ad- 
vantageous peace, and he received back all 
his lands, without paying the expenses of 
the war. But this peace did not add much 
to the glory of the king, inasmuch as for 
his own preservation, he sacrificed in the 
dukes of Mecklenburg two faithful allies. 
He promised not to take any share in the 
affairs of Germany, otherwise than as a 
member of the imperial states, and thus 
resigned the right he possessed to protect 
the two dukes. Wallenstein now received 
from the emperor the investiture of the 
duchy of Mecklenburg, and was thus con- 
firmed in his rank among the princes of the 
empire. 

How rejoiced must the peacefully dis- 



PEACE BETWEEN DENMARK AND GERMANY. 



325 



posed inhabitants of Germany have been, 
after their long persecution, when they re- 
ceived the happy tidings of peace ! The 
contest, indeed, could not now be continued 
any longer, for no enemy was left to oppose 
the emperor ; while the duke of Bavaria 
had obtained quiet possession of the electo- 
ral dignity, and that portion of the palatinate 
which had been promised to him as an in- 
demnification for his expenses in the war. 
The Protestants were now so completely 
reduced and subdued, that there was no 
longer cause to dread fresh hostilities on 
their part. The war had now reached its 
twelfth year, and every year had left be- 
hind it fresh traces of the ravages produced 
throughout the whole empire, turning flour- 
ishing provinces into deserts, and rendering 
:>nce opulent citizens beggars and fugitives. 
The war, indeed, might now have easily 
been brought to a termination, had the vic- 
torious party only known when to fix the 
just limits of their course, and if the em- 
peror, after having thus completely purified 
his states of the new doctrines, and re- 
established his authority therein with all 
its original power, had secured religious 
peace in all its plenitude to all the other 
independent states of the empire, disband- 
ed his army, and thus delivered the re- 
duced and miserable country from that es- 
pecially heavy burden. But nothing is 
more difficult to the human mind than to 
restrain itself in its course amid prosperity. 
The Catholic party imagined this was a 
moment too favorable for them to neglect, 
and they determined, accordingly, to draw 
all the advantages they could from the for- 
tunate state of circumstances in which they 
were placed. They demanded of the Pro- 
testants the restitution of all the ecclesiasti- 
cal benefices, of which they had taken pos- 
session since the treaty of Passau, in 1552 : 
being no less than two archbishoprics, Bre- 
men and Magdeburg, twelve bishoprics, and 
a multitude of inferior benefices and con- 
vents. Until this moment, the restitution 
of what it had been so long the acknow- 
ledged right of the Protestants to hold pos- 
session, had never been for an instant con- 
templated ; but now, however, urged on by 
the Catholics, the emperor published a 
solemn edict, known under the title of the 
Edict of Restitution, dated the 6th of March, 
1629. " The Protestants," says a distin- 
guished historian, " were completely par- 
i lyzed, while the more short-sighted por- 



tion of their adversaries hailed it with ex- 
ultation." The cause, however, for such 
exultation, produced eventually unutterable 
calamity all over Germany. 

Under these circumstances, therefore, it 
was determined not to disband either of the 
two grand armies at this moment engaged 
in their devastations throughout the empire ; 
their services were retained in order to bring 
into effect the execution of the edict of res- 
titution, and orders were accordingly issued, 
that they should assist if necessary, with 
the force of their arms, the various impe- 
rial deputies authorized by the government 
to witness the due accomplishment of its 
decrees. Operations were immediately 
commenced, and the south of Germany 
was selected as the spot to receive the first 
visitation. The city of Augsburg — where 
only shortly before the treaty of religious 
peace had been signed — was forced, among 
the rest, to acknowledge the ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction of the bishop, and renounce the 
Protestant form of worship, while the duke 
of Wurtemberg was obliged to restore all 
his monasteries. In addition to all this, the 
Catholic league, in a meeting which took 
place in Heidelberg, made a resolution 
" not to restore any of the possessions con- 
quered by their arms, whether spiritual or 
temporal, unless they were indemnified 
beforehand for all their war expenses." 
Thence the Protestants were threatened 
with still greater danger from the league 
party than even from the emperor himself. 

But the intolerable tyranny exercised by 
Wallenstein's army produced increasing 
indignation, and excited still more loudly 
the complaints and murmurs of both par- 
ties, which attained at length that degree 
of irresistible power, that the emperor could 
no longer shut his eyes against the univer- 
sal ruin — no respect being shown for either 
party, friends or foes, Catholics or Protest- 
ants — caused by those ov.r bearing, ruth- 
less violators of right and justice. The 
emperor's own brother, Leopold himself, 
wrote him a long letter, in which he gave a 
dreadful and harrowing description of the 
pillage, incendiarisms, murderous outrages, 
and other shameful oppressions inflicted by 
the imperial troops upon the peaceful in- 
habitants. Such testimony overbalanced 
all the arguments to which, hitherto, the 
friends of Walienstein had had recourse, 
and successfully brought to bear in his de- 
fence ; while, finally, at the assembly of 



326 DISMISSAL OF 



the electoral princes held in Ratisbon in the 
summer of 1630, the emperor found himself 
overwhelmed with petitions from every 
quarter. " The imperial soldiers," com- 
plained the Pomeranian deputies, " marched 
into our country, and were received as 
friends, and yet they have already exacted 
from the principality of Stettin alone, ten 
millions of dollars as a contribution, while 
in spite of this they have nevertheless re- 
duced to ashes seven of our towns, and 
completely devastated the whole country 
around. And yet in the moment that they 
were scattering such dreadful ruin and 
misery everywhere around, they them- 
selves lived in such an expensive style, 
that every captain and even his lieutenant 
exercised more princely extravagance than 
their own Duke Bogislas himself. Besides 
all this, the innkeepers and landlords upon 
whom the troops were billeted experienced 
the most brutal treatment, and many men 
were constantly being murdered in cold 
blood, and their bodies thrown to the dogs ; 
in short, no act of cruelty could be men- 
tioned or even thought of that these savages 
had not exercised, and many hundreds of 
the wretched inhabitants, in order to pre- 
vent these horrible acts from being inflicted 
upon themselves, and to escape from dying 
through starvation, had committed sui- 
cide." 

This frightful picture shows us the ex- 
act nature of the war carried on by these 
troops serving for pay, and presents us 
with a description of the misery existing at 
this period of our history : nor in this is 
there any exaggeration. Count Mansfeld, 
the original projector of this system for 
the promotion of the war, has himself giv- 
en us his testimony in a defence he was 
called upon to make against similar accu- 
sations upon the subject of the license given 
to and practised by his own army : "When 
the soldiers do not receive their pay," he 
says, "it is wholly impossible to maintain 
them in their discipline. Neither they them- 
selves nor their horses can live upon air ; 
while what they wear, both in clothing and 
arms, soon becomes ragged and useless. 
Thence they take whatever they can find, 
although not in proportion with what may 
be due to them ; for they neither calculate 
the number nor weigh the amount of the 
articles they seize. The gate once opened 
to them, they rush through and proceed to 
act upon the plan they have laid down with 



WALLENSTEIN. 



unlicensed fury, and from which they are 
not to be deterred. They seize upon every 
thing, they overcome every thing, and 
strike down all and every thing that may 
oppose them. In short, it is impossible to 
imagine the disorder and riot thus pro- 
duced ; for, constituted as the army is of 
all nations, they all vie with each other in 
their exercise of the most monstrous acts. 
The German, the Netherlander, the French- 
man, the Italian, and the Hungarian, each 
contributes something peculiar to his own 
nation in violence and cruelty, as well as 
in cunning, deceit, and invention. I am 
aware of this, and have, I confess, even 
been forced to witness all these infamous 
acts, while my heart has grieved at the 
sight. But what is to be done 1 It is not 
enough to know and deplore these things ; 
if we wish to remove the evil, we must 
adopt such measures as will ensure strict 
discipline in the army, but which cannot 
exist unless the troops receive their pay 
regularly." 

Ferdinand could no longer resist the 
unanimous voice of complaint thus urged, 
and as now the whole body of princes in- 
sisted that Wallenstein — whom they all 
hated without exception — should be de- 
prived of the chief command, and more 
especially as at their head Maximilian of 
Bavaria expressed himself most warmly in 
favor of it, the emperor, after some hesita- 
tion, gave his consent, and yielded to their 
wishes. It was, however, still left to be 
seen whether or not the proud and mighty 
chief would obey the summons : to the 
surprise of all, however, he did so. His 
astronomical calculations appeared to have 
produced their tranquillizing effects, and 
mollified his haughty spirit. " He by no 
means complained against or reproached 
the emperor," he said calmly to the impe- 
rial deputies, Count Werdenberg and Bar- 
on Questenberg, " for the stars had already 
indicated to him that the spirit of the elec- 
tor of Bavaria held its sway over that of 
the emperor ; but," he added, " in dischar- 
ging his troops, his imperial majesty was 
rejecting the most precious jewel of his 
crown." He now withdrew to his duchy of 
Friedland, establishing his seat of govern- 
ment at Gitschen, which he considerably 
enlarged and beautified. This dismissal 
of Wallenstein took place in September, 
1630. 

Such of the imperial troops as did not 



GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS OF SWEDEN. 



327 



receive their discharge, joined those of the 
league, and the united army was placed 
under the command of Tilly. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, in Germany, 
1630-1632— His Character— Motives and Plans in 
favor of Protestantism— Stralsund— Gustavus declares 
War against Ferdinand— Lands with his Anny in 
Pomerania— Stettin— The Protestant Princes hesi- 
tate to join Gustavus — Custrin and Spandau— The 
Elector of Brandenburg— The Elector of Saxony- 
Siege of Magdeburg— Count Tilly— Conquers and 
burns the City — Dreadful Massacre— Gustavus and 
Tilly— Battle of Leipsic— Defeat of the Imperialists- 
Glorious Results to Gustavus — Surrender of the 
Cities — Ingolstadt — Tilly wounded — His Death- 
Munich— Prague— Ferdinand and Wallenstein — 
Regal Splendor of Wallenstein— His Palace— Re- 
assembles an Army for the Emperor— Extravagant 
Conditions— Appointed Generalissimo— The Camp of 
Nuremberg— The Swedish and Imperial Armies— 
Gustavus in Saxony — Battle of Lutzen, 1632— Gus- 
tavus killed— His Death revenged by the Swedes- 
Total Defeat of Wallenstein— Portraiture of Gusta- 
vus Adolphus. 



The power of the Protestant princes had 
now become much weakened, and the edict 
of restitution was carried into effect gener- 
ally. Thosft who knew the character of 
Ferdinand might easily foresee what were 
his designs against the new church, and it 
was scarcely necessary to question whether 
or not his grand object was to annihilate 
its entire existence, for the proceedings 
adopted throughout the empire clearly 
showed what its party had to expect. But 
amid this growing danger, and indeed al- 
most in the very moment itself when the 
minds of the Protestants, as they beheld 
the crisis gradually approaching, had sunk 
into that state of despondency and settled 
gloom, which the sad succession of events 
must naturally produce, they received, 
most unexpectedly, assistance from a na- 
tion hitherto but little known, and living in 
uninterrupted seclusion within the frontiers 
of their northern territory. This people — 
the Swedes — were nevertheless distinguish- 
ed for their bravery, while they were stead- 
fast and faithful in their religious prin- 
ciples, being the descendants of the Goths, 
the noblest of all those nations most justly 
entitled to boast of their German origin. 
In the year 1611, Gustavus Adolphus suc- 
ceeded to the Swedish throne, and he it was 
who was destined to lead his people upon 
the grand scene of this eventful period. It 



was this firm conviction, so deeply implant- 
ed in his mind, by which Gustavus felt 
inspired to undertake the mighty contest 
against the powerful house of Austria. 

Opinions equally contrary and incon- 
sistent have been pronounced upon the 
character of this great monarch, because, 
living at a period when party spirit raged 
so furiously, it was not to be expected that 
his actions could undergo a more impartial 
review than those accomplished by his 
contemporaries. On the one hand he has 
been regarded only as a conqueror, com- 
pelled by the excitement produced by 
burning ambition to cross the ocean in 
order to vanquish foreign lands, which he 
sought to effect more securely under the 
cloak of religion, and whence he was 
enabled to conceal his desire for war ; and 
again, on the other hand, he has been 
viewed only as an enthusiastic champion 
in the cause of his faith, while the ex- 
istence of all the ambitious motives attri- 
buted to him, and by which his adversaries 
have insisted he was alone influenced, has 
been denied, and the charge thus made 
condemned. In either case there is a 
mixture of truth and falsehood. Gustavus 
was by no means influenced by a feeling 
of ambition, which in its usual sense means 
the vain passion of personal and selfish 
glory, although assuredly the love for that 
reputation which is inherent in all men, 
and which in the mouths of people adorns 
the object with immortal life, occupied 
likewise a space within his heart ; neither, 
on the other hand, was it solely in order to 
rescue his fellow Protestants in Germany 
that he took up arms, although faith and 
piety exercised sufficient influence over 
his soul to inspire him to fight in such a 
cause. Both these motives, however, acted 
in concert together upon his mind, united 
by another law of his nature — that which 
inspired him with the feeling and convic- 
tion of being destined to perform a con- 
spicuous part in that eventful epoch of 
the history of the world. He felt he was 
called upon to lead forth from their seclu- 
sion and obscurity his noble people — who, 
although limited in number, were inferior 
to none in courage and virtue — and to 
place them in the ranks of the other na- 
tions of Europe. Hitherto, in connection 
with the other states of Europe, Sweden's 
position had been similar to that of Mace- 
donia before Philip and Alexander in the 



328 



GUSTAVUS DECLARES WAR 



AND LANDS IN GERMANY. 



ancient world, and as subsequently that of 
Russia was, previous to Peter the Great, 
in mdoern history ; and as the lives of 
those great men can only be thoroughly 
comprehended when they are viewed in 
connection with the historical facts alluded 
to, so likewise in the same point of view 
must the life of Gustavus Adolphus of 
Sweden be regarded. For although this 
monarch left behind but very inconsidera- 
ble results when placed in contrast with 
those effected by the sovereigns with whom 
we have compared him, it must, at the 
same time, be remembered that he was 
snatched away by death at the age of 
thirty-eight years only, and at the very 
moment when he had commenced to lay 
the foundation of his grand work. 

His great plan was immediately demon- 
strated in the first moment of his appear- 
ance upon the scene. Previous to the war 
in Germany he had already conquered 
from the Russians and Poles the provinces 
along the coast, Ingria, Carelia, and Li- 
vonia, together with a portion of Prussia. 
Various important motives compelled him 
now to take a share in the affairs of Ger- 
many. He had been very seriously pro- 
voked and mortified by the emperor Fer- 
dinand ; his intercession in favor of the 
Protestants and his cousins the dukes of 
Mecklenburg, as well as his mediation for 
peace with Denmark, had been treated 
with great contempt, and disdainfully re- 
jected ; while, in addition to this, Wallen- 
stein had even sent 10,000 imperial troops 
to the aid of the Poles against him. Be- 
yond all these causes of complaint, how- 
ever, which might perhaps still have been 
peacefully adjusted by negotiation, his 
presence was summoned by the danger 
which now hovered over the Protestant 
church, and the fear he entertained lest, in 
the person of Wallenstein, a fresh power 
might usurp the coast of the Baltic sea, 
and thus strengthen and extend the cause 
of Austria and Catholicism. 

The danger to which the city of Stral- 
sund was exposed had already, as we have 
before shown, produced his co-operation in 
favor of that place. He not only yielded 
to its wishes in this respect, but formed an 
alliance with it, by which it placed itself 
under his protection, and it was indebted 
to the succor he afforded especially for its 
preservation when besieged by Wallen- 
stein. Now, however, when he beheld 



that the cause of Protestantism was men- 
aced more seriously than ever throughout 
the whole of Germany, he took the deci- 
sive step, and formally declaring wb,r 
against the emperor, he, on the 24th of 
June, 1630, landed on the coast of Pome- 
rania with 15,000 Swedes. As soon as he 
stepped upon shore, he dropped on his 
knees in prayer, while his example was 
immediately followed by his whole army. 
Truly he had undertaken, with but small 
and limited means, a great and mighty en- 
terprise ! 

When the emperor was informed of his 
landing, he, in his feeling of confidence, 
inspired by his continual success, appeared 
to treat the affair with so much indiffer- 
ence that the news had no influence what- 
ever in the dismissal of Wallenstein, which 
just at this moment formed the subject of 
discussion in the diet of Ratisbon. All 
the Catholic party throughout the empire 
turned the fact of the arrival of the petty 
king of the north, as they termed him, into 
ridicule, and styled him, in contempt, the 
snow-king, who would speedily melt be- 
neath the rays of the imperial sun. But 
these 15,000 men constituted an army of 
heroes, a phalanx of hardy Warriors, be- 
longing as it were to another world ; their 
ranks were regulated by strict discipline 
and religious principles, while those op- 
posed to them knew nothing of war but its 
barbarism, and that licentious exercise of 
its worst passions which under no circum- 
stances would be curbed or submit to rea- 
son. The imperialists were a mixture of 
all nations and creeds, and bound together 
by no other ties but those of mutual war- 
fare and pillage ; the Swedes, on the other 
hand, were strengthened in the confidence 
they felt that God fought on their side, and 
to him they offered up their prayers regu- 
larly twice a day, each regiment possess- 
ing its own chaplain. Besides this, the in- 
ventive genius of Gustavus had introduced 
the exercise of some new military tactics 
in his army ; and in this he may bear 
comparison with many great men of an- 
tiquity, inasmuch as he surprised his ene- 
mies by the novelty and boldness of his 
positions, order of battle attacks, and thus 
he was soon enabled to throw all those 
who still adhered to the old system into 
confusion. Hitherto they had made a prac- 
tice of forming their line of battle ten rows 
deep, but Gustavus reduced it to six in the 



THE PROTESTANT PRINCES HESITATE TO JOIN HIM. 



329 



infantry, and four in the cavalry ; whence 
his little army gained considerably in ex- 
tension, and was more easy and rapid in 
its movements when in battle ; while the 
balls from the enemy's artillery committed 
less damage among their ranks, thus less 
densely crowded. The Swedish troops, 
especially the foot-soldiers, were likewise 
less heavily supplied with armor and other 
accoutrements, by which they were en- 
abled to fire off their muskets with much 
more ease and dispatch, and which were 
constructed too of far lighter materials 
than those of the imperialists. 

The imperialists, whose forces were by 
no means strong in the vicinity of the coast, 
were soon driven out of Riigen and the 
smaller islands at the mouth of the Oder, 
and Gustavus now marched against Stettin, 
the capital of the duchy of Pomerania. 
The duke, who was both old and timid, 
would not venture to decide upon joining 
the king of Sweden, and yet he could not 
resolve to oppose him. After long hesita- 
tion, during which Gustavus used every 
means of persuasion in firm but mild and 
consoling language, he at length surren- 
dered to him the city, which the king in- 
tended at once to convert into a principal 
military depot during the war. 

The Protestant princes of the empire, 
like the duke of Pomerania, appeared 
quite undetermined how to receive their 
new ally. The king had invited them all 
to unite and -form one grand alliance; but 
many felt too much afraid, and dreaded 
the vengeance of the emperor : others 
again were jealous of all foreign dominion 
in case of success, while the rest felt dis- 
posed rather to remain faithful in their al- 
legiance to the empire and government, 
than to risk any change whatever. Gus- 
tavus was by no means pleased with the 
disposition thus shown : " We evangelists," 
he said, in his address to the inhabitants 
of Erfurt, " are placed in a position simi- 
lar to a vessel when in a storm. In such 
a moment it does not suffice for a few only 
to labor with zeal for the general safety, 
while the rest of the crew look quietly on 
with their arms folded ; all ought to work 
together, and each ought to assist with all 
his might in the particular part assigned 
to him." The Protestants, however, pos- 
sessed no such spirit of union, neither did 
they cherish that conscientiousness of pur- 
pose so necessarv. As usual, thev were 
42 



divided among themselves by jealousy and 
prejudice. The palatinate was entirely 
subjected ; and Saxony, which for a length 
of time had kept aloof from the Evangelists, 
and at times, during the period of the pal- 
atine's influence, had even adhered to Aus- 
tria, was now vacillating between its dread 
of Austria and a foreign prince. George 
William, the elector of Brandenburg, a 
weak prince, was guided by his minister 
Schwarzenberg, who was opposed alto- 
gether to an alliance with Sweden. Among 
the petty princes, of whom many were in 
truth much more determined, but were at 
the same time dependent upon the power of 
Austria, there were only two who joined 
the king, the landgrave of Hesse Cassel 
and the duke of Saxe-Weimar. The 
others, together with Saxony and Branden- 
burg, held a meeting in April, 1631, at 
Leipsic, and resolved to raise an army for 
themselves in defence of their territories 
against any attack, whether proceeding 
from the Swedes or Austrians. The em- 
peror, who perceived clearly that the grand 
struggle must be decided by the sword, 
and would not for a moment entertain the 
idea of submitting his will to the diet, 
commanded the immediate dissolution of 
the Leipsic alliance, and commenced forth- 
with disarming all the princes and cities 
in the south of Germany forming a por- 
tion thereof. 

The king of Sweden, now reinforced by 
a large number of enlisted troops, advanced 
with rapid marches direct through Pome- 
rania, and completely beat and put to 
flight the whole of the imperialists before 
him. The latter in their retreat devastated 
the country, pillaged all the towns, many 
of which they burnt, and ill-treated and 
murdered the inhabitants. This dreadful 
war now resumed all its horrors. The 
Swedes, so steady and strict in their disci- 
pline, appeared as protecting angels, and 
as the king advanced, the belief spread far 
and near throughout the land, that he was 
sent from heaven as its preserver. 

Gustavus was desirous to march in se- 
curity step by step, and not to leave any 
fortified place in his rear ; whence, after 
he had carried by assault Frankfort on the 
Oder, which contained a garrison of 8000 
imperialists, he desired the elector of Bran- 
denburg to surrender into his hands the 
fortified towns of OvLstria and Spandau. 
The latter, although related by marriage 



330 



COUNT TILLY — CONQUERS 



AND BURNS MAGDEBURG. 



to Gustavus, who had married his sister, 
hesitated ; but the king marched on towards 
Berlin, and invited him to a conference on 
the plain between Berlin and Cospenik. 
Here, however, the prince still continued 
to hold out, when, at length, the king ex- 
claimed with warmth : " My road leads to 
Magdeburg — at this moment closely be- 
sieged by Tilly — whither I must hasten, 
although not for my own advantage, but 
solely for that of the Evangelists. If none, 
however, will lend me their aid, I will free 
myself from all reproach and return to 
Stockholm ; but bear in mind, prince, that 
on the last day of judgment you yourself 
will be condemned for refusing to do aught 
in the cause of the gospel, and, perhaps, 
even in this world you may receive the 
punishment due from God.- For if Magde- 
burg he taken, and I withdraw, imagine to 
yourself what must happen to you !" This 
appeal produced its effects ; the elector 
surrendered Spandau into his hands at 
once. The distance thence to Magdeburg 
was but short, and the inhabitants of that 
hard pressed city were most urgent in 
their prayers for assistance ; unhappily, 
however, Gustavus found it quite impossi- 
ble to cross the Elbe in face of the enemy 
so as to proceed by the direct road. Ac- 
cordingly he requested permission from the 
elector of Saxony to pass through his 
territory, his object being to proceed to 
Wittenberg ; but the prince refused to 
grant the accommodation desired. While, 
however, the king was engaged in en- 
deavoring to prevail upon the elector to 
accede to his request, the dreadful, fatal 
day of conquest arrived — and the devoted 
city was lost. 

The city of Magdeburg, which, from 
the commencement, had continued to dis- 
tinguish itself for its zeal in the cause of 
the Protestant faith, was likewise the first 
in the list to throw itself into the arms of 
the preserver of religious liberty. They 
urgently invited him to direct his march 
towards the Elbe, and promised not only 
to throw open their gates to him, but 
enlisted at once a number of soldiers for 
his service; while Gustavus, who per- 
ceived the great importance of such a 
grand depot, accepted their offers with 
eagerness, and lost no time in endeavoring 
to meet their wishes. Tilly, however, who 
was equally aware of the advantage to be 
derived by his adversary from the occupa- 



tion of such an important place, used all 
diligence to make himself master of it 
before the king's arrival. He commenced 
the siege in the month of March, 1631, 
seconded by General Pappenheim, a brave 
and determined officer. In the city itself 
there were only two hundred Swedes, un- 
der the command of Melcher of Falken- 
berg, whom Gustavus had shortly before 
dispatched as commandant of the city ; 
but the inhabitants, full of courage and re- 
ligious zeal, united in defending the place 
with determined perseverance. They had 
even erected two strong intrenchments in 
front of the city walls, which, in testimony 
of their undaunted resolution, they styled 
Trutz-Tilly, (defiance to Tilly,) and Trutz- 
Pappenheim, (defiance to Pappenheim.) 

But in the mean time, unhappily, the 
want of provisions increased the distress 
with each succeeding day more and more, 
for the old general left no means untried 
to bring them to a surrender. Their only 
hope now was in the succor they expected 
to receive from the king, who, they knew, 
was close at hand; and on the 19th of 
May, when the thunder of the enemy's 
artillery ceased, and the guns were actual- 
ly wheeled away from the trenches, they 
firmly believed their deliverer had now 
arrived. This, however, was only the 
signal for their destruction, and the prelude 
to preparations that were being made by 
the iron-hearted general for the final as- 
sault he had now determined upon making, 
In the silence of the night the scaling lad- 
ders were all fixed ready, and the attack 
ordered to be made at five o'clock in the 
morning. The sentinels on the walls hav- 
ing kept watch until the dawn of day, 
now finding all quiet, and, as they un- 
suspectingly thought, every thing secure, 
retired to get a brief half hour's repose. 

Shortly afterwards the dreadful, fatal 
hour struck. The signal for the assault 
was given, and the division of the imperi- 
alists under Pappenheim scaled that por- 
tion of the wall next to the new town, and 
the artillery again thundered forth against 
the walls, which here and there were now 
soon shattered to pieces. The enemy 
speedily succeeded in mounting the ram- 
parts, and while the brave commandant, 
Falkenberg, was hastening to the most 
dangerous part, he was shot dead. The 
terrified citizens, now deprived of their 
commander, and completely deadened with 



GUSTAVUS 



the sound of the roaring cannon, abandon- 
ed their walls and hurried to their homes. 
Many were mad enough to imagine that 
they would be enabled to defend them- 
selves more securely there, and fired upon 
the enemy from their windows, while the 
females themselves hurled stones and other 
missiles from the roofs of the houses. But 
this only served to increase the rage of the 
imperialists, and neither mercy nor pity 
was shown. Men, women, children, the 
aged and the young, all were massacred 
alike, the very infants at the breast of 
their mothers being seized, stabbed, and 
hurled into the flaming mass beside them : 
a scene of horror which these monsters in 
human shape continued from ten o'clock 
in the morning and during the whole day 
until night. Every possible cruelty, and 
torments of every description were put in- 
to practice on this direful day — the insatia- 
ble imperialists devoting all their energies 
to the performance of their sanguinary 
and destructive work. It is related that a 
few of his officers, touched with a little 
remorse, repaired to Tilly, who had re- 
mained in the camp, and inquired whether 
he would not, perhaps, give orders to close 
the scene of pillage and murder 1 But he 
replied : " No, no ; let them go on for an- 
other hour, and then come to me again. 
The men must have some reward for the 
danger and fatigue they have undergone." 

By ten o'clock in the evening, nothing 
more was left of this ancient and magnificent 
city but the cathedral, one solitary convent, 
and a few stray fishermen's cabins on the 
Elbe ; all else was reduced to cinders and 
ashes. More than twenty thousand human 
beings perished, either by the sword or in 
the flames, and when, two days afterwards, 
the cathedral was opened, more than a 
thousand miserable beings were found 
heaped together, who, having taken refuge 
there, were now sinking and dying around 
from starvation and mental agony. Such 
as were still to be saved, Tilly supplied 
with food ; his wrath was now appeased, 
but all glory and good fortune, hitherto 
so faithful to him, abandoned him from this 
day, and his name henceforward was never 
pronounced without a malediction. 

After the conquest of Magdeburg, Tilly 
was very desirous of having a drawn battle 
with the king of Sweden, for his troops suf- 
fered much in that ravaged district from 
want of supplies ; Gustavus, however, 



AND TILLY. 331 



considered he was not yet in sufficient force 
to risk a meeting, and he continued to keep 
himself intrenched in his camp of Werben, 
in Altmark. He was likewise extremely 
anxious to restore his cousins, the banished 
dukes of Mecklenburg, to their hereditary 
possessions. Accordingly, he furnished 
them with the necessary quantity of troops 
with which they reconquered their domin- 
ions, and made their solemn entry in their 
town of Giistrow, in which Wallenstein 
had previously established his court resi- 
dence. The king heightened the interest 
of the grand festival given upon the occa- 
sion by attending it in person, and he order- 
ed that every mother with a suckling child 
should attend in the open square, and that 
each infant should receive some of the wine 
there generally distributed, in order that 
the children of their children might forever 
remember the day of the return of their 
own legitimate princes. 

Tilly, meantime, now turned his eyes 
towards the rich provinces of Saxony which 
had hitherto escaped the devastation of 
war, and in the vicinity of which he had 
now taken up his position. At the same 
time, however, it was certainly an act of 
injustice and ingratitude to inflict the bur- 
den of war upon the elector of Saxony, 
who had shown so much fidelity towards 
the house of Austria ; but Tilly very soon 
found a pretext for such proceeding. He 
referred to the imperial decree, which or- 
dered that all the members of the Leipsic 
league should throw down their arms ; and, 
as he found that the elector, in spite of this 
command, still continued on the defensive, 
he immediately marched into Saxony with- 
out even making any declaration of war, 
and taking possession of and pillaging the 
cities of Merseburg, Zeiz, Naumburg, and 
Weissenfels, he advanced to Leipsic itself. 
This unjust act of violence effected more 
than all the persuasive eloquence of the 
king might have produced, for the elector 
threw himself immediately, and without 
any reserve, into his arms, concluded with 
him a firm and definitive alliance, offensive 
and defensive, and joined him with his 
army at Duben on the 3d of September, 
1631. 

On this same day, the imperial general 
made his attack upon Leipsic, which had 
closed its gates against him, and he took 
possession of it the next day; but the king 
now advanced with his united forces to re- 



332 THE BATTLE 



cover the city, and the day had at length 
arrived or. which the decisive trial was to 
take place between the old and hitherto 
unconquered general of the emperor, and 
the royal and youthful hero of Sweden. 
Gustavus, who knew how necessary it was 
that he should succeed by a grand action 
to secure and command the confidence of 
Germany, based upon his genius and good 
fortune, felt deeply the importance of this 
day, and wavered in his determination. 
He still doubted the prudence of staking 
the fate of the war upon a single battle ; 
for there was too much reason to believe 
that the loss of this action must put an end 
to all his hopes on that side of the ocean, 
while it would produce the ruin of the 
electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, to- 
gether with the complete and final destruc- 
tion of the Protestant church throughout 
the whole empire. 

The elector of Saxony, however, who 
could no longer endure to behold his coun- 
try thus demolished by the hands of a piti- 
less and ruthless foe, urged the king in the 
most forcible language to give battle, and 
Gustavus accordingly yielded and marched 
on to Leipsic. The two armies met in the 
fields of the village of Breitenfeld, on the 
7th of September, 1631, and there fought 
the decisive battle. Gustavus divided the 
Saxons from the rest of his troops, and 
posted them on his left wing, for as they 
were only recently enlisted, he could not 
put entire trust in them. The cannona- 
ding on both sides commenced about mid- 
day, and the shots told with far greater 
precision and consequent effect among the 
crowded ranks of the imperialists than on 
the other side ; and, in order to put an end 
at once to this opening scene of destruction, 
the right wing of the imperialists fell upon 
the Saxons with such force that they were 
soon overthrown and put to flight, when, 
having partially rallied again at some dis- 
tance from the scene of action, they re- 
assembled round their elector, who had 
withdrawn to Eilenburg, where, according 
to Chemnitz's account, he fell into a state 
of despondency. 

At the same moment that this first at- 
tack was made, Pappenheim, who was dis- 
tinguished as the best cavalrist of his day, 
with the ilite of his cavalry, threw him- 
self upon the right wing of the Swedes, 
in order to break through their line. Here, 
however, he found himself opposed by an 



OF LEIPSIC. 



invulnerable wall ; seven times were his 
attacks repulsed by the brave Swedish 
general, Banner. Tilly, who had aban- 
doned the pursuit of the Saxons, now di- 
rected his attack upon the exposed flank 
of the Swedes ; but, here again, the royal 
hero promptly turned his efforts in good 
time against the old warrior, whose troops 
were forced to expend all their fury in 
vain against the invincible firmness of 
their Swedish adversaries. The imperial 
general found himself completely puzzled 
and put out of his way by this new order 
of battle ; the system was entirely changed, 
and against all expectation the confidence 
he usually placed in all his plans and cal- 
culations now deserted him for the first 
time ; he found he had to deal with a su- 
perior genius, and while he was thus struck 
with embarrassment and mortification, 
Gustavus availed himself of this moment 
of hesitation, and making an attack upon 
the enemy's artillery, took possession of it, 
and turned the muzzles of the guns against 
the imperialists themselves. 

This moment was decisive ; the ranks 
of the enemy fell into disorder and were 
put to rout ; 7000 were left dead on the 
field of battle, and Tilly himself was in 
great danger of his life. He was pursued 
by a captain of the Swedish cavalry, who 
struck him several times upon the head 
with the handle of his pistol ; but was 
himself shot dead by an imperial officer 
who came to the rescue of his distressed 
leader. The sexagenarian general es- 
caped, at length, with several wounds, and, 
completely exhausted in body and spirits, 
reached Halle, where he was joined by 
Pappenheim, who was the last to quit the 
field, having killed with his own hand, as 
Tilly relates in his bulletin of the battle, 
fourteen of the enemy. Of all his own 
brave squadrons of cavalry, formerly so 
dreaded, he had now only a small troop 
left. 

This victory proved for Gustavus the 
grand foundation upon which was based 
his great reputation as a warrior through- 
out Germany, and from that moment was 
excited that veneration — almost amounting 
to adoration — for his person and character, 
For this was a period, as in all extraordi- 
nary epochs of history, when, properly 
speaking, public opinion was all-powerful ; 
when the faith, confidence, respect, and 
enthusiasm produced in the minds of the 



DEATH OF TILLY. 



333 



people by the actions of one man, were 
sufficient to establish him in their favor, 
and whoever knew how to avail himself 
of this moral force must be certain of suc- 
cess. All now turned towards the star 
thus ascending from the north ; and he 
was enthusiastically received by zealots 
both in religious and superstitious faith. 
Prophecies, miracles, and dreams, were 
all made to refer to the great Gustavus ; 
and wherever he appeared the Protestants 
received him as their deliverer, with inde- 
scribable transports of joy, and truly, dur- 
ing the whole period of the world's exist- 
ence, the royal presence of a king was 
never so gratefully honored and rever- 
enced as was that of the heroic and nobly- 
born champion of the Protestant faith, 
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. 

Gustavus possessed a glance too keen 
and comprehensive not to perceive and 
fully understand the power which was 
now contributing all possible strength to 
his cause ; and, although formerly he ex- 
ercised the greatest and most anxious cau- 
tion in the steps he took, marching his 
army slowly through the country, and se- 
curing his safe retreat by making himself 
master of all the fortified places in his 
route, he now pressed boldly onward 
through the empire, his progress present- 
ing one triumphant march. Proceeding 
through Thuringia and across the Thurin- 
gian forest, he arrived in Franconia, and 
thence continued his course to the Rhine ; 
where, having fixed his quarters during a 
short winter's rest, he resumed his pro- 
gress, and, returning to Franconia, march- 
ed on direct to Bavaria. The most im- 
portant cities fell into his hands, some 
after a slight resistance, and most of them 
yielded themselves voluntarily, including 
Halle, Erfurt, Wiirzburg, Frankfort, 
Mentz, Nuremberg, &c. Tilly, whose 
army was now so reinforced, that he found 
himself at the head of a much more numer- 
ous body of troops than the king himself 
had under his command, nevertheless 
would not venture to oppose his march ; 
for since the battle of Leipsic he found it 
impossible to recover that confidence with- 
in himself which, until then, he had al- 
ways had at his command. 

The Elector Maximilian of Bavaria hav- 
ing, however, summoned him to march to 
his aid in order to protect his own heredi- 
tary estates, the old general advanced to 



the river Lech, in the passage across which 
he was to oppose the king, and to assist in 
which object Maximilian himself joined 
him near Rain. But Gustavus, before 
whom every thing now yielded, surmount- 
ed likewise this obstacle. After a vigor- 
ous cannonade, the imperial army being 
forced to quit the position it had taken, the 
king crossed the river and marched in 
pursuit of the enemy. But in the early 
part of the action, Tilly himself was 
struck in his right knee by a cannon-ball 
weighing three pounds, and fell from his 
horse ; he was conveyed to Ingolstadt, 
followed by Maximilian. Thither, after 
he had taken and placed a garrison in 
Augsburg, Gustavus repaired and imme- 
diately laid siege to that town. The gar- 
rison defended the place bravely, and the 
king himself narrowly escaped, his horse 
being shot dead, and overthrowing its royal 
rider. Tilly, although sinking fast, still 
encouraged the garrison to the last ; he 
died twenty-five days after he received his 
mortal wound, in the seventy-third year 
of his age. He was a stern, iron-hearted 
man, who made a merit of boasting that 
he had never once known the feeling of 
love or affection ; at the same time he was 
of a firm and incorruptible character, and 
a good general. In personal appearance 
he bore a great resemblance to the duke 
of Alba, under whom he had served in the 
Netherlands. He was of middle height, 
and very thin ; his eyes were large, but 
their expression, together with the contour 
of his whole countenance, indicated the 
stern and rigid nature of the man. He 
was the descendant of a noble family in 
Liege. 

The Swedish king raised the siege of 
Ingolstadt and marched to Munich, which 
trembled at his approach. The inhabitants, 
and the Bavarian people generally, in their 
hatred against the Swedes, had treated 
many of that nation with great cruelty, 
putting them to death and then mangling 
their remains; by which inhuman conduct 
they had excited the greatest indignation in 
the king. Nevertheless, he received the 
deputies of the city graciously when they 
presented the keys to him : " You have 
done well," he said, " and your submission 
has disarmed me. I should have been jus- 
tified in making an example of your city 
in revenge for the unhappy fate of Mag- 
deburg ; however, fear nothing, depart in 



334 



THE EMPEROR AND WALLENSTEIN. 



peace, and fear not for your property or 
religion. My word is more valuable than 
all the signed capitulations in the world." 

The greater portion of the Bavarian ter- 
ritory was now in the hands of Gustavus, 
and the elector was forced to seek refuge in 
Ratisbon. 

The Saxons, meantime, agreeably to the 
plan of war drawn up by Gustavus, had 
marched into Bohemia, under the command 
of Field- marshal Arnim — who had quitted 
the service of the emperor and passed over 
into that of the elector of Saxony — and 
very easily made themselves masters of 
Prague, which was but slightly defended ; 
there, on the 11th of November, 1631, the 
elector made his solemn entry. 

Thus that single battle of Leipsic snatch- 
ed from the hands of the emperor the en- 
tire fruits of a twelve years' war, and he 
now saw himself threatened even in his 
own patrimonial estates ; this was a crisis 
for which he was by no means prepared, 
and which came upon him like a clap of 
thunder. In such a critical moment he, 
with his council, saw but one means of ex- 
trication, and this was the recall of that 
proud and ambitious man, Wallenstein, 
who, offended and indignant at being dis- 
missed from the imperial service, now lived 
in mortified retirement brooding on the past. 
No other was now left who could venture 
to enter the lists against the powerful king ; 
no other who was capable of again raising 
an army for the emperor's service. 

But the task of winning him over to the 
imperial cause, seemed now more difficult 
than ever. He lived upon his estates in 
Bohemia in a style of luxury truly royal, 
and appeared to bid defiance to emperor 
and kings ; and it was thus the millions he 
had gained in the war enabled him to live. 
His palace in Prague was erected with royal 
magnificence, and which even at the pre- 
sent day bears the stamp of its original 
character. While his enemies congratu- 
lated themselves upon having reduced him 
to this condition of a private individual, he 
had his own figure represented in fresco on 
the walls of the state saloon of his palace, 
by artists whom he procured from Italy and 
Germany, in the character of a conqueror 
seated on a triumphant car borne along by 
four milk-white steeds, while over his lau- 
rel-crowned head was placed a star. Sixty 
pages, each of noble family, in their rich 
costume of blue and gold velvet, attended 



upon him, and some of his officers and 
chamberlains had even previously served 
the emperor himself in the same rank they 
held under Wallenstein. Three hundred 
horses of choice breed filled his magnifi- 
cent stables, and the assemblies in his pal- 
ace rivalled in character the imperial 
court itself, for he was always visited by 
the most distinguished men of the day, too 
eager to seek and enjoy intercourse with 
such extraordinary genius. Outwardly he 
observed the greatest ease and tranquillity 
of manner, but internally he was still agi- 
tated with burning ambition. He had be- 
held the progress made by Gustavus with 
inward joy, because therein was satiated 
his revenge against the emperor and the 
hated elector of Bavaria, and all eyes would 
soon again be directed towards him as the 
only friend in need. And in reality, as he 
expected, the imperial deputies did arrive. 

Wallenstein received them coldly, and 
it was only after being most urgently press- 
ed by them that he yielded the promise to 
raise for the emperor an army of 30,000 
men ; but he would not engage to take 
command of it. And now the mighty man 
sent forth his followers in all directions to 
erect his recruiting standard. Thousands 
rallied around it, for it had ever led to pil- 
lage and fortune ; and in this stormy age 
it was easier to gain a livelihood in war 
than in the workshop or behind the plough. 
The heavy horsemen under Wallenstein 
received each nine florins monthly pay, 
the light cavalry six, the infantry four, be- 
sides daily rations of meat, bread, and wine. 
The 30,000 men were collected together 
already by March in the year 1632 ; but 
he alone who had raised them was capa- 
ble of conducting them. 

Of this the emperor was well aware, 
and he accordingly submitted to the incred- 
ible degradation of permitting Wallenstein 
to dictate to him the following conditions 
" The duke of Friedland, generalissimo of 
the emperor, shall have the supreme com 
mand of the whole archducal house, and of 
the crown of Spain without any limitation 
whatever, (in absolutissima forma ;) neither 
the emperor, nor king Ferdinand (son of 
the emperor, whom the adverse party would 
fain have made general-in-chief) shall ap- 
pear in person with the troops ; to secure the 
remuneration of his services he shall receive 
as a guarantee a portion of the Austrian 
patrimonial estates, and with it he shall be 



WALLENSTEIN REAPPOINTED GENERALISSIMO. 



335 



entitled to exercise an exclusive and irre- 
sponsible control over the conquests he shall 
make in the empire, and command the priv- 
ilege of conferring distinctions as he may 
deem best. Mecklenburg or some other 
indemnification shall be made over to him 
during peace, and during the war, if ne- 
cessary, he shall be at liberty to choose 
any of the hereditary provinces of the 
empire for his seat of retirement." 

Clothed with such — almost imperial — 
>ower, Wallenstein again appeared upon 
he stage, increased his army to 40,000 
nen, conquered Prague once more on the 
Ith of May in the year 1632, and with 
little difficulty expelled the Saxons from 
Bohemia. 

The elector of Bavaria, who, in the 
mean while, was sorely pressed at home, 
applied to Wallenstein in the most urgent 
terms for help, which the latter, appearing 
to enjoy thoroughly his distress and hu- 
miliation, for a long time hesitated to af- 
ford ; at length, after the elector had 
engaged to comply in an unqualified man- 
ner with all his instructions in the conduct 
of the war, he sent him an invitation to 
join him at Eger, intending thence to make 
an advance upon Nuremberg, one of the 
most considerable places of defence the 
king possessed. But Gustavus, who per- 
ceived the design, anticipated him, and 
made his appearance quite unexpectedly 
with an army near the city, which he in- 
trenched, being vigorously aided by the 
devoted and enthusiastic inhabitants, whose 
youths filled the ranks of his army, and 
thus he was prepared for the enemy. The 
latter advanced and likewise made an 
intrenchment on the heights of Zirndorf 
and Altenberg, in full view of the Swedish 
encampment. Both parties had formed 
the plan of forcing each other by famine 
and disease to leave their strong-hold. 
They maintained this position eleven weeks, 
and neither would stir. But the distress 
of the whole surrounding country had now 
become very great ; every thing was con- 
sumed or laid waste. In Wallenstein's 
camp alone, in addition to the large army 
itself, there were about 15,000 servants and 
attendants upon the baggage, and an equal 
number of women whom he had permitted 
to follow their husbands, together with 
30,000 horses, which had been employed 
chiefly in removing the immense quantity 
of baggage. The licentiousness of this 



vast multitude increased daily, for they 
subsisted upon rapine and plunder. In 
Gustavus's army, likewise, strict order 
was no longer maintained as at first, it be- 
ing now considerably increased by recruits 
and German auxiliaries. These he could 
not restrain as he wished, although he 
adopted the severest measures for that pur- 
pose. The disorder however was produced 
mainly through their own leaders, who 
were negligent of all discipline. The 
pious mind of the king was sorely pained 
and indignant when he heard of the out- 
rages perpetrated by his troops upon the 
poor inhabitants of the country. He called 
the leaders together, sharply rebuked them, 
and exclaimed : " They made him so mis- 
erable, that he was weary of having longer 
any thing to do with such a perverse set." 
Unfortunately his eye could not be every- 
where, and the mischief had already be- 
come too deeply rooted. He then resolved 
to bring this undecided and ruinous state of 
affairs to a conclusion by making a daring 
attempt. On the 24th of August he storm- 
ed the heights of Wallenstein, but found 
the undertaking too formidable ; the most 
determined courage availed nothing against 
these fastnesses defended by their thunder- 
ing artillery ; the king was therefore obli- 
ged, after serious loss, to give up the as- 
sault. He waited fourteen days longer in 
his encampment, and as Wallenstein still 
continued immoveable, he retired and re- 
turned to Bavaria on the 8th of September, 
marching with sounding trumpets past the 
enemy, who would not venture to attack 
him. 

Wallenstein now abandoned his encamp- 
ment likewise, set fire to it, and unexpect- 
edly formed the resolution of carrying a 
determined war once more into northern 
Protestant Germany ; he marched at once 
for Saxony, and his approach was indica- 
ted by carnage and conflagration. The 
king hastened to afford relief, and reach- 
ed Naumburg on the 11th of November. 
The people welcomed him as their guar- 
dian angel, gathered around him as he en- 
tered, and kissed his feet. A sad misgiving 
possessed his soul at this excessive venera- 
tion : " Our cause is good," said he to his 
chaplain Fabricius, " but I fear that God 
will punish me for the folly of these peo- 
ple. Does it not seem as if these people 
were actually making an idol of me ? How 
easily could that God, who abases the proud. 



THE BATTLE OF LUTZEN — DEATH OF GUSTAVUS. 



336 



cause them and myself to feel, that I am 
nothing but a feeble and mortal man !" 

As just about this time the weather was 
intensely cold, and the king had intrenched 
himself near Naumburg, Wallenstein did 
not deem it advisable to commence hostili- 
ties before the spring, and dispatched Count 
Pappenheim to the Rhine with instructions, 
first of all to drive the Swedes out of Halle 
and the contiguous town of Moritzburg. 
Gustavus immediately took his departure, 
advanced to Weissenfels, and in the evening 
of the 15th of November took his position 
in front of Wallenstein's army near Liitzen. 
Both made immediate preparation for bat- 
tle, and the imperial general summoned 
Pappenheim, who was still engaged in the 
siege of Moritzburg, to return with all 
possible speed. 

The king spent the cold autumnal night 
in his carriage, and advised with his gen- 
erals about the battle. The morning 
dawned, and a thick fog covered the entire 
plain ; the troops were drawn up in battle 
array, and the Swedes sang, accompanied 
by trumpets and drums, Luther's hymn : 
" Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott," (A 
mighty rock is our God ;) together with 
the hymn composed by the king himself : 
" Verzage nicht, du Hauflein klein," (Fear 
not, thou little flock.) Just after elev- 
en o'clock, when the sun was emerging 
from behind the clouds, and after a short 
prayer, the king mounted his horse, placed 
himself at the head of the right wing, — 
the left being conducted by Bernard of 
Weimar, — and cried, " Now, onward ! 
May our God direct us ! Lord ! Lord ! 
Help me this day to fight for the glory of 
thy name !" and throwing aside his cuirass 
with the words, " God is my shield !" he 
led his troops to the front of the imperials, 
who were well intrenched on the paved 
road which leads from Liitzen to Leip- 
sic, and stationed in the deep trenches on 
either side. A deadly cannonade saluted 
the Swedes ; many here met their death, 
but their places were taken by others, who 
leaped over the trench, and the troops of 
Wallenstein made a retreat. In the mean 
while, Pappenheim had come up with his 
cavalry from Halle, and the battle was 
renewed with the utmost fury. The 
Swedish infantry fled in trepidation behind 
the trenches. In order to render them as- 
sistance, the king hastened to the spot with 
a company of horse, and rode in full speed 



considerably in advance to descry the weak 
points of the enemy ; a few of his attend- 
ants only, and Francis, duke of Saxe- 
Lauenburg, followed him. His short sight- 
edness led him too near a squadron of 
imperial horse ; he received a shot in his 
arm, so that he nearly fell to the ground 
powerless ; and just as he was turning 
round to be led away from the tumultuous 
scene, he received a second shot in the 
back. With the exclamation, " My God ! 
my God !" he fell from his horse, which 
had likewise been shot in the neck, and 
hanging by the stirrup he was dragged 
some distance along the ground. The 
duke of Lauenburg abandoned him, but a 
faithful page, Leubelfing, endeavored to 
raise him up ; the imperial horsemen, 
however, shot him also, killed the king 
with several wounds, and completely plun- 
dered him ; the page died of his wounds 
five days after at Naumburg. 

The corpse of the king was so much 
trampled upon by the hoofs of the horses 
that it was quite disfigured. His bleeding 
horse returning without its rider, conveyed 
to his friends the sad news ; this kindled 
in their breast a feeling which thirsted for 
revenge, and under the leadership of Duke 
Bernard of Weimar, who with heroic 
firmness now rallied and cheered on the 
troops afresh, they again pushed forward 
over the trenches and rushed upon the 
ranks of the enemy. These could no long- 
er make resistance ; Piccolomini, already 
covered with blood, mounted his fifth horse, 
and Pappenheim, who had fought nobly, 
fell mortally wounded by a ball. Many 
fled, and disorder prevailed : " The battle 
is lost, Pappenheim is dead, the Swedes are 
upon us !" was the cry. Wallenstein gave 
orders to sound a retreat. A thick fog, to- 
gether with night coming on, prevented the 
Swedes, no less than their own weariness, 
from making pursuit ; they spent the night 
on the field of battle, and kept possession 
of the imperial artillery. Wallenstein 
marched with the remains of his army to 
Bohemia, although he had formerly deter- 
mined to winter in Saxony. Thus the is- 
sue unequivocally declared the Swedes 
victorious, although Wallenstein represent- 
ed the battle as undecided, and the empe- 
ror ordered a Te Deum to be sung in all 
his cities. 

On the following day the Swedes made 
a search for the body of their belov ed king, 



PORTRAITURE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 



337 



among the thousands which covered the 
wide battle-field ; they found it at length, 
among many others, so disfigured by the 
hoofs of the horses, and covered with the 
blood issuing from eleven wounds, that 
they could hardly recognise it. It was 
carried to Weissenfels, and thence by the 
desire of the queen, Maria Eleanor, who 
had followed her consort to Germany, at- 
tended by weeping multitudes, it was re- 
moved to Stockholm, where it was interred. 

The collar, also saturated with blood, 
and which the king had worn in battle, 
was brought to the emperor Ferdinand at Vi- 
enna ; it is said, that when he saw it he shed 
tears, by which he did honor to his fallen 
enemy and himself. Ferdinand's soul was 
great enough to admire heroism even in a 
foe. 

Thus, in the thirty-eighth year of his life, 
in the midst of a career of victory, was 
Gustavus Adolphus called away ; the pre- 
ponderating influence of his mind gave 
another character to the constitution of 
Germany and the progress of our devel- 
opment. He had already conceived the 
idea of getting himself nominated king of 
Rome, and his design, the extent of which 
is known to none, may also have compre- 
hended other countries of Europe. He 
often expressed his astonishment that the 
present age did not produce generals like 
those of antiquity ; and when he was told 
that the altered character of the weapons 
and tactics of war, and the existence of 
strong fortifications were the cause, he re- 
plied : " The difference is not in the nature 
of the weapons, but in the degeneration of 
men ; if we could again meet with the 
heart of an Alexander, the courage of a 
Hannibal, and the enterprising spirit of a 
Caesar, we should see renewed the deeds 
of Alexander, the conquests of Hannibal, 
and the successes of Caesar." Such lofty 
conceptions of human life, such a thorough 
acquaintance with the agencies which gov- 
ern the world, and with history, did he 
possess ; and who will venture to deter- 
mine what limits a mind like this had pre- 
scribed to itself? A contemporary, whose 
judgment may be regarded as impartial, 
Count Galeazzo Gualdo, a Venetian and a 
Catholic, who spent several years in the 
imperial as well as in the Swedish armies, 
describes the personal and mental qualifi- 
cations of the king thus : " Gustavus was 
tall, stout, and of such a truly royal de- 
43 



meanor, that he universally commanded 
veneration, admiration, love, and fear. His 
hair and beard were of a light brown color, 
his eye large, but not far-sighted. War 
had great charms for him, and from his 
earliest youth honor and glory were his 
passion. Eloquence dwelt upon his tongue, 
(he spoke — in addition to the German, the 
native language of his mother — the Swed- 
ish, Latin, French, and Italian languages;) 
and in discourse he was agreeable and 
lively. There never was a general who 
was served with so much cheerfulness and 
devotion as was Gustavus. He was of an 
affable and friendly disposition, readily ex- 
pressed commendation, and noble actions 
were indelibly fixed in his memory ; on 
the other hand, excessive politeness and 
flattery he hated, and if any person ap- 
proached him in this way, he never trusted 
him." 

He was severe against all the excesses 
of the soldiery, and was greatly concerned 
for the security of the citizens and peas- 
antry. When, after taking a Catholic town, 
some sought to induce him to treat the 
burghers with harshness, and to give them 
new laws, he made answer : " The city is 
now mine, and no longer the enemy's. I 
am come to loosen the fetters of freedom 
and not to rivet them afresh. Let them 
live as they have lived heretofore ; I give 
no new laws to them who know how to 
live as their religion teaches." " In deal- 
ing with Protestants and Catholics he made 
no distinction. His maxim was, that every 
one is orthodox who conforms to the laws, 
and to keep men from going to hell was 
not the calling of princes, but that of the 
ministers of religion." 

Thus he carried out these sentiments- 
during his stay at Munich, as well as on 
other occasions. On Ascension-day, in 
the year 1632, he went to the chapel of" 
Our Lady, to be present at a mass cele- 
brated with all the solemnity of the Catho^ 
lie worship ; he then visited the college of" 
the Jesuits, replied to the rector's Latin ad- 
dress in the same language, and conversed 
with him for nearly an hour on the subject of" 
the Lord's Supper. In magnanimity and. 
liberality of sentiment he occupies a posi- 
tion strikingly in advance of his generation, 
no less for the respect he paid to the reli- 
gious feeling of others, however it might 
differ in form from that which he conscien- 
tiously preferred, than for the homage he 



338 



CONTINUATION OF THE WAR. 



paid to greatness and truth in general. 
How natural it was that the affections of 
mankind should be gained by a character 
like this, by the side of such narrow-minded 
and prejudiced rulers,of the day as Ferdi- 
nand II., Maximilian of Bavaria, or even 
the well-meaning but weak John George of 
Saxony ! Besides Gualdo, other Catholic 
writers, such as Khevenhiiller, Riccius, 
Burgus, &c, do not conceal their venera- 
tion for Gustavus Adolphus. 

The monument of Gustavus Adolphus 
in Germany was for a long time a mere 
stone land-mark, placed in the battle-field 
of Liitzen, upon the spot where he fell ; 
more recently, however, an admirer of his 
character has erected in the same place 
another plain but more worthy memorial. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Continuation of the War, 1632-] 635— Chancellor Oxen- 
stiern— Wallenstein's Inaction— Court Martial over 
his Officers— Military Executions— Count of Thurn 
taken Prisoner and released by Wallenstein — The 
Emperor's Remonstrance and Wallenstein's Reply— 
The Swedes in Bavaria— Wallenstein withholds As- 
sistance—Prohibits his Officers from obeying the Im- 
perial Commands — Pilsen — Military Council and 
Compact between Wallenstein and his Officers — 
Counts Terzka, Illo, and Piccolomini— The Emperor 
divests Wallenstein of all Command— Italian-Span : 
ish Conspiracy against Wallenstein — Piccolomini 
marches against Wallenstein — Wallenstein negotiates 
with France and Sweden for his Services — The 
Crown of Bohemia offered to him— Retreats to Eger 
—The Supper in the Citadel— Murder of Counts 
Terzka, Illo, and Kinsky by Deveroux and Geraldin 
—Assassination of Wallenstein, 1634 — His Estates 
confiscated — Succeeded in Command by Ferdinand, 
King of Rome— The Battle of Nordlingen— The 
Elector of Saxony— Peace of Prague, 1635— Dreadful 
Condition of Germany— Cardinal Richelieu and 
Chancellor Oxenstiern— French and Swedish Al- 
liance against the Emperor— Inglorious Character of 
the War— Death of Ferdinand II., 1637. 



It now became a question whether or 
•not the Swedes, after the death of their 
king, would continue to carry on the war. 
If they did not, the Protestant allies had 
good reason to be apprehensive that Wal- 
lenstein would visit them with a heavy 
retribution. The Swedish council, how- 
ever, to whom the guardianship of Chris- 
tina, the daughter of Gustavus, was in- 
trusted, resolved to continue the war which 
might entitle Sweden to some of the prov- 
inces of Germany, and the late king's 
friend, the Chancellor Axel Oxenstiern, was 
determined to fill his place ; a man whose 
comprehensive and prudent mind knew how 



to hold the strength of his party together. 
Nevertheless, he had not the suavity and 
generous magnanimity of his late master. 
The electoral princes, especially Saxony, 
found it irksome to yield obedience to the 
dictates of a Swedish nobleman, and al- 
though he succeeded in uniting the Pro- 
testant states of the four upper circles — 
Swabia, Franconia, and the Upper and 
Lower Rhine, in the treaty of Heilbronn in 
the spring of 1633, it was soon manifested, 
by the indecision of some, the opposition of 
others, and the want of union among the 
leaders of the army, that the genius of Gus- 
tavus Adolphus no longer presided over the 
whole. 

Wallenstein alone, whose genius sur- 
passed all others, might have availed him- 
self of this moment of doubt and hesita- 
tion by bringing the war to a decision, 
and making the emperor triumphant, but 
he was occupied with other cares, and re- 
mained in a state of incomprehensible inac- 
tion. After the battle of Liitzen he sum- 
moned a court-martial, in order to remove 
from his own shoulders all responsibility 
for the loss of that action ; and as he pos- 
sessed the power of life and death over all 
those under his orders, he forthwith con- 
demned several of his generals and supe- 
rior officers to the axe, and adjudged a great 
number of private soldiers to be hung ; 
finally, he ordered more than fifty names 
of absent officers to be nailed to the gallows 
in Prague, as those of traitors and cowards. 
He then enlisted fresh troops, replaced his 
artillery by melting down the bells of the 
churches, and was soon in possession of an 
army equally as powerful as his former 
one. Instead, however, of directing his 
march through the imperial states, and ad- 
vancing against the Swedes under Gustavus 
Horn and Duke Bernard of Weimar, who 
were masters of the frontiers of Germany, 
he marched on to Silesia, where such a 
large army was not at all required, and ne- 
gotiated with the Saxons for a length of 
time upon the subject of a separate treaty 
of peace, after he had already concluded 
an armistice with General Arnim, in com- 
mand of the Saxon army. At the same 
time, according to the subsequent accusa- 
tions brought against him, he endeavored to 
ascertain what amount of indemnification 
the enemy would allow him in case he 
went over to their side, for he had long 
since believed to have read in the stars that 



BAVARIA— CONSPIRACY 



AGAINST WALLENSTEIN. 



339 



it was his destiny to reign and hold unlim- 
ited sway as king. Meantime, in order, 
by more active proceedings, to prevent the 
emperor from suspecting his intentions, he 
attacked the Saxons and the Swedes, and 
drove them out of Silesia, taking prisoner 
the old count of Thurn, the originator of 
the war. The whole of Vienna was in a 
state of excitement, and fully expected that 
the man they so much hated would be led 
through their streets as the most culpable 
of all those connected with the dreadful 
scenes of the revolution ; Wallenstein, how- 
ever, to the astonishment of all, gave him 
his liberty, and when he was remonstrated 
with by the emperor for releasing his pris- 
oner he replied : " What use was I to make 
of such a fool ? I wish the Swedes pos- 
sessed no better generals than this Thurn, 
for at the head of the Swedes he will do 
more service for the imperial cause than he 
could if in prison." 

During this interval Bavaria was very 
hard pressed by Horn and Bernard of 
Weimar, and, urged by the elector's ear- 
nest demands for aid, the emperor had al- 
ready repeatedly summoned his general to 
march to the relief of that country. Wal- 
lenstein, however, delayed doing so for a 
considerable time ; at length he advanced 
slowly through Bohemia, arrived in the 
upper palatinate and marched back again 
into Bohemia, where he fixed his winter 
quarters. He gave strict orders to all his 
generals, in command of distinct divisions 
of the army, under the most severe penal- 
ties, not to obey the orders of the emperor ; 
and when the latter caused a Spanish army 
to march from Italy into Germany without 
placing it under the orders of Wallenstein, 
and even commanded that a portion of the 
grand army should be detached from the 
main body in order to form a junction with 
the Spanish division, the generalissimo 
complained loudly and indignantly at this 
violation of the treaty made between him- 
self and the emperor. 

Wearied with these mortifications, and 
tormented by his attacks of gout, to such 
an extent that he was obliged to have pieces 
of raw flesh cut out of the excoriated foot, 
he resolved to resign the supreme com- 
mand ; but he was determined to do so in 
such a manner as to place himself in a po- 
sition to command the fulfilment of the 
promises originally made to him. He en- 
deavored, therefore, to attach the leaders 



of his army still more closely to himself, 
and to that end summoned them all to as- 
semble, at the commencement of the year 
1634, at Pilsen. It was by no means dif- 
ficult for him to gain them over to his ex- 
clusive interest, for it was upon his promise, 
and in the hope of being completely indem- 
nified through his recommendation, that 
they had all raised and equipped regiments 
at their own expense, and, in some, in- 
stances, staked their whole fortune. If, 
therefore, he fell, they were in danger of 
losing all compensation. Consequently, on 
the 12th of January, 1634, forty superior 
officers, having at their head, Field-mar- 
shals Ulo and Count Terzka, assembled at 
a dinner — at which, however, through se- 
vere illness, Wallenstein himself could not 
preside — and entered into a solemn com- 
pact " to adhere faithfully to the duke in 
life and death as long as he should remain 
in the emperor's service, or as long as the 
latter should require his services in the 
war;" and they at the same time made 
him promise them " to remain with them 
for some time longer, and not to withdraw 
from the supreme command without their 
privity and consent." Field-marshal Pic- 
colomini, who subsequently betrayed his 
general, attached his signature to this 
agreement, likewise, with the rest. 

Wallenstein's enemies availed them- 
selves of this certainly important circum- 
stance to bring him more and more under 
the emperor's suspicion, and carried out 
their designs to such an extent as to make 
Ferdinand resolve, at length, to divest him 
of the supreme command, and to transfer 
it into the hands of Gallas. It is not to be 
at all doubted but that an Italian-Spanish 
conspiracy was firmly established against 
Wallenstein in the imperial court, and 
which was joined by the elector of Bavaria, 
who continually complained, in most bitter 
terms, against the general. The principal 
agent in these secret proceedings was an 
Italian, Colonel Caretta, marquis of Grana. 

These intrigues against Wallenstein 
were conducted so secretly — the emperor 
Ferdinand himself being in actual corre- 
spondence with him on official business 
twenty days subsequently to that of the 
24th of January, when he had issued the 
instrument for Wallenstein's dismissal — 
that the latter only first learned it when 
Gallas, Piccolomini, and Aldringen pub- 
lished their ordinances, in the name of the 



340 



WALLENSTEIN'S MURDER. 



emperor, in which they interdicted all the 
leading officers of the army from accepting 
farther orders from Wallenstein, Illo, and 
Terzka. Wallenstein drew up imme- 
diately a solemn declaration, signed by 
himself and twenty-nine of his generals 
and colonels, in Pilsen, in which it was 
stated that the compact entered into be- 
tween himself and officers on the 12th of 
January, contained nothing whatever that 
was hostile to the emperor or the Catholic 
religion. He also dispatched two officers 
to the emperor with the declaration that he 
was ready to resign his office of general- 
issimo, and would appear to justify himself 
before any tribunal the emperor might be 
pleased to appoint. These two officers, 
however, were met and detained on the 
road by Piccolomini, and the message they 
bore only reached the emperor after the 
death of Wallenstein. 

Piccolomini marched with his own troops 
against Pilsen, and Wallenstein was obli- 
ged to withdraw to the citadel of Eger, 
of which the commandant, Colonel Gor- 
don, was especially attached to him from 
motives of gratitude for favors he had con- 
ferred upon him. Here, three days pre- 
viously to his death, having too much rea- 
son to feel assured of the hostile intentions 
of his enemies, he was impelled by neces- 
sity to seek for aid from the Duke Bernard 
of Weimar, who was now encamped in Ra- 
tisbon, and whom he urgently requested to 
advance with some of his troops towards 
the Bohemian frontiers. It is historically 
proved that Wallenstein's brother-in-law, 
Count Kinsky, banished from Bohemia on 
account of his Protestant faith, was in 
treaty with the French ambassador, Feu- 
quieres, for the engagement of his relative's 
services in the cause of France and against 
the emperor, and that Cardinal Richelieu 
promised Wallenstein the crown of Bohe- 
mia as a recompense ; and, according to 
the Swedish writers, similar negotiations 
were carried on with their party. But 
no written document, nor any direct act 
of Wallenstein himself corroborates these 
statements, or proves that he did charge 
Count Kinsky with the execution of such 
commission, while both the French and 
the Swedes remained to the last moment in 
doubt whether or not Wallenstein was 
merely playing with them in order to gain 
their confidence. At the same time it is 
not unlikely that this extraordinary and in- 



comprehensible man, anticipating the pro- 
bable loss of the emperor's favor, was de- 
sirous not to refuse altogether the proposi- 
tions of the enemy, but rather to hold this 
resource in reserve in case of being again 
overturned, as he was before at the diet of 
Ratisbon. 

Wallenstein quitted Pilsen on the morn- 
ing of the 22d of February, borne along in 
a litter, and suffering excruciatingly from 
the gout ; he was accompanied by only 
ten followers, including Colonel Butler, 
by whom he was subsequently murdered ; 
and at the end of the second day's journey 
he reached Eger, taking up his quarters in 
the house of the burgomaster, Pechhelbel, 
in the market-place. On the following 
evening, Terzka, Illo, and Kinsky proceed- 
ed to the citadel to sup with Colonel Gor- 
don, the commandant. While they were 
dining, thirty dragoons, commanded by 
Captains Deveroux and Geralctin, sudden- 
ly burst into the hall from the ante-room in 
which they had been waiting, and, falling 
upon their victims, pierced them to death ; 
not, however, before Terzka, who bravely 
defended himself, had killed two of the 
band of assassins. Immediately after this 
murderous act, Deveroux proceeded with 
six dragoons to complete the sanguinary 
plot by assassinating Wallenstein himself. 
It was now midnight, and the duke had al- 
ready retired to rest. Having, however, 
been roused by the shrieks of the Coun- 
tesses Terzka and Kinsky, who had just 
learned the fate of their husbands, he rose, 
and opening the window, asked the senti- 
nel what had happened ? At the same 
moment, Deveroux forced open the door of 
the chamber, and, rushing upon him, ex- 
claimed, as he stood at the window : 
" Death to Wallenstein !" The latter, 
without uttering a word, laid bare his 
breast, and received the fatal blow. 

Thus silent and reserved to the hour of 
his death, all the profound and mysterious 
thoughts and sentiments of his soul re- 
mained hidden from the world, and a veil 
of obscurity was cast over his whole life 
and actions. He was one of those men 
whose deep-laid plans and motives it was 
impossible to fathom, and of whom little or 
nothing can be said in explanation of their 
views or ideas. 

After his death his estates were confis- 
cated, and a great portion of them were 
transferred as a reward into the hands of 



BATTLE OF NORDLINGEN. 



341 



his enemies, and even to those by whom 
ne had been murdered. Gallas received 
the duchy of Friedland, Piccolominihadthe 
principality of Nachod, while Butler, and 
the actual assassins, were rewarded with 
others of his estates and large sums of his 
money. The major part of his possessions, 
however, was retained by the emperor 
himself. The value of Wallenstein's land- 
ed property alone was estimated at fifty 
millions of florins. His widow received 
the principality of Neuschloss ; and his on- 
ly surviving child, Maria Elizabeth, became 
shortly afterwards the wife of Count Caunitz. 

In order to justify Wallenstein's assas- 
sination, a lengthy document was drawn 
up by the especial command of the empe- 
ror himself, containing all the accusations 
brought against the duke, and which, for a 
long time, continued to convey the most 
false and unjust ideas and opinions of the 
character of that extraordinary man. 

After the death of Wallenstein, Ferdi- 
nand, king of Rome, and son of the em- 
peror, obtained the chief command of the 
imperial army, and fortune opened the com- 
mencement of his career with the most 
brilliant success. After having followed 
the Swedes beyond the frontiers of Bava- 
ria, he overtook them near Nordlingen, in 
Franconia. His own army was composed 
of the most choice troops, and augmented 
by 15,000 Spaniards ; while that of the 
Swedes was by no means in a state of 
union and discipline. The command was 
devided between General Horn and Duke 
Bernard of Weimar ; the more experienced 
and prudent counsel of the former chief, in 
anticipation of defeat, opposed giving bat- 
tle altogether, while the more young and 
daring spirit of the latter insisted upon 
making a stand, and receiving the enemy's 
attack. Accordingly the action took place 
on the 6th of September, 1634 ; but the 
reduced number of the Swedes, their bad 
position, the disunion existing between the 
leaders, and the misunderstanding and con- 
fusion arising therefrom, combined alto- 
gether to act against them ; and, in spite 
of all their courage, they, after a combat 
of eight hours, were completely defeated 
and nearly cut to pieces. Twenty thou- 
sand of their troops were either slain or 
made prisoners, and among the latter was 
General Horn himself, while Duke Ber- 
nard with the remnant of his army retreat- 
ed towards the Rhine. 



This battle might have proved as favor- 
able in its results for the Catholic party as 
that of Leipsic had been for the Protestants. 
The Swedish power seemed annihilated in 
Germany, and this produced at once the 
secession of the Saxons from the Swedes. 
Their elector, John George, had for a 
length of time beheld with pain and morti- 
fication the province of Lusatia continue in 
the hands of the imperialists, and appre- 
hended that he should not only never re- 
cover that, but perhaps might lose still 
more ; accordingly, in the spring of 1635, 
he made peace with the emperor at Prague. 
He received back Lusatia, together with a 
portion of the province of Magdeburg, and 
full liberty of religious worship for forty 
years. The evangelical portion of Ger- 
many was extremely irritated against the 
elector, but several other states soon fol- 
lowed his example and made terms with 
the emperor, such as, Brandenburg, Meck- 
lenburg, Weimar, Liineburg, and others ; 
and it appeared as if this sanguinary war 
would find its termination by the enerva- 
tion of the factions. In truth, unhappy 
Germany, which had been overwhelmed 
by warriors from almost every part of Eu- 
rope, presented a sad and mournful picture 
at the present moment ; everywhere the 
land devastated, the population frightfully 
diminished, the corn-fields trodden down or 
uncultivated, the towns laid waste, and 
piles of ruins and ashes, where formerly 
blooming regions had everywhere greeted 
the eye. What had escaped the sword 
was destroyed by famine, misery, and dis- 
ease, while the pen itself refuses to describe 
the horrible extent to which the sanguinary 
and cruel scenes of this war were carried. 

In such a state of general distress and 
misery, when the German states every- 
where showed an inclination for peace, 
and the emperor himself was disposed to 
revoke at least a portion of the Edict of 
Restitution — as he had already proved by 
his treaty of peace with the Saxons — the 
oppressed nation found at length some 
foundation to hope that the period when its 
sufferings would terminate was close at 
hand. 

But once again did the fatal hand of des- 
tiny, which during so many years had al- 
ready collected over us so many clouds of 
disaster, repeat its withering blow. The 
French minister, Richelieu, had long ob- 
served with secret satisfaction the misfo]»- 



342 



OXENSTIERN— DEATH OF FERDINAND II. 



tunes of the house of Austria, and of the 
empire generally. The French govern- 
ment regarded it as the most wise and pru- 
dent motive of state policy, to torture and 
execute, on the one hand, the Protestants 
of France throughout the entire kingdom ; 
while, on the other, it lent its aid to those 
of Germany, and thus rendered that faith 
a means by which it might serve to con- 
ceal its thirst after conquest. The moment 
had now arrived when the cardinal thought 
he was able to vend the services of France 
at a dear rate. Accordingly he offered 
them to the Chancellor Oxenstiern, stipu- 
lating for the fortress of Philipsburg on 
the Rhine as a recompense ; while, at the 
same time, he indicated that his designs 
extended to the still more important terri- 
tory of Alsace. This was the first time 
that foreigners had ever negotiated for the 
frontiers of our country. With this treaty 
between Richelieu and Oxenstiern affairs 
at once assumed a character both ignoble 
and degrading ; for from that moment the 
Swedish minister sought only to transfer a 
portion of Germany to his own nation. 
They found in Duke Bernard of Weimar, 
otherwise a brave and noble prince, the 
arm so desirable to second their measures, 
more especially as he himself was anxious 
to gain possession of a province on the 
Rhine. Accordingly, a powerful and well- 
equipped army was soon collected with 
French money, and placed under the duke's 
orders, with which he marched against the 
imperialists and Bavarians, and from this 
moment the Rhenish provinces became the 
scene of war, being pillaged and devastated 
the same as those along the Oder, Elbe, 
and Weser, had been previously. The 
Swedes, however, possessed likewise a 
brave and active general in Field-marshal 
Banner ; and reinforced by French troops 
from Sweden, he marched in all haste from 
Pomerania — whither the remnant of his 
army had fled after the battle of Nordlin- 
gen — against the Saxons, now the allies of 
the emperor, and on the 4th of October, 
1634, gave the elector battle at Wittstock, 
near Mecklenburg, and completely defeated 
him. 

This war, however, from this moment, 
only presents a continuation of gloomy and 
disheartening scenes ; for wanting, as it 
did, a leader of noble genius, and uninflu- 
enced, as its agents were, by motives of a 
worthy and honorable nature, its whole 



character assumed an ignoble and merce- 
nary stamp. The royal hero, whose eleva- 
tion of soul shed a brilliant lustre over all 
around him, and who was inspired by his 
religious faith, combined with the glory 
and honor of his nation, was now no more ; 
the impenetrable, mysterious, and all- 
powerful general, who alone could venture 
to make a stand against the forces of Swe- 
den, had also been snatched from the re- 
alization of his dark projects ; while those 
who now had the command of the imperial 
armies, although brave and not without dis- 
tinction, were only second in rank of ge- 
nius, and wholly incapable of aspiring to 
the elevated thoughts and feelings of their 
predecessors. In this war it was egotism 
alone by which the parties were swayed ; 
consequently, however remarkable its ope- 
rations may appear, they must still be re- 
garded in the light of ordinary events. 

The emperor Ferdinand himself, who 
ranked among the most distinguished spirits 
of his age, now also disappeared from the 
great scene of contention without living to 
witness its termination, and died on the 
15th of February, 1637, aged fifty-nine 
years, after having had the satisfaction of 
seeing his son Ferdinand unanimously ac- 
knowledged, at the diet of Ratisbon, as his 
successor. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Ferdinand III., 1637-1657— Continuation of the War- 
Duke Bernard of Weimar on the Rhine — His Death 
—Cardinal Richelieu— The Swedish Generals — Ban- 
ner — Torstenson — Wrangel — Negotiations for Peace 
— Tedious Progress — French and Swedish Claims of 
Indemnification— Humiliation and Dismemberment 
of the Empire — Territorial Sovereignty of the Princes 
—Switzerland— The Netherlands— Final Arrange- 
ment and Conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, 
1648. 

In the year 1637 and 1638, Duke Ber- 
nard of Weimar pursued his victorious 
career along the Rhine ; he surprised the 
army of the league at Rhinefeld, attacked 
and overthrew it, taking prisoners four gen- 
erals, including the brave leader, John of 
Werth, and Rhinefeld, Roteln, and Fri- 
burg, surrendered to his arms. But the 
chief object of his wishes was to gain the 
important fortification of Brisach, which he 
was anxious to make the principal seat of 
his dominion along the Rhine. He accord- 



FERDINAND III. 



343 



ingly laid siege to it, and once more de- 
feating the Catholic army which came to 
its relief, he conquered that stronghold af- 
ter it had become completely reduced by 
famine and disease, and caused himself to 
be solemnly acknowledged by the inhab- 
itants as their ruler. But he remained 
only a short time in the enjoyment of his 
conquest ; for just as he was about to pre- 
pare for another expedition, he was seized 
with sudden illness, and died on the 18th 
of July, 1639, in the thirty-sixth year of 
his age, being the youngest of eight equal- 
ly brave and warlike brothers. He him- 
self declared his belief that he was poison- 
ed, and his chaplain at once confirmed this 
suspicion in the sermon he preached over 
his remains. If this was, indeed, the case, 
the act can be attributed to no other source 
but France, for immediately after the 
duke's death, the army was visited by 
several French agents who negotiated for 
the services of the army, which they pur- 
chased for large sums, together with all 
the places in its possession. Three regi- 
ments of Swedes alone refused to sell them- 
selves to the French, and they marched out 
of the place with beat of drum and un- 
furled banners to join the main body of 
their army ; and thus Brisach was con- 
quered for the French by the valor of the 
German troops. 

Already in the year 1636, the appeal 
made by thousands of those unhappy be- 
ings who suffered so much from the disas- 
trous state of the country, for that peace so 
much wished by all, had at length produ- 
ced some effect, and some attempts were 
made for this purpose ; but Richelieu was 
far from wishing for pacification, inasmuch 
as war made France an indispensable ally, 
and the hostile views of its state policy 
were promoted by seeing Germany cut to 
pieces by its own people as well as foreign- 
ers. Still, in the year 1640, fresh and 
more serious attempts were commenced to 
establish peace, and in 1643 the ambassa- 
dors of the various powers assembled in 
Minister and Osriaburg. These negotia- 
tions, however, continued during a space 
of nearly five years ; while, meantime, the 
war was carried on with all its sanguinary 
results. 

Banner, the Swedish general, died in the 
year 1641, at Hallerstadt, after he had 
committed dreadful devastation in Bohe- 
mia and other lands. He sent to Stock- 



holm more than 600 standards he had cap- 
tured from the imperialists ; but although 
he possessed talents as a leader, his heart 
was cruel and without the least mercy, and 
his campaigns were attended with more 
bloodshed and oppression than all the others 
during this war. While he was quartered 
in Bohemia, there were often more than 
100 villages, small towns, and castles, 
burnt during the night ; and one of his 
principal officers, Adam Pfuhl, boasted 
that he had, with his own hands, set on 
fire about 800 different places in that un- 
happy country. And when soon after 
wards, on an expedition he made against 
Thuringia, this same officer felt his end 
approaching, and desired the last services 
of a minister of religion, such was the 
wasted and forlorn state of the country, 
that none could be found within the dis- 
tance of many leagues. 

Banner was succeeded in command by 
Leonard Torstenson, who, although so weak 
in body that he was always forced to be 
carried in a litter, was nevertheless the 
most active and talented of all the gene- 
rals in this war. He commenced, in 1642, 
by invading Silesia, attacked and defeated 
Francis Albert, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg 
— the same general at whose side the great 
Gustavus fell at Liitzen, and who had now 
gone over to the Austrians, and conquer- 
ed Schweidnitz. Thence he marched on to 
Moravia, took Olmutz, and made Vienna 
itself already begin to tremble. Disease 
in his army, however, forced him to re- 
treat ; but in the autumn of this year, he 
attacked the imperial general Piccolomini 
at Leipsic, who had followed him in his 
retreat, and completely overthrew him. 
This was the greatest battle fought in this 
last period of the war ; Piccolomini having 
lost 20,000 men, forty-six pieces of artil- 
lery, and nearly two hundred ensigns. 

In the beginning of the following year 
Torstenson resumed his march through 
Moravia, advancing as far as Olmutz, so 
that his light cavalry approached the vicin- 
ity of Vienna ; and then, while it was 
thought he was occupied in this quarter, 
he suddenly appeared, as if by magic, hun- 
dreds of miles distant on the coasts of the 
Baltic sea, in Hoi stein and Schleswig, the 
territories of the king of Denmark. 

These territories, which had long con- 
tinued untouched by the destructive arm 
of war, presented the Swedes with every 



344 



NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE 



thing valuable and desirable wherewith to 
enable them to fix their winter quarters 
there ; while it was easy to find a pretext 
for making war with Denmark in the 
jealousy with which that kingdom had 
always regarded the victories gained by 
the Swedes. Accordingly, in the ensuing 
spring of 1644, the Swedes, who had re- 
ceived considerable reinforcements, ad- 
vanced again into Germany, attacked and 
completely overthrew the imperial army 
under Gallas, and in the spring of the suc- 
ceeding year, 1645, Torstenson defeated 
the imperial troops, under Generals GOtz 
and Hatzfeld, at Jankau, in Silesia, which 
he entirely destroyed ; Gotz himself fell, 
mortally wounded, Hatzfeld was taken 
prisoner, and the whole of the ammunition 
and provisions fell into the hands of the 
Swedes. The victorious army now march- 
ed through Moravia, and advanced to Vien- 
na itself, and had not the city of Brunn, by 
its most obstinate and heroic defence, ar- 
rested the progress of the Swedish general, 
there is little doubt but that capital must 
have been taken. But his army was so 
much reduced by disease before the walls 
of Brunn, that Torstenson was forced to 
make a retreat, and as he himself was 
completely worn out with illness and de- 
bility, he was compelled to give up the 
command of the army. 

He was succeeded by Gustavus Wran- 
gel, who continued the war with considera- 
ble success. The French armies, under 
their distinguished generals, Turenne and 
Conde, fought against the imperialists and 
Bavarians along the Rhine, and in conjunc- 
tion with them Wrangel soon afterwards 
conquered and subjected the whole land of 
Bavaria, so that the elector was forced to 
abandon all further hostilities ; and, in 
1647, concluded an armistice. Branden- 
burg had already been obliged to do the 
same in the year 1641, and Denmark and 
Saxony followed the example in 1645 and 
1646 : thus the emperor was left alone to 
contend with his successful enemies. The 
grand cause of the ill success he experi- 
enced at this period, emanated from his 
want of efficient leaders ; his two best gen- 
erals, Werth and Merci, having been killed, 
he was forced to confide the chief command 
of his troops to General Melander of Holz- 
apfel, a Protestant, who had deserted the 
Hessian party and gone over to the impe- 



The allies now once more attacked the 
hereditary states of the empire ; the Swe- 
dish general, Konigsmark, laid siege to 
Prague, and had already made himself 
master of that portion of the city, called 
the Kleinseite, while Wrangel was in full 
march to support him with his whole army 
— when the happy tidings of peace were 
announced from Westphalia. 

The conferences for the settlement of 
peace had already been opened in the sum- 
mer of the year 1643 : with the Swedes in 
Osnaburg, and with the French in Mun- 
ster. The imperial envoys arrived even 
before the time fixed, but those from Swe- 
den only appeared at the end of the autumn 
of that year, while those from France pre- 
sented themselves as late as the month of 
April, in the following year, 1644 : an 
ominous sign for the progress of those 
measures of pacification, towards which the 
eyes of the oppressed empire were turned 
with anxious and painful longing. And, 
in truth, these congresses commenced with 
the discussion of such numberless details, 
that there appeared little or no chance of 
any prompt decision being effected. Many 
months were lost in petty and miserable 
disputes of precedence, and the French 
ambassadors, with all imaginable pride and 
pomp, more especially insisted upon taking 
the first rank, and assumed all the state 
and ceremony of a royal court. Subse- 
quently, much time was again sacrificed 
in deciding whether or not the deputies for 
all the petty states of the empire should be 
convoked, and which was, at length, deter- 
mined in the affirmative, so that the French 
were enabled to produce still greater dis- 
cord among us. 

The chief subject of negotiation ought to 
have been the re-establishment of order 
upon a solid basis in all the provinces of 
Germany, and more especially among the 
various religious parties, for through their 
contentions the war had originated ; but 
the two foreign powers insisted upon re- 
ceiving first of all their indemnification for 
the expenses and losses incurred by them 
during the war, and in the degraded state 
of necessity to which they were reduced, 
and at the urgent persuasion of the elector 
of Bavaria, the Germans were forced to 
satisfy the demands of these foreigners be- 
fore they ventured upon the arrangement 
of their own affairs. 

France, which had contributed so little 



DISMEMBERMENT 



OF THE EMPIRE. 



345 



of its own powers, and which had only 
mixed itself up in the war for its own ad- 
vantage, and the pleasure it derived from 
producing evil as a Catholic state for a 
Protestant cause — France, we say, de- 
manded enormous sacrifices ; and her am- 
bassadors, d'Avaux and Servien, well prac- 
tised in the art of verbosity, political cun- 
ning, and deception, intruding themselves 
with all the authority and command of 
masters, insisted upon their claims. The 
Swedes, although rather more moderate, 
nevertheless grasped at and tore asunder 
large portions of the empire, and the friends 
and well-wishers of the country felt as if 
cut to the heart, when they thus beheld the 
mortifying treatment it was forced to un- 
dergo : " On the same soil where, in former 
times, our noble ancestors hurled defiance 
against the insolent Varus and his legions," 
says a contemporary, " we are now doomed 
to behold foreigners without arms insult us 
and triumph over Germania. They sum- 
mon us, and we humbly obey the call ; 
they speak, and we listen with humility 
and attention as to an oracle ; they prom- 
ise, and we place faith in them as in God ; 
they menace us, and we tremble like slaves. 
A sheet of paper filled up by a woman, 
whether at Paris or Stockholm,* makes the 
whole Germanic empire tremble or rejoice. 
They already, in the very heart of Ger- 
many, discuss and dispute together over 
Germany, as to what they shall take from, 
and what they shall condescend to leave 
us, what feathers they shall pluck from the 
Roman eagle, and therewith decorate the 
Gallic cock. And we ourselves, divided 
continually among each other, abandon our 
tutelary divinity for the idols of foreign na- 
tions — to whom we sacrifice life, liberty, 
and honor !" 

The imperial envoys acted with firmness 
and dignity ; Count Trautmannsdorf and 
Doctor Volmar sought, with all the strength 
of reason and principle, to grapple with the 
pretensions set forth by foreign powers, 
while they endeavored, by mildness and 
patience, to conciliate the discordant feel- 
ings existing in the German states. They 
did not, however, find themselves suffi- 
ciently seconded by the other members of 
the empire, especially in the latter period 

* In Sweden the throne was occupied by ChristSia, 
daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, and, during thenrh- 
nority of Louis XIV., his mother, Queen Anne, reigned 
is regent in France. 

44 



of the war, when Bavaria became so vacil- 
lating ; while every dispatch they received 
announced the success of the enemy, and 
overturned all the advantages they might 
otherwise have effected by the. : r confer- 
ences. Hence they were obliged to make 
the following arrangements : 

1. France received the bishoprics oi 
Metz, Toul, and Verden, as much of Al- 
sace as had belonged to Austria, the Sund- 
gau, and the important fortresses of Brisach 
and Philipsburg ; besides which, it forced 
Germany to destroy a great number of 
fortifications along the Upper Rhine, in 
order that the French army might have 
an open and free passage into Germany. 
Thus all those places which had served as 
the bulwarks of the south of Germany, 
fell, through this peace, into the hands of 
the hereditary enemy of the empire. The 
French envoys themselves, in the excess 
of their joy, declared loudly that France 
had never concluded a peace upon such 
advantageous terms. 

2. Sweden, which had likewise made 
great claims for compensation, but whose 
interests were but too inadequately and 
unfavorably represented by .the grand 
chancellor's son, John of Oxenstiern, a 
proud but inexperienced statesman, to- 
gether with the counsellor Adler Salvius, 
a man too much open to bribery, was 
forced to content herself with Western 
Pomerania and Stettin, the island of Riigen, 
the city of Wismar in Mecklenburg, to- 
gether with the sees of Bremen and Ver- 
den on the Weser ; a territory the major 
portion of which was very poor and much 
devastated. On the other hand, Sweden 
never availed herself of these possessions 
to act inimically towards Germany. As 
an indemnification for the expenses of the 
war, the Swedes received five millions of 
dollars extracted from the already exhaust- 
ed sources of the empire. 

3. The elector of Brandenburg, who 
had just claims to the whole of Pomerania, 
only received the eastern portion of that 
country, and, as an indemnification for the 
western division, he received the archbish- 
opric of Magdeburg, and the bishoprics of 
Halberstadt, Minden, and Kanim, as lay- 
principalities. 

4. Mecklenburg received, in lieu of 
Wismar, the sees of Schwerin and Ratze- 
burg. 

5. Hesse Cassel, which from the com- 



346 



FINAL ADJUSTMENT OF RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS. 



mencement of the war had adhered firmly i den, and Gernrode. It was likewise 
to Sweden, and whose beautiful and tal- ordered and approved, that no sovereign 
ented landgravine, Amelia, succeeded in prince should oppress any of those of his 
captivating all hearts, received through j subjects whose faith in religious matters 
the mediation of Sweden and France, al- deviated from his own ; while it was also 
though it had suffered no loss, the abbey | decreed that the imperial chamber should 
of Hersfeld, a portion of the country of be composed of an equal number of eoun- 
Schaumburg, and six hundred thousand | sellers and members — Protestant and Cath- 
rix-dollars. lolic. By these regulations the peace of 

6. Brunswick-Luneberg. which extend- Westphalia became a fundamental law of 
ed its claims to Magdeburg and Minden, the empire, and although some causes for 
and subsequently to Osnaburg, received ' dispute and discontent were not altogether 
the privilege by which one of its princes removed, the minds of the people in gene- 
should hold possession of this latter coun- ral were more tranquillized. Feelings of 
try alternately with a Catholic bishop. hatred were no longer cherished, the prin- 

7. The eldest son of the unfortunate j ciples of tolerance became more and more 
Frederick V., of the palatinate, Charles j widely disseminated, and gradually exert- 
Lewis — Frederick himself having died ; ed their beneficial influence in the hearts 
thirteen days after Gustavus Adolphus — of all ; so that very soon the bigotry of 
received back all his patrimonial estates, j parties disappeared, and the hand of fra- 
except the upper palatinate, which the j ternity was held out between those who, 
elector of Bavaria retained ; and as he ; although differing in their faith fpom each 
likewise would not yield the title of the other, nevertheless now acknowledged 
electoral dignity — the fifth — a privilege j themselves to have an equal claim to rank 
which belonged to the palatine house, a i as fellow Germans and Christians. Dif- 
fresh title — the eighth — was created for it : ference in religion now no longer formed 
purposely. I an insurmountable wall of separation be- 

8. The negotiations for the adjustment tween men ; and certainly in this point of 
of religious affairs in Germany were at- j view the peace of Westphalia, by estab- 
tended with extreme difficulty and consid- 1 lishing fixed laws in the external affairs of 
erable delay. The Protestants demanded j the Church, produced highly satisfactory 
religious liberty, not only for themselves, j and beneficial results. 

but likewise for all the Protestant subjects j 9. Respecting the rights of sovereignty 
of the emperor ; while on this point, the ! due to the princes, and the relations of the 
latter was equally firm and inflexible in states of the empire with the emperor, the 
withholding his consent. They were peace of Westphalia contained such regu- 
obliged, therefore, to restrict the operation lations as must in the course of time pro- 
of this measure to the empire itself, and, j duce a still greater relaxation of those ties, 
after a deliberation which lasted six months, already partially loosened, which held to- 
the decree of the religious peace of Passau j gether the empire in one entirety. In 
was eventually renewed and fixed as the ' earlier times the constitution of the empire 
fundamental basis of the present measure, \ contained already many defects : great 
and it was resolved that the Protestants | disorder, abuse of power in defiance of the 
should retain all the ecclesiastical property , laws, nay, the evils produced by the exist- 
they possessed in the year 1624, in land ' ence of an entire century, during which 
and churches. This year was henceforth ! force prevailed over justice — all this was 
styled the normal year, and from that time , sufficient evidence of the corrupt state of 
the question of the edict of Restitution j things. The main cause, however, of these 
was altogether abandoned. The Protest- 1 results originated in the want of fixed 
ants accordingly retained the archbishop- written laws, whence, as we have already 
rics of Magdeburg and Bremen; the bish-|seen, after the edict of the golden bull, 
oprics of Liibeck, Osnaburg, (alternately,) j various measures were adopted in order to 
Halberstadt, Verden, Meissen, Naumburg, establish in Germany, by imperial laws, 
Merseburg, Lebus, Brandenburg, Havel- , a more determined form of constitution, 
berg. Minden, Kanim, Schwerin, and Ratze- j Nevertheless, there existed in earlier times 
burg ; the abbeys of Hirschfeld, Walken- j a bond of union which operated with more 
ried, Gandersheim, Quedlinburg, Hervor- 1 success in periods of disorder than even 



SWITZERLAND— THE NETHERLANDS. 



347 



the written laws might have done, and this 
consisted in those ancient characteristics 
for which Germany was ever distinguished : 
sincere and faithful loyalty, antipathy to 
foreigners, a holy veneration for the impe- 
rial majesty of the sovereign, produced by 
the conviction that the dignity of emperor 
was derived from God as a divine favor for 
the homage of mankind. In such light 
was the imperial presence regarded by the 
princes themselves, as expressed by them 
in various authentic documents. Subse- 
quently it was the feudal system, based 
upon the ancient customs and manners, and 
springing from the essential condition of the 
people, which served on great occasions, 
in spite of the want of written laws, to hold 
together the various portions of the empire. 

When in ancient times the prince, the 
nobles, and the people, assembled together, 
and when later the emperor himself pre- 
sided at the head of the princes of the em- 
pire at the diets, it was then the prompt 
and decisive power of the sovereign's voice 
and animated eye which decreed the means 
of remedying existing evils : and if at times 
disputes arose, his regular presence, the at- 
tention with which he observed with eye and 
ear all that passed before him, and the con- 
fidence he accordingly produced and estab- 
lished between himself and those around 
him, placed him at once in a position to 
command the reconciliation of the dispu- j 
tants. At the same time, this proximity of 
the imperial dignity, and the respect it in- 
spired in all sensible and well-minded men, 
operated for the benefit of the entire nation, 
while the emperor himself, by the high 1 
consideration he commanded throughout ! 
Christendom, represented and maintained | 
its honor. 

Now, however, for a length of time, as 
we are already aware, the princes but 
rarely attended personally at the diets : but 
were satisfied with sending their envoys, or 
merely their written communications. The 
negotiations were often carried on at a most 
tedious rate upon subjects of the most 
trivial nature, and only under pressing and 
extreme cases of necessity were the de- 
cisions pronounced. Meantime this state 
of legislation was not at all sanctioned by 
any law of the empire ; but at the peace of 
Westphalia the independence of the ponces 
was made completely legal. They received 
the entire right of sovereignty over their 
territory, together with the power of making 



j war, concluding peace, and forming alli- 
ances among themselves, as well as with 
j foreign powers, provided such alliances 
; were not to the injury of the empire. But 
: what a feeble obstacle must this clause 
have presented ? For henceforward, if a 
prince of the empire, having formed an al- 
liance with a foreign power, became hostile 
to the emperor, he could immediately avail 
himself of the pretext that it was for the 
benefit of the empire, the maintenance of 
his rights, and the liberty of Germany. 
And in order that the said pretext might, 
with some appearance of right, be made 
available on every occasion, foreigners es- 
tablished themselves as the guardians of the 
empire ; and accordingly France and Swe- 
den took upon themselves the responsibility 
of legislating as guarantees, not only for the 
Germanic constitution, but for every thing 
else that was concluded in the peace of 
Westphalia at Miinster and Osnaburg. 

Added to this, in reference to the impe- 
rial cities whose rights had hitherto never 
been definitively fixed, it was now declared 
that they should always be included under 
the head of the other states, and that they 
should command a decisive voice in the 
diets ; thenceforth, therefore, their votes 
and those of the other states — the electoral 
and other princes — should be of equal 
validity. 

10. By an article in the treaty of West- 
phalia, French cunning likewise separated 
the Swiss confederation from the Germanic 
empire, and acknowledged it as an indepen- 
dent state. It is true it had long since dis- 
continued rendering homage to the empire, 
but its dismemberment therefrom had never 
been legally declared, whence the way for 
its return to the imperial dominion always 
lay open and feasible, in case any of the 
confederates might have felt a desire to re- 
new their alliance. 

11. In the same moment that the empire 
thus sacrificed one of its most secure de- 
fences on the frontiers of the south, the 
loss of the Netherlands left it completely 
bare in the northwest : for in this peace 
Spain was forced to acknowledge the inde- 
pendence of that country, and Germany 
was equally obliged to free it from all ob- 
ligation of "fealty. That country had like- 
wise originally belonged to the same race 
as ourselves, it forming, from the period of 
Charles V., part of our confederation, and 
commanding the mouth of our national 



348 



FROM 1648 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



river — the Rhine. Thence Germany was 
left equally exposed to the attacks of its 
enemies in the north from the Nether- 
lands, as it was in the south from Switzer- 
land. 

It was only after great care and exertion 
that the intricate work of pacification was 
at length brought into operation, and it 
could only be perfected by slow degrees 
and at much additional sacrifice. The 
French obstinately refused to evacuate the 
conquered fortifications until the most petty 
details of the conditions had been fulfilled ; 
while the Swedes remained two years longer 
in Germany, distributed in seven circles of 
the empire, determined not to withdraw un- 
til they received the five millions of dollars 



they demanded as indemnification for the 
war expenses, and which, in the already 
reduced and miserable state of our unhap- 
py country, could only be collected with 
great trouble and difficulty. In addition to 
this, it has been calculated that during these 
two ruinous years, the maintenance of the 
foreign soldiers quartered throughout the 
empire, cost at the rate of 170.000 dollars 
per day. Nay, even six years after the 
settlement of peace, a certain number of 
Swedish regiments levied contributions in 
the bishopric of Munster, and Duke Charle c 
of Lorraine, who had been driven out of his 
territory by the French, continued for a 
considerable time to hold possession of sev- 
eral fortifications on the Rhine. 



SEVENTH PERIOD. 



FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA IN 1648 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



In the first portion of this period, from 1648 to 1740, 
the art of historical research made but little progress in 
Germany : we find the sources of record to consist 
chiefly of compilations made from public acts, collect- 
ed together in numerous and heavy masses, interspers- 
ed with the lives of the emperors, written in the most 
partial and inflated style. Any regular and critical 
statement or investigation of facts, presenting in their 
treatment elevation of thought and originality of genius, 
is not to be found among them. In France, however, 
among the numerous memoirs of the time of Louis 
XIV., we meet at least with that peculiar style of rep- 
resentation, by which the connecting links in the chain 
of state policy are far more clearly traced, and the ideas 
and motives of individuals more strikingly developed. 

As collections embodying especially public transac- 
tions and political events we find included : 

1. Records of the Imperial Chancery. 1657-1714. 

2. Diarium Europasum, 1659-1681,45 vols. 

3. Svlloge Publieorum Xegotiarum, 1674-1697, by Lu- 
nig., (died in 1740.) 

4. European Court of Chancery; commenced by 
Leucht, and continued bv Faber and Konig, 1697-1760, 
115 vols. Resumed by Faber under the title of iNew 
Court of Chancery, 1760-1783, 17 vols. 

5. European Fame, 1703-1734, 350 parts in 30 vols., 
and New European Fame, 1735-1756, 192 parts in 17 
vols. 

6. Mercure Historique et Politique, commenced bv G. 
Sandras, torn. L, Parma, 1686 : from 1688 to 1782, at the 
Hague, in more than 200 vols. 

7. The History of the Emperor Leopold I., has been 
written in a very good historical style in Italian by Ga- 
leazzo Gualdi, Bapt. Comazzi, and Jos. Maria Reina ; 
and in German by J. J. Schmauss, C. B. Menkin, G. 
Rink, and best of all in Latin, by F. Wagner, but only 
to the year 1689. 

8. S. von Puffendorf, Res gestae Frid. Guil. Magni, 
Elect. Brand. Berlin, 1695, and Lips, et Berol., 1733. 

9. Camill. Contarinus, History of the Turkish war in 
1683, in Italian; Venice, 1710. 

10. L. de St. Simon, OZuvres, 13 vols. Especially 
valuable in reference to the time of Louis XIV. 

11. The Life of Joseph I., by Wagner, Zshackwitz, 
Nink, and Herchenhahn. 



12. Tne Life of Charles VI., by Zshackwitz, Schwarz, 

Schmauss, and Schiracn. 

On the history of the War of Succession to the Span- 
ish throne, the principal works are : 

13. De Lamberty, Memoires pour servir a l'histoire 
du 18me siecle ; 1700-1718, La Hague, 14 vols., and 

14. History of the War of Succession to the Spanish 
throne, by two anonymous writers. Two Editions ; one 
in French, printed , at Cologne in 1708; the other in 
English, printed in London in 1707. 

15. Memoires du Prince Eugene de Savoie ecrits par 
lui-meme. Weimar, 1810. 

16. W. Coxe, Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlbo- 
rough, 6 vols., 1820. 

The great events which took place during the period 
of 1740 to 1789, especially those of the Seven Years' 
War, and the enthusiasm with which Frederick the 
Great inspired all his contemporaries, excited a spirit 
for historical composition which, although it may not 
have produced works of the first order, is nevertheless 
entitled to place its writings in the second rank. 
The great Frederick himself devoted his pen to the 
task of writing a history of his own times and ac- 
tions, his— 

17. Frederick II., Histoire de mon Tems, and His- 
toire de la Guerre de Sept Ans ; and other works rela- 
ting to history and politics, together with his corres- 
pondence with many distinguished persons, are valua- 
ble documents in our historical collection. 

18. Adelung, History of the States of Europe from 
1740 to 1798, 6 vols., treats especially upon the history 
of the succession of the house of Austria. 

The following works give especial details of the Seven 
Years' War : 

19. War-office reports, (Deutsche Kriegskanzlei,) 
1757-1763, 18 vols. 

20. Contributions to the more recent History of War 
and State Policv, (Beitrage zur Xeueren Staats- and 
Kriegs Geschichte,) 1756-1762, 13 vols. 

21. Lloyd, Histoire de la Derniere Guerre en Alle- 
magne ; traduit de 1' Anglais par Templehof, 5 vols. 

22. Archenholz, History of the Seven Years' War, 
2 vols. 

23. Retzow, Criticism of the important events of the 
Seven Years' War. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



24. De Mauvillon, Histoire de Ferdinand de Bruns- 
wick, 1790. 

25. Campaigns of the Allied Armies, 1757-1762, from 
the journal of Major-General von Rheden, 1805. 

26. History of the Battle of Kfinersdorf, by Kriele, 
pastor of Kunersdorf. Berlin, 1801. 

27. The Life of Frederick II. has been written by 
several historians, including Koester, Seiffart, Zim- 
mermann, Funke. Garve, Stein, Thibault, Forster, 
Preuss, and Nicolai, the latter of whom has added 
numerous anecdotes in Frederick's life. 

On State Politics we have : 

28. Count Hersberg, Recueil des Deductions, Mani- 
festos, Declarations, Traites, &c, publies par la Cour 
de Prusse depuis l'annee 1756-1790, 3 vols. 

The following are the works which treat upon the 
period subsequent to the Seven Years' War : 

29. Manso, Geschichte des Preuss. Staats vom Hu- 
bertusburger Frieden bis zur zweiten Pariser Abkunft, 
3 vols. 

30. Dohm, Memoirs of my Times, 1778-1806, 5 vols. 
A work of great importance connected with the latter 
period of the reign of Frederick the Great and the 
French Revolution, but more especially valuable for 
the impartiality displayed by the author. 

31. Biisching, Magazine of History and Geography, 
1761-1781, 15 vols., Hamburg ; and 1781-1793, 23 vols., 
Halle. 

32. Schlozer, Historical Correspondence, 1775-1782, 
10 vols., and Political Advertiser, 1782-1793, 18 vols. 

33. Schirachs, Political Journal, 1781-1804, continued 
by his son to the present day. 

34. Archenholz, Minerva, 1792-1809, continued to 
the present time bv A. Bran. 

35. Girtanner, Political Annals, 1793-1794. 

36. Posselt, European Annals, 1795-1804, and con- 
tinued to the present time by other authors. 

37. Review of the Prussian Monarchy under Fred- 
erick William III., 1798-1801. 

From the commencement of the 19th century we have: 

38. The Times, by C. D. Voss, 1805-1820. 

39. Bredow, Chronicle of the 19th century, 1801-1808, 
continued by Venturini as a history of our times, from 
1809 to the present moment. 

On the History of the French Revolution, the follow- 
ing are the principal works in Germany : 

40. Girtanner, Historical Revelations of the French 
Revolution, continued by Buchholz, 17 vols. 

41. Von Eggers, Memoirs of the French Revolution, 
C vols. 

42. J. G. Eichhorn, The French Revolution at one 
View, 2 vols. 

43. Rehberg, Researches into the French Revolu- 
tion, with a critical notice of the most distinguished 
works upon the subject. 

The following treat upon the wars of the French Rev- 
olution : 

44. Scharnhorst, Military Memoirs of our Time, 6 
vols. 

45. Charles, Archduke of Austria, History of the 
Campaign of 1799 in Germany and Switzerland, 2 vols. 

On the Negotiations of the Peace of Rastadt : 

46. Von Haller, Private History of the Rastadt Ne- 
gotiations of Peace in connection with the political 
transactions of this period. Germania, 6 vols. 

47. Munch von Bellinghausen, Protocol of the Depu- 
tation for the Peace of the Empire at Rastadt, com- 
pared exactly with the original documents, with notes, 
6 vols. 

On the Wars of the 19th Century : 

48. Von Bulow, The Campaign of 1805 in a military 
and political point of view, 2 vols. 

49. The Battle of Austerlitz, by an officer present. 

50. K. von Plotho, Journal of the Military Operations 
in the years 1806 and 1807. 

51. Von Valentini, Essay upon the History of the 
Campaign of 1809. 

52. Von Hormayr, the Austrian army in the war of 
1809, in Italy, the Tyrol, and Hungary, from official 
sources. 

53. Bertholdy, The War of the Tyrolese in 1809. 

54. History of Andreas Hofer, from original sources. 
Leipsic and Altenburg, 1817. 

55. Luders, The War of 1812, between France and 
Russia. 

56. K. von Plotho, The War in Germany and France, 
1813-1815. 



349 



57. Odeleben, Napoleon's Campaign in Saxony in the 
year 1813. 

58. Aster, The Battle of Leipsic, with plans ; with 
many other works upon the same subject. 

59. The Central Administration of the Allies under 
Baron Stein. 

60. General Muffling, History of the Campaign ot 
1815, under Wellington and Blucher. 

61. F. Forster, Field-marshal Blucher and his opera- 
tions, 1821. 

62. Saalfeld, History of Napoleon Bonaparte, 2 vols. 

63. Kliiber, View of the Diplomatic '1 ransactions at 
the Congress of Vienna, 1816. 

64. Protocol of the German Diet, 1816. 

65. G. von Meyer, Repertory of the Transactions of 
the German Diet, 1822. 

66. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, ed. G. H. 
Pertz. 

67. J. Schmidt, History of Germany, continued by 
Milbiller and Dresch, 27 vols. 

68. Heinrich, ditto, ditto, 3 vols. 

69. A. Menzel, History of Germany, 9 vols. 

70. Luden, History of the German Nation, 12 vols. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

General Observations — State of the Empire — Agricul- 
ture — Commerce — The Nobility — French Language, 
Fashions, and Customs— Decline of National Feeling 
in Germany— Death of Ferdinand III., 1657— Leo- 
pold I., 1658-1705 — The Rhenish League — Louis 
XIV. of France — His ambitious and aggrandizing 
Spirit — Conquers the Netherlands — The Elector Fre- 
derick William of Brandenburg — Westphalia — The 
Rhine— War between France and Germany— Battle 
of Fehrbellin, 1675— Successes of the Elector of Bran- 
denburg—His energetic Character— Extends and im- 
proves his Territories— Berlin— Konigsberg— Generals 
Montecuculi and Turenne— Peace of Nimwegen, 
1678— The Four French Chambers of Reunion— 
Treachery and Dishonesty of Louis XIV. towards 
Germany— Claims and takes possession of Strasburg 
and other German Towns on the Rhine — Enters 
Strasburg in Triumph, 1681— Pusillanimity and Dis- 
graceful Inertness of the Germans — The Turks in 
Hungary — Advance and lay Siege to Vienna, 1683 — 
Flight of Leopold and his Court — Brave Defence of 
the Viennese under Count Riidiger of Stahrenberg— 
Relieved by Duke Charles of Lorraine and Sobieski, 
King of Poland — Heroism of Sobieski — Battle of 
Naussdorf— Total Overtlirow and Flight of the Turks 
by Sobieski— His Letter to his Queen— Description of 
the Battle. 

It will not require many words, nor will 
it prove a task of much difficulty to repre- 
sent the sadly depressed state of the coun- 
try after a war of such devastation, and 
which had continued during half the period 
of that existence commonly allotted toman. 
Two thirds of the population had perished, 
not so much by the sword itself, as by those 
more lingering and painful sufferings which 
such a dreadful war brings in its train : 
contagion, plague, famine, and all the other 
attendant horrors. For death on the field 
of battle itself is not the evil of war ; such a 
death, on the contrary, is often the most glo- 
rious, inasmuch as the individual is taken 
off in a moment of enthusiastic ardor, and 
while he is inspired with the whole force 



350 



STATE OF THE EMPIRE. 



of his vital power ; thus he is relieved from 
the anxious and painful contemplation of 
the gradual approach of his last moments. 
But the true curse of war is based in the 
horrors and miseries it spreads among, and 
with which it overwhelms, those who can 
take no active share in it — women, chil- 
dren, and aged men, and from whom it 
snatches all the enjoyments, all the hopes 
of life ; thence the germ of a new genera- 
tion becomes poisoned in its very principle, 
and can only unfold itself with struggling 
pain and sorrow, without strength or cour- 
age. 

Nevertheless, in Germany the natural 
energy of the people speedily aroused itself 
among them, and a life of activity and 
serious application very soon succeeded in 
a proportionate degree to that which had 
so long been characterized by disorder and 
negligence : and it is thus that the two ex- 
tremes often meet. The demoralization 
so generally existing — produced on the one 
hand by the warriors who, on their return 
home from the camp, introduced there 
much of the licentiousness they had pre- 
viously indulged in, and, on the other hand, 
through the juvenile classes having grown 
up and become matured without education, 
and being by force of example in almost a 
savage state — obliged the princes now to 
devote all their attention and care towards 
re-establishing the exercise of religious 
worship, and restoring the schools and ec- 
clesiastical institutions ; measures which 
never fail to produce beneficial results. 
But it was agriculture which more espe- 
cially made rapid strides in the improve- 
ments introduced, and which was pursued 
with an activity hitherto unexampled. As 
a great number of the landowners had per- 
ished during the war, land generally be- 
came materially reduced in price, and the 
population accordingly showed everywhere 
the most active industry in the cultivation 
of the soil ; so that within a short space of 
time the barren fields were replaced by 
fertile meadows, and fruitful gardens amidst 
smiling villages greeted the eye in every 
part. The moment had now arrived, like- 
wise, when the claims of the peasantry to 
the rights of freeborn men were acknow- 
ledged more and more, and the chains by 
which they had been hitherto bound were 
gradually relaxed, until at length the final 
link which held them fell to the ground. 
Thus Germany might have become more 



flourishing than ever by the prosperous 
state of its agriculture, for it is from the 
maternal earth that a nation draws its 
source and strength of life, when it devotes 
its powers to that object ; but essential and 
general causes interfered, unhappily, to 
prevent the fulfilment of this desirable 
object. 

In the first place, the declining state of 
the cities operated in a special degree to 
destroy the beneficial results of agriculture. 
The prosperity of the cities had received a 
vital blow, as already shown, by the com- 
plete change which had been introduced 
in the whole system of commerce ; its de- 
cline, however, was only partial until the 
period of the war of thirty years. Shortly 
previous to the commencement of this war, 
a foreign writer placed Germany still at the 
head of every other country, in respect to 
the extent and number of its cities, and the 
genius, talent, and activity of its artists and 
artisans. They were sent for from every 
part of Europe. At Venice, for instance, 
the most ingenious goldsmiths, clock- 
makers, carpenters, as well as even the 
most distinguished painters, sculptors, and 
engravers, were, at the end of the sixteenth 
century, all natives of Germany. But it 
will suffice to mention the names of such 
celebrated artists as Albert Diirer, Hans 
Holbein, and Lucas Cranach, to form an 
idea of the prosperous state of the arts in 
the cities of Germany at the commence- 
ment of the sixteenth century. This ter- 
rible war, however, gave them their mortal 
blow ; numerous free cities, previously in 
a flourishing state, were completely re- 
duced to ashes, others nearly depopulated 
altogether, and all those extensive factories 
and institutions which- gave to Germany 
the superiority over other nations, were, 
through loss of the workmen, completely 
deserted and left in a state of inactivity. 
Thence, at a meeting of the Hanseatic 
league in Liibeck, in 1630, those few cities 
which still remained in existence declared 
they were no longer able to contribute 
towards the expenses of the league. Eco- 
nomy and strict industry might perhaps 
have raised them gradually from the state 
of misery into which they had thus fallen, 
but their ancient prosperity and importance 
were both forever gone ; and, as is stated 
by one of our early writers, on the fore- 
heads of these once wealthy citizens might 
be traced in characters too clearly ex- 



THE NOBILITY— NATIONAL DEGRADATION. 



351 



pressed, how fallen was their state, reduced 
as they now were to endure a painful and 
laborious existence. Many of the cities, 
some voluntarily, others through the ne- 
cessity of the times, saw themselves com- 
pelled to submit to the power of the princes, 
as for instance, Christopher, bishop of 
Gahlen, made himself master of Munster, 
in 1661 ; the elector of Mentz, of the city 
of Erfurt, in 1664 ; the elector of Branden- 
burg, of the city of Magdeburg, in 1666 ; 
and the duke of Brunswick, of the city of 
Brunswick, in 1671 ; while those which 
retained the title of free cities, how poor 
and miserably did they drag on their exist- 
ence, until at length, in more recent times, 
they likewise lost their privilege altogether. 

The nobility had likewise lost much of 
their ancient dignity and lustre. Ever 
since they no longer formed more espe- 
cially the military state of the empire, and 
their noble cavaliers no longer conferred 
exclusively glory upon the nation ; ever 
since they had abandoned their indepen- 
dence, by attaching themselves to the court, 
or wasted all their strength in a life spent 
in indolence, and without any noble object 
in view ; and, finally, ever since they had 
commenced imitating and adopting the man- 
ners, customs, and languages of foreign 
nations, and substituted their effeminacy 
and refinement for the ancient energy and 
sincerity for which Germany had ever been 
so renowned — ever since, we say, these 
changes and innovations had been intro- 
duced, the nobles of the empire had gradu- 
ally degenerated and lost all their conse- 
quence and dignity. Thus were eclipsed 
two of the most important and essential 
states of the empire, and which above 
every other had both contributed to give to 
the middle ages, in spite of all their other 
defects, that grand and vigorous character 
for which that period was so much distin- 
guished. 

It is true, that during the last few centuries 
changes of a similar nature had taken place 
in other countries of Europe, and which, 
by thus substituting a new order of things, 
obliterated all that which had characterized 
the middle ages. But with all this, ample 
compensation was found in the wealth and 
prosperity commanded by commerce, while 
in this respect Germany was now deprived 
of all such resources. The share which a 
few of the cities still took in the commerce 
of the world could not establish or effect a 



balance of the whole ; while, on the other 
hand, instead of restricting themselves to 
that simple order of life — so especially 
necessary among an agricultural people — 
and thus trying to avert the coming indi- 
gence, they launched out more and more 
into a luxurious state of living ; and ac- 
cordingly, in exchange for precious and 
exotic articles of merchandise, they gave 
up to foreign nations all the rich fruits of 
agriculture and industry produced at home 
at the expense of so much toil and anxiety. 
For, however fertile the soil of our country, 
and however varied its produce, it could 
not possibly equal in value the rich wares 
imported from all parts of the world. 
When, however, the love of luxury and 
sensual pleasure has gained the upperhand, 
nothing can restrict or check its extrava- 
gant and insatiable demands. 

This evil, however, was not one origi- 
nally implanted in our nature, it was com- 
municated to us by those foreigners whom 
we sought to imitate in every thing — even 
in their degeneracy. The excursions now 
made beyond Germany, and especially to 
France and its metropolis ; the imitation 
more and more indulged in of the fashions 
and manners of the French, and even of 
their immorality itself ; the introduction 
and reception of French professors and 
governesses into various German families 
for the education of the juvenile branches ; 
the contempt more and more shown and felt 
for our own native language ; the enthu- 
siasm indulged in for that French philo- 
sophy, so superficial, and yet at the same 
time so easily adapted to render the indivi- 
dual wholly indifferent to his religious, 
moral, and social duties; all these causes, 
we repeat, had operated more and more 
injuriously among the higher, as well as 
the middling classes of society, and thence, 
at the present period, their influence pre- 
sented the most baneful effects. 

On the other hand, however, it is not to 
be denied but that our relations with foreign 
countries have materially promoted the 
civilization of Germany ; and it is impos- 
sible not to recognise in the course of mod- 
ern history a tendency to render more and 
more firm and durable the bond of union 
between all the nations of Christendom. 
Placed as we are in the centre of the prin- 
cipal nations of Europe, we have ecer 
warmly sympathized with, and the forms ot 
our political constitution have ever encour- 



352 



LOUIS XIV.— DEATH 



OF FERDINAND III. 



aged the movement of moral and intellec- 
tual progress. For in most other countries, 
each of which was constituted into one ho- 
mogeneous kingdom, the chief city was the 
first to set the example in the adoption of 
all that it might judge worthy of patronage 
and dissemination, and thence it established 
the rule or law for the co-optation thereof 
generally throughout the provinces : by this 
means, however, the progress made be- 
came gradually subjected to certain fixed 
forms, whence it could not be exempt from 
partiality. In Germany, on the contrary, 
science and art have marched together full 
of activity and independence as in a free 
dominion. The superior, equally with the 
lesser states, rivalled each other in their 
patronage ; no single town, no particular 
individual, was empowered to impose laws ; 
and, finally, no favoritism, no exception of 
person, was shown, but every thing bear- 
ing within it essential and sterling merit, 
was sure sooner or later to meet with due 
acknowledgment and appreciation ; and 
thence it is that our nation has made such 
progress in all the sciences. 

Nevertheless, this moment must be re- 
garded as teeming with dangerous error. 
Nothing is more difficult for human nature 
than to maintain the one direct and central 
path without diverging to one side or the 
other ; nothing more difficult than to com- 
bine civilization and enlightenment with 
religious and moral strictness, to unite an 
acute sensibility for all that is really 
good and valuable in genius, wherever 
found, with honesty and constancy of prin- 
ciple, and to conjoin independence of spirit 
with self-denial and submission. This me- 
dium course ought, therefore, to be the main 
object of the endeavors of all, both of in- 
dividuals and nations. The period we are 
about to trace will show us in what degree 
this object was alternately approached by 
or receded from our nation ; while, at the 
same time, it will present us with all those 
vicissitudes to which mankind is subject. 

This series of good and bad fortune is, 
we shall find, more especially shown in 
our external relations : days of prosperity 
and peace were succeeded by those of dis- 
tress ; but the latter down to and during 
this period, continued in their degree to 
outweigh the former. In no period of our 
history do we find presented such melan- 
choly pictures as during the long reign of 
Louis XIV. of France, nor has our state 



policy ever shown so much weakness and 
pusillanimity as when suffering from his 
ambitious designs. During the short in- 
terval of tranquillity from the time of his 
death to the war of the Austrian succession, 
the arts of peace once more revived a lit- 
tle, but the progress of their development 
was again checked by the storms of that 
contest, and more especially by the still 
more ruinous war of seven years, which 
immediately succeeded. The interval of 
twenty-five years, from the conclusion of 
this war to the commencement of the 
French revolution, was the longest period 
of tranquillity we had hitherto enjoyed ; 
and during this space of time, art and sci- 
ence once more came into activity, and 
made such flourishing progress, that in 
spite of the war of twenty-five years by 
which the French revolution was succeed- 
ed, this progress, although much checked, 
was not altogether destroyed. Let us hope 
that the state of peace we at present enjoy, 
may long continue to heal the wounds so 
bitterly inflicted upon our country, and 
thus encourage more and more the growth 
and development of the intellectual re- 
sources of the German nation. 

The emperor Ferdinand III. lived nine 
years after the peace of Westphalia ; he 
reigned with moderation and wisdom, and 
until his death the peace of Germany re- 
mained undisturbed. He had already pro- 
cured the decision of the princes in favor 
of his son Ferdinand, as his successor to 
the imperial throne, when unfortunately 
that young man, who had excited the most 
sanguine hopes, and towards whom all 
eyes were turned with confidence, died in 
1654 of the small-pox. Ferdinand was, 
therefore, forced to resume his efforts with 
the princes in favor of his second son, 
Leopold — although he was far from pos- 
sessing the capacity of his deceased brother 
— but he himself died on the 2d of April, 
1657, before the desired object was fully 
obtained. 

The election of the new emperor met 
with considerable difficulty, because the 
government of France was anxious to avail 
itself of this moment to obtain possession 
of the imperial dignity, to which it had 
long aspired. It had in fact already suc- 
ceeded in gaining over the electoral princes 
of the Rhine ; but all the rest of the Ger- 
man princes felt the shame and disgrace 
such a choice must bring upon the nation, 



THE RHENISH LEAGUE. 



353 



and decided at once in favor of Leopold, 
archduke of Austria, although this prince 
was only eighteen years of age ; and he 
was accordingly elected at Frankfort on 
the 18th of July, 1658. 

Meantime Cardinal Mazarin, the prime 
minister of France, had already formed 
an alliance, which, under the name of the 
Rhenish league, had for its object the total 
annihilation of the house of Austria, al- 
though apparently its only aim was the con- 
servation of the peace of Westphalia. The 
parties included in the union were France, 
Sweden, the electors of Mentz, Cologne, 
and Treves, the bishop of Minister, the 
palatine of Neuburg, the elector of Hesse- 
Cassel, and the three dukes of Brunswick- 
Luneburg; a singularly mixed alliance of 
Catholic spiritual and lay princes with the 
Protestant princes and Swedes, who had 
only so recently before stood opposed to 
each other in open warfare. A learned 
historian of that period unfolds to us what 
were the real intentions of France in form- 
ing this league, as well as the motives by 
which she was guided throughout her pro- 
ceedings against Germany: "Instead of 
resorting to open force, as in the war of 
thirty years, it appeared more expedient to 
France to hold attached to her side a few 
of the German princes, and especially those 
along the Rhine, by a bond of union — and, 
as it is said, by the additional obligation of 
an annual subsidy — and, above all things, 
to appear to take great interest in the af- 
fairs of Germany ; thus, the princes might 
be brought to believe that the protection of 
France would be more secure than that 
of the emperor and the laws of the empire. 
This means of paving the way for the de- 
struction of all liberty in Germany was, 
as may be easily judged, by no means 
badly conceived." 

France very soon showed that she only 
waited for an opportunity of seizing her 
prey with the same hand which she had 
so recently held out in friendship. The 
long reign of Leopold I. was almost wholly 
filled up with wars against France and her 
arrogant prince, Louis XIV. ; and our poor 
country was again made the scene of san- 
guinary violence and devastation. Leo- 
pold, who was a prince of a mild and reli- 
gious disposition, but, on the other hand, of 
an equally inactive and pusillanimous char- 
acter, was by no means calculated to enter 
the ^eld against the French king, in whom | 
45 



were united great cunning with unlimited 
ambition and insolent pride. France now 
pursued, with persevering determination, 
the grand object she had in view, of making 
the Rhine her frontiers, and of gaining pos- 
session of the Spanish Netherlands — which, 
under the name of the Burgundian circle, 
belonged to the Germanic empire — Lor- 
raine, the remaining portion of Alsace, not 
yet in its occupation, together with all the 
lands of the German princes situated on 
the left bank of the Rhine. This spirit of 
aggrandizement was shared in equally by 
the king and the people, and it is an error 
to suppose this feeling was only first 
brought into existence in our time through 
the revolution, and the wild ambition of 
a few individuals. Already, during the 
reign of Louis XIV., the French authors 
began to write in strong and forcible lan- 
guage upon the subject of conquest, and 
one among them, a certain d'Aubry, even 
went so far as to express in a pamphlet 
his opinions founded on the question — at 
that moment a novel one, but which after- 
wards became of serious consideration, and 
was nearly carried into execution — that, 
viz. " The Roman-Germanic empire, such 
as was possessed by Charlemagne, belong- 
ed to his king and his descendants ;" and: 
the Abbe Colbert, in an address to the 
king, in the name of the clergy, adds the 
words: " Oh, king, who givest laws to the 
seas as well as to all lands ; who sendest 
thy lightning wherever it pleasest thee, 
even to the shores of Africa itself; who 
subjectest the pride of nations, and forcest 
their sovereigns to bend their knee in all 
humility before thee in acknowledgment of 
the power of thy sceptre, and to implore 
thy mercy," &c. Such was the language 
used already in 1668, and in the face of 
Europe, by a state which ought to have sur- 
passed all others in moderation and truth. 

Accordingly, Louis now commenced op- 
erations by conquering the Netherlands, 
pleading his ancient hereditary right to the 
possession of that country. The Spaniards 
appealed for aid to the other circles of the 
Germanic empire, but not one of the prin- 
ces came forward to assist them ; some 
through indifference, others from fear, and 
the rest again from being disgracefully 
bought over by French money : such were 
the results of the Rhenish league. Aban- 
doned thus by all, the Netherlands fell into 
the hands of the king, and at the peace of 



354 



WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY. 



Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1688, the Spaniards 
saw themselves forced to surrender a whole 
line of frontier towns to France, in order 
to save a portion only of the country. 

In addition to this, in the year 1672, 
France, with equal injustice, invaded Hol- 
land itself, and had she succeeded in her 
plans, she would very soon have been in a 
condition to hold dominion over the Euro- 
pean seas. This new danger, however, pro- 
duced as little effect upon the princes of 
Germany as the preceding one ; they paid 
little or no attention to it, nay, the elector of 
Cologne, and the warlike bishop of Mtinster, 
Bernard of Gahlen, one of the most dis- 
tinguished men of his day, actually con- 
cluded an alliance with France. One only 
of the princes of Germany, the elector 
Frederick William of Brandenburg, known 
likewise under the title of the great elector, 
acted with the energy so necessary ; and, 
completely aware of the exact condition of 
the nation, felt the necessity of preventing 
the total subversion of the equilibrium of 
Europe. Accordingly, he made immediate 
preparations for placing his territories of 
Westphalia in a state of defence, exposed 
as they were in the immediate vicinity of 
the scene of action ; for by the definitive 
arrangement of the inheritance of Juliers, 
in 1656, he had received the duchy of 
Cleves, and the provinces of Mark and 
Ravensberg, while to the prince-palatine of 
Neuberg had been allotted the duchies of 
Juliers and Berg. Frederick William in- 
duced likewise the emperor Leopold to 
adopt measures for opposing the farther 
progress of the French invaders ; and both 
together raised an army which they placed 
under the orders of the imperial general, 
Montecuculli ; but the co-operation of the 
Austrians became almost nullified through 
the influence of Prince Lobkowitz, the em- 
peror's privy-counsellor, who, gained over 
by France, opposed all the plans of the 
imperial general. Thence the elector be- 
held his fine army harassed and worn out 
by hunger and sickness, and in order to 
prevent the French from completely de- 
stroying his territories in Westphalia, in 
1673, he concluded with them a peace in 
their camp of Vossem near Louvain. His 
possessions were restored to him with the 
exception of the castles of Wesel and Rees, 
which the enemy resolved to retain until a 
general pacification was permanently es- 
tablished. 



Now, however, the emperor, after having 
lost his best allies, determined to pursue 
the war with more vigor. Montecuculli 
gained some advantages along the Lower 
Rhine, and, among the rest, he succeeded 
in making himself master of Bonn ; but 
all along the Upper Rhine and in Franco- 
nia, the French redoubled their ravages, 
and more especially in the palatinate, which 
was now made the most sanguinary scene 
of the whole war, as in fact it was sub- 
sequently, where the French have left 
eternal monuments of their cruel proceed- 
ings. As they thus continued to invade 
even the very empire itself, the princes 
now united to resist them, and the elector 
of Brandenburg renewed his alliance with 
the emperor. On this occasion, Austria 
was distinguished especially for her energy 
and activity. At the diet of Ratisbon, long 
discussions were held upon the subject of 
the war, but nothing was concluded ; and 
Austria, having discovered that this delay 
was produced by the French ambassador, 
who there endeavored by every means to 
deceive, first one and then another of the 
princes, that power immediately command- 
ed him, without waiting for any other for- 
mality, to quit Ratisbon within three days, 
and on his departure a declaration of war 
was forthwith made by the emperor against 
the king of France. 

The war was carried on with varied 
success and loss, but altogether the advan- 
tage was on the side of the French, whose 
generals were completely successful in 
their object of making the German soil 
alone the field for their operations ; while, 
on the other hand, the leaders of the allied 
forces were without activity or union. In 
order to furnish occupation in his own land 
for the most powerful of the German prin- 
ces, the elector of Brandenburg, Louis 
XIV. concluded an alliance with the 
Swedes, in 1674, showing them the great 
advantage they would derive by the inva- 
sion of that territory. This they accord- 
ingly did, severely handling that country ; 
nevertheless, the elector would not abandon 
the Rhine, but contributed his assistance, 
and remained as long as his presence was 
necessary, and it was only in the following 
year, 1675, that he at length did withdraw 
from that seat of war, and by forced march- 
es hastened to the aid of his suffering coun- 
try. 

To the astonishment of both friends and 



THE ELECTOR OF BRANDENBURG. 



355 



foes, the elector suddenly arrived before 
the city of Magdeburg, and passing through 
it, continued on his march, until he came 
right in front of the Swedes, who believed 
him to be still in Franconia. They im- 
mediately retired, and sought to form them- 
selves into one body, but he pursued them, 
and came up with them on the 28th of 
June, 1675, at Ferbellin. He had only 
his cavalry with him, his infantry not being 
able to follow quick enough ; nevertheless 
he determined to attack the enemy at once. 
His generals advised him to await the ar- 
rival of his foot-soldiers before he gave 
battle ; but every moment of delay ap- 
peared to him as lost, and the action began 
forthwith. It was attended with the most 
brilliant success ; the Swedes, who ever 
since the Thirty Years' War had been 
regarded as invincible, were now com- 
pletely overthrown and put to flight, direct- 
ing their course towards their Pomerania. 
Thither they were pursued by the elector, 
who conquered the greater portion of that 
province. 

This elector may be regarded as the 
founder of the Prussian monarchy, and his 
successors only built upon the basis he laid 
down. Besides acquiring the Westphalian 
territories from the Cleve inheritance, he 
made the duchy of Prussia independent, 
and wisely availing himself of the pecu- 
liar circumstances of the times, obtained, 
in 1675, the treaty of Welau, by which 
Prussia was declared free of all enfeoff- 
ment to Poland. Berlin, its capital city, 
he enlarged by the Werder and Neustadt ;. 
while in Frankfort and Konigsburg he pro- 
moted the progress of the universities, and 
had already formed a plan for the erection 
of an additional one in Halle. He en- 
couraged all kinds of art and industrial in- 
vention throughout his lands, and hospita- 
bly received and employed a considerable 
number of refugee artisans from France. 
Frederick William always thought and 
acted for himself, pursuing his own inde- 
pendent course, and we shall again find 
him on various occasions successfully pro- 
ducing that respect for the power and 
dignity of his small dominion which he 
was determined to maintain with all his 
influence, not only as a German prince, 
but with all the authority of one who rank- 
ed among the rest of the monarchs of 
Europe. Such is the true sign which in- 
dicates the hereditary princely grandeur 



of a ruler who desires that his people shall 
be inferior to none of all the other nations, 
and whose sole object is nobly to raise it in 
their estimation. And who can reproach 
him for acting with such energy and de- 
termination, at a moment, too, when the 
German alliance had lost all its strength, 
when the power of the emperor himself 
was reduced almost to a mere shadow, and 
when many of the princes of the empire 
had actually already entered into a league 
with foreigners 1 Had he himself joined 
in such treaties to the injury of the empire, 
and thus inflicted the final blow upon 
the small remnant of hope still left, he 
might assuredly have merited severe and 
just condemnation ; but, on the contrary, 
the whole aim of his life was to oppose as 
much as possible the aggressions of the 
French, and to protect, as far as was in his 
power, the liberties of the German and 
European nations generally. 

In the year 1675 the imperial general, 
Montecuculli, an old and experienced sol- 
dier, received a second time orders to 
march to the Rhine, and he commenced 
operations with more favorable results. 
Opposed to him was the celebrated French 
general, Vicomte de Turenne, one of the 
greatest men of his time. They advanced 
against each other with extreme caution, 
for they were already well known to each 
other. At length Turenne fixed upon a 
favorable spot for giving battle, combining 
every advantage necessary, near the vil- 
lage of Sasbach and in the vicinity of 
Oppenheim. But while he had advanced 
in front of the enemy in order to make his 
observations, and form his army in line of 
battle, he was mortally wounded by a 
cannon-ball which struck him off his 
horse. His death produced the greatest 
alarm and dismay among his troops, who 
immediately retreated and took to flight, in 
which they suffered severe loss. 

Nevertheless, very little advantage was 
gained by this affair. The French, in 
order to drive the imperialists out of their 
country, had recourse to the most extreme 
measures. As they were unable to defend 
their frontiers with troops, they proceeded to 
adopt other means of protection ; and, ac- 
cordingly, in the following year they laid 
waste the whole of the country along the 
river Saar to such an extent that, through- 
out a space of more than seventy miles, 
nothing else was to be seen but bulging 



356 



PEACE OF NIMWEGEN. 



villages and fields. Thence the German 
troops could no longer remain encamped in 
a country thus destitute of the means of 
supply, and they were forced to turn back, 
while the unfortunate inhabitants were 
obliged to seek refuge in the forests, where 
a great number of them perished through 
famine and disease. 

All eyes were now directed with anxious 
hope and expectation towards Nimwegen, 
where now, in 1679, a conference was 
being held for the establishment of peace. 
The French, it appears, were forced at 
length to hasten the conclusion of a peace, 
were it even disadvantageous to themselves, 
because they were at this moment sur- 
rounded with enemies. Nevertheless, they 
were at all times extremely happy in their 
attempts to produce division among their 
adversaries, and in this instance they were 
equally successful. By making large and 
advantageous offers they induced the Neth- 
erlander, for whom the war had been prin- 
cipally undertaken, and who owed their 
safety to the imperialists, to withdraw from 
the empire, and concluded with them ex- 
clusively a treaty of peace, and by this 
they received the citadel of Maestricht. 
They were succeeded by the Spaniards, 
who, in order to make peace, were obliged 
to make good most of what the Nether, 
landers had been relieved from paying ; 
accordingly they ceded a great extent of 
territory in the Netherlands, together with 
the whole of the Franche-Comte. Finally, 
the emperor, who was not disposed to carri- 
on the war alone, was forced to make terms 
of peace likewise, and to give up the im- 
portant fortress of Friburg in Breisgau. 
Thus the elector of Brandenburg, who 
had conquered nearly the whole of Pome- 
rania from the Swedes, and was in hopes of 
making an advantageous peace, abandoned 
as he was now by all, even by the Nether- 
lands — for whom he had fought, but who 
now refused their assistance, was forced 
to restore nearly the whole of his con- 
quests. At this conference of Nimwegen 
it was easy to observe the preponderance 
now commanded by France over Europe, 
even by the circumstance of the language 
itself; for among those ambassadors as- 
sembled thirty years previously at Munster 
and Osnaburg, only very few understood 
French at all ; while now, at Nimwegen, 
every one present knew and spoke it 
fluent*, Nevertheless, the articles of 



peace themselves were still written in the 
Latin tongue. 

The oppressed provinces began now 
again to breathe more freely and enjoy the 
blessings of peace, after the insatiable am- 
bition of the French became at length satis- 
fied. But our enemy was ever ready, even 
in the very bosom of peace, to pursue his 
prey. A member of the French parlia- 
ment from Metz, a certain Rolland de Re- 
vaulx, laid before the king a plan by which 
he might extend his dominion far beyond 
the Upper Rhine, if he only gave the right 
interpretation to the words used in the arti- 
cle of the Westphalian treaty : " That Al- 
sace and the other territories shall be ceded 
to him with all their dependencies It was, 
therefore, he said, only necessary to seek 
out what territories and places had former- 
ly belonged to that country, and in the 
course of a short time many possessions 
might be found, of which, under this pre- 
text, he might make himself master without 
any difficulty. This suggestion was ap- 
proved of, and it was taken into further con- 
sideration ; and, in order to give it an ap- 
pearance of justice, the French government 
instituted, in 1680, four courts of council 
under the title of Chambres de Reunions, at 
Metz, Dornick, Brisach, and Besan§on ; 
these were appointed to examine what lands 
and subjects might still belong to the king, 
according to the wording of the article re- 
ferred to. It is easy to be conceived that 
these judges were not long in making their 
discoveries ; the most trifling foundation 
was laid hold of in order to carry out their 
plans. The convent of Weissenburg, for 
instance, although situated beyond Alsace, 
was declared attached to it, and as such 
belonging to the king, because it had been 
founded by King Dagobert, more than one 
thousand years previously ; and the acqui- 
sition of Weissenburg served them as a pre- 
text to demand that of Germesheim, inas- 
much as it had formerly belonged to Weis- 
senburg. In this way the four chambers 
extended their claims for the restoration 
of Zweibrucken, (Deux-Ponts,) Saarbruck, 
(Sarre-Louis,) Veldenz, Sponnheim, Mum- 
pelgard, Lautenburg, and many other pla- 
ces, more particularly, however, the free 
imperial cities of Alsace, and among the 
rest Strasburg especially. These places 
had not been given in the Westphalian 
treaty, as Austria could only then cede in 
Alsace her own hereditary possessions. 



SEIZURE OF STRASBURG. 



357 



The princes and nobles whose property 
was thus suddenly to be transferred from 
German into French hands, exclaimed 
loudly against it. The emperor himself 
protested against it, and Louis XIV., in order 
to observe at least appearances — such was 
his cunning policy — and to shut the mouths 
of his adversaries, promised to examine 
their counter claims, and summoned a con- 
gress at Frankfort. 

Meantime he resolved, beforehand, to 
make himself master of the citadel of Stras- 
burg, which to him was of more value than 
all the rest, and which had always been 
regarded as the key to the Upper Rhine. 
Charles V. considered it of such import- 
ance, that he said, should ever Vienna and 
Strasburg be both threatened at the same 
moment, he would hasten first to save Stras- 
burg. In the month of September, 1681, 
and while the principal citizens were ab- 
sent at the Frankfort fair, several regiments 
were secretly assembled in the vicinity of 
that place, and, to the astonishment and 
alarm of the inhabitants, suddenly sur- 
rounded its walls. In a day or two after- 
wards, Louvois, the minister of war and con- 
fidential adviser of the king, appeared with 
a numerous army and a train of artillery, 
and with heavy threats summoned the citi- 
zens to surrender. Not being at all pre- 
pared to resist this attack, and urged on by 
a party in the city bribed by the king, they 
were forced to yield, and opened their gates 
on the 30th of September, 1681. The 
troops took immediate possession of the 
arsenal and the citizens' arms, the Protest- 
ants were obliged to vacate the cathedral 
of which they had enjoyed possession for 
more than a hundred and fifty years, and 
immediately afterwards Louis XIV. arrived 
himself, and, as in triumph, made his solemn 
entry in the city. No sign of shame at this 
act was visible in the countenance of that 
king, who had, nevertheless, already loudly 
boasted that he made honor the law of his 
life. 

The conference at Frankfort, meantime, 
produced no change in the plans of the 
king ; his deputies evaded with much ad- 
dress all serious discussion upon the inqui- 
ries made, and continued to maintain their 
principles ; while on this occasion, for the 
first time, they introduced as a law the use 
of their own language in all diplomatic 
transactions. Hitherto, as with other na- 
tions, they had written all their state docu- 



ments in the Latin tongue ; but at Frank- 
fort they were composed in French, and all 
the arguments used by the imperial ambas- 
sadors against this innovation were perfectly 
useless ; the only reply made was : " It is 
by command of our king." Thence they 
were forced to succumb, and from this mo- 
ment the French language was adopted as 
the established medium of communication be- 
tween France and all other countries. Men 
of intelligence and enlarged views easily 
foresaw the danger to be dreaded from this 
arrangement, and prophesied the gradual es- 
trangement which must be produced in a 
country imitating the language and customs 
of a nation like France, so anxious to hold 
it under dominion. 

The disputes which arose between the 
different imperial envoys themselves were 
sufficient to show how weak and futile must 
be the attempts they made to seek indemni- 
fication from the usurpers ; for here again 
at Frankfort all those old and contemptible 
questions of pre-eminence, the madness of 
which exceeds all belief, were renewed, 
and while they thus wasted away their 
precious time in a war of words, the French 
took advantage of their miserable neglect, 
and fortified themselves more and more 
strongly in the lands they had usurped. 
At length, however, Austria succeeded in 
forming an alliance with several princes in 
order to repulse force with force ; but a 
revolt which at this moment arose in Hun- 
gary, together with a fresh invasion of the 
Turks there, which had been promoted by 
Louis himself to suit his own purposes, pre- 
vented any result arising therefrom. 

Ever since the year 1670, Hungary had 
been continually agitated by dissension. 
That country was extremely annoyed and 
indignant at beholding its constitution vio- 
lated, and all its cities garrisoned by Ger- 
man soldiers, whom they thoroughly hated ; 
while, in addition to this, the Protestants 
complained loudly against the persecutions 
they endured at the instigation of the Jesu- 
its. Accordingly, the discontented portion 
of the nation having, in the year 167S, 
found a determined leader in Count Em- 
meric of Toeckly, they rose en masse, and 
even formed an alliance with the Turks. 
The warlike and ambitious grand vizier, 
Kara Mustapha, prepared at once for the 
invasion of Hungary at the head of an army 
far exceeding any in strength since the 
conquest of Constantinople. Fortunately 



358 



SIEGE OF VIENNA. 



for the emperor Leopold, he found in the 
Polish king, John Sobieski, a brave and de- 
termined ally, while the German princes 
now faithfully, and contrary to their cus- 
tom, speedily came to his aid, and Charles, 
duke of Lorraine, was appointed chief in 
command of the imperial army. This he- 
roic prince, the conqueror of the Turks, 
and the instructor of the subsequently dis- 
tinguished Prince Eugene, w T as equally 
great and magnanimous in his character as 
a man, as he was in that of a warrior and 
a supporter of the house of Austria. 

Nevertheless, the spring of the year 1683 
had commenced before the preparations 
were completed, while the Turks, who 
were never accustomed to open a campaign 
before the summer season, had already be- 
gun their march in the winter of the pre- 
ceding year, and on the 12th of June they 
crossed the bridge of Esseck. The impe- 
rial army was hastily formed and reviewed 
in Presburg, and consisted of 22,000 foot 
and 11,000 cavalry ; while that of the 
Turks exceeded 200,000 men. The latter 
continued on their march direct for Vienna, 
without halting to lay siege to any of the 
towns in Hungary, as it was hoped they 
would have done. Consternation and alarm 
filled the whole city ; and the emperor with 
his court fled, and sought refuge in Linz. 
Many of the inhabitants followed him ; but 
the majority, after the first moment of terror 
was over, armed in defence of their city, 
while the slow progress made by the Turks 
who, as they proceeded, occupied them- 
selves with pillaging all the villages and 
castles along their march, left time for the 
duke of Lorraine to send a body of 12,000 
men into the city as a garrison ; and as he 
could not venture to advance with his small 
army in order to cut off the passage of the 
enemy, he drew off his troops from the high 
road, and awaited the arrival of the Polish 
king. 

Count Rtidiger of Stahrenberg was ap- 
pointed by the council of war commandant 
of the city, and he showed all activity and 
haste in doing every thing possible to place 
it in a state of defence, and every man ca- 
pable of working or bearing arms assisted 
cheerfully. On the 14th of June the vizier 
appeared with his immense army before 
the walls, occupying a space of the country 
around them to an extent of six leagues. 
Two days afterwards the trenches were 
opened, the cannon fired upon the city, and 



the siege commenced ; the walls were un- 
dermined, and every preparation was made 
by the Turks for blowing up the bastions in 
order to rush pell mell into the devoted 
place, where they hoped to make a glorious 
booty. The besieged, however, made an 
heroic defence, and repaired in the night 
what had been damaged during the day. 
Every step of ground was obstinately dis- 
puted, and thus a struggle equally desperate 
and determined was maintained by the as- 
sailants and the assailed. The most fierce 
and sanguinary scene of contest was at the 
Lobel bastion, where scarcely any part of 
the ground was left unstained with the blood 
of friend and foe. Meantime the Turks 
gained a footing more and more ; at the 
end of August they were already in pos- 
session of the moat of the city walls, and on 
the 4th of September they sprung a mine 
under the Burg bastion ; the explosion made 
half the city shake and totter, the bastion 
itself was rent asunder to an extent of more 
than thirty feet, and pieces of its walls scat- 
tered around in all directions. The breach 
was so great that the enemy made an im- 
mediate assault, but they were repulsed. 
On the following morning, they made another 
attack and were again driven back by the 
brave defenders. On the 10th of Septem- 
ber another and final mine was sprung un- 
der the same bastion, and this time the breach 
was so extensive that a whole battalion of 
the enemy's troops was enabled to penetrate 
through it. This was now a moment of 
most extreme danger ; the garrison was 
completely exhausted by constant fighting 
and fatigue, and sickness had reduced their 
number considerably, while the command- 
ant had sent courier after courier to the 
1 duke of Lorraine in vain. At length on 
the 11th, while the whole city was in mo- 
mentary expectation and dread of the ene- 
my's assault, the Viennese observed from 
their walls that, by the movements in the 
enemy's camp, the expected and so much 
longed-for succor must be near at hand ; 
and soon afterwards, to the joy of all, the 
Christian army showed itself on the Kalen 
Hill, and announced its presence by dis- 
charges from the artillery. The brave 
Sobieski had now arrived at the head of his 
valiant army ; and he was immediately 
followed by the electors of Bavaria and 
Saxony, Prince Waldeck with the troops of 
the circle of Franconia, the duke of Saxe- 
Lauenburg, the margraves of Baden and 



OVERTHROW OF THE TURKS — SOBIESKTS LETTER. 



359 



Baireuth, the landgrave of Hesse, the prin- 
ces of Anhalt, and many other princes and 
nobles of the empire, who all brought with 
them a numerous body of their own troops. 
With such a select body of leaders Charles 
of Lorraine felt he might venture to advance ! 
against the enemy, although his entire force 
amounted only to 40,000 men. 

On the morning of the 12th of Septem- 
ber, . the Christian army descended the 
Kalen Hill in order of battle. The vil- 
lage of Nussdorf, situated on the banks of 
the Danube, was first attacked by the im- 
perialists and Saxons, who occupied the 
left wing, and was taken after an obstinate 
resistance. Meantime, towards mid-day, the 
king of Poland had descended into the plain 
with the right wing, and at the head of his 
cavalry dashed against the innumerable 
battalions of the Turkish horsemen, and 
with irresistible force penetrated through 
the very centre of their ranks, spreading 
before him confusion and dismay ; his 
daring courage, however, carried him a 
little too far, for he was speedily surround- 
ed by the Turks, who now closed upon him 
and his few companions, and he must soon 
have been overcome and destroyed, had he 
not summoned the German cavaliers who 
were in his rear to the rescue, and who, 
galloping up with lightning's speed, fell 
with tremendous force upon his turbaned 
captors, and delivering him from their 
hands, put them to flight, and soon the 
whole of this body of the Turkish army 
was overthrown and sent flying in all 
directions. 

This action, however, only served as an 
introductory scene to the grand battle which 
was to decide the fate of the war ; for the 
immeasurable camp of the Turks, covered 
with thousands of tents, still maintained its 
position, while their artillery continued to 
bombard the city. 

The imperial commander-in-chief held a 
council of war whether the battle should 
be commenced that evening, or whether 
the soldiers should rest until the following 
morning, when he was informed that the 
enemy appeared to be already running 
away in every direction. And such was 
the case in reality. An irresistible terror 
had come over them ; they fled, abandoning 
their camp and all their baggage and am- 
munition, and very soon even those who had 
fired upon the town followed the example 
and decamped with the whole army. 



The booty made in the camp was im- 
mense ; it was estimated at 15,000,000 
dollars, and the tent of the grand tizier 
alone was valued at 400,000 dollars; in 
the military chest were found 2,000,000 of 
dollars. The king of Poland obtained 
4,000,000 of florins for his portion, and 
in a letter to his consort, he writes respect- 
ing the battle and the great joy felt by 
the delivered inhabitants of Vienna, in the 
following terms : " The whole of the ene- 
my's camp, together with their artillery 
and an incalculable amount of property, 
has fallen into our hands. The camels 
and mules, together with the captive Turks, 
are driven away in herds, while I myself 
am become the heir of the grand vizier. 
The banner which was usually borne be- 
fore him, together with the standard of Ma- 
homet, with which the sultan had honor- 
ed him in this campaign, and the tents, 
wagons, and baggage, are all fallen to 
my share ; even some of the quivers cap- 
tured among the rest, are alone worth sev- 
eral thousand dollars. It would take too 
long to describe all the other objects of 
luxury found in his tents, as for instance 
his baths, fountains, gardens, and a variety 
of rare animals. This morning I was in 
the city and found that it could hardly have 
held out more than five days. Never be- 
fore did the eye of man see a work of 
equal magnitude dispatched with a vigor 
like that with which they blew up, and 
shattered to pieces huge masses of stone and 
rocks. I myself had to sustain a long 
contest with the vizier's troops before the 
left wing came up to my aid, but after the 
battle I was surrounded by the elector of 
Bavaria, Prince Waldeck, and several 
other princes of the empire, who embraced 
me with warm affection. The generals 
took hold of my hands and feet, the colonels 
with their regiments of horse and foot salu- 
ted me with, ' Long live our brave king!' 
This morning the elector of Saxony, to- 
gether with the duke of Lorraine came to 
me ; and, finally, the governor of Vienna, 
Count Stahrenberg, with a multitude of the 
people, rich and poor, came to meet me ; 
all greeted me most cordially, and called 
me their deliverer. In the streets were loud 
rejoicings and cries of 1 Long live the 
king !' When I rode out into the encamp- 
ment after dinner, the populace with up- 
lifted hands accompanied me out of the 
city gate. Let us, for this most glorious 



360 



FRESH WAR WITH FRANCE. 



victory, render to tn"e Most High, praise, 
honor, and thanksgiving, for ever!" 

The Austrians had good cause to feel 
grateful for this deliverance. For this 
formidable foe not only plundered and 
slaughtered the people according to his 
usual practice in war, but without making 
any distinction, dragged after him all he 
could seize as slaves. It has been calcu- 
lated that altogether, Austria lost in this 
way 87,000 individuals, among whom were 
50,000 children and 26,000 women and 
young females, and of the latter alone 204 
belonged to the families of counts and others 
of the nobility. 

The whole of Europe took an interest 
in the deliverance of Vienna ; Louis XIV. 
alone was greatly confounded, and none of 
his ministers could command sufficient 
courage to bear the intelligence to him ; 
nay, credible writers assert that, in the 
tent of the grand vizier, letters were found 
from the king, containing the entire plan 
for the siege of Vienna. 

The war with the Turks continued with 
a few intermissions fifteen years longer, 
ending gloriously for the imperial arms. 
The terror felt for their name ceased, and 
their military fame had now declined. In 
the year 1687 they were totally defeated 
at Mohacz by the duke of Lorraine and 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, and as a conse- 
quence of this victory the whole of Hun- 
gary submitted to the imperial dominion, 
and even made its regal dignity hereditary, 
instead of being, as hitherto, only elective. 
After the great victory of Prince Eugene 
at Zeutha, in 1697, an armistice for twenty- 
five years was concluded with the Turks 
at Carlowitz. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Fresh War with France, 1688-1697— Alliance of Eng- 
land, Holland, and Spain, against Louis XIV— The 
French in Germany— Dreadful Devastation and un- 
heard-of Cruelties committed by orders of Louis XIV. 
—Conflagration and complete Destruction of Hei- 
delberg, Worms, and Spires— Deplorable Condition 
of the Inhabitants— The Tombs of the Emperors pil- 
laged—Peace of Ryswick, 1697— Compensation de- 
manded for Germany— Insolence of the French Am- 
bassadors — Elevation of the German Princes — The 
First Elector of Hanover— Frederick, Elector of Sax- 
ony, ascends the Throne of Poland, 1696— Frederick, 
Elector of Brandenburg, places the Crown on his own 
Head as King of Prussia, 1701— War of the Spanish 
Succession between France and the House of Aus- 



tria, 1701-1714— William III. of England— Louis XIV. 
proclaims his Grandson, Philip of Anjou, King of 
Spain— Prince Eugene— His Military Genius and 
Private Character— Appointed Commander-in-Chief 
of the Imperial Army— His Reply to Louis XIV.— 
Marches into Italy— Defeats the French at Carpi and 
Chiari— England— Louis XIV. and the exiled Stuarts 
—The Duke of Marlborough, General of the Allied 
Army— The Elector of Bavaria— The Bavarians in 
the Tyrol— Their Overthrow by the Tyrolese— Battle 
of Hochstadt — Blenheim — Triumphant Victory gain- 
ed by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. 
1704 — The Duke of Marlborough created a Prince oi 
the Empire— Death of Leopold I., 1705. 

Louis XIV. had employed the interval, 
while Austria and the German princes 
were subjugating their formidable enemy 
in the southeast, in gathering new forces, 
for he did not deem the usurped posses- 
sions already in his hands sufficient. And 
as he thought the present to be the most 
favorable moment, he availed himself of 
certain insignificant disputes respecting the 
hereditary title of Charles, the electoral 
prince of the palatinate, and the succes- 
sion to the electorate of Cologne, after the 
death of Maximilian Henry ; and pretend- 
ing that it devolved upon him to protect 
the constitution of Germany, he issued a 
fresh declaration of war against the empe- 
ror in 1688. Before it was even made 
known, his troops invaded the Netherlands 
and began to lay waste as before. Sum- 
moned by this danger, numerous armies 
from Northern Germany, Saxony, Hano- 
ver, and Hesse, hastened to the Rhine on 
the defensive. This was the more praise- 
worthy, as at Ratisbon they were yet dis- 
cussing the question whether or not there 
should be a war. However, even here, 
things began to wear a more determined 
aspect; an imperial war was declared, 
without allowing any one of the states to 
remain neutral, and the emperor added to 
the declaration : " The government of 
France is not to be considered simply as 
the enemy of the empire, but, like the 
Turks, the enemy of all Christendom." 

The arrogance of France and the vio- 
lations of the Nimwegen treaty of peace 
excited also the indignation of the other 
European states ; soon England, Hol- 
land, Spain, and subsequently Savoy, 
took part in the war, and the new king of 
England, William III., who was at the 
same time stadtholder of the Netherlands, 
in his declaration of war, likewise calls 
King Louis — " A disturber of the peace and 
the common enemy of all Christendom." 

In order that France might wage a suc- 
cessful war against so many adversaries, 



THE FRENCH 



unhappy Germany was again subjected to 
the inhuman treatment which the minister 
Louvois had suggested : the flourishing 
banks of the Rhine were reduced to a state 
of complete desolation, and the recital of 
the cruelties inflicted excites but one feel- 
ing of horror. 

As early as January, 1689, the cavalry 
of General Melac surrounded the country 
around Heidelberg and set fire to the towns 
of Rohrbach, Nuszloch, Wisloch, Kirch- 
heim, Eppenheim, Neckarhausen, and 
many others, while the poor defenceless 
people, who supplicated for mercy on their 
knees, were stripped and hunted naked 
into the fields, then covered with snow, 
where many perished through the cold. 
Heidelberg itself was set on fire in several 
different places. The towns of Mannheim, 
OfFenburg, Creuznach, Oppenheim, Bruch- 
sal, Frankenthal, Baden, Rastadt, and many 
other small towns and villages, met the 
same fate. The inhabitants were not even 
permitted, after being plundered and ill- 
treated, to take refuge in the German dis- 
tricts, but were obliged to betake them- 
selves to the French territory. The an- 
cient free cities of the empire, Spires and 
Worms, underwent a lingering and truly 
pitiable state of suffering. After innu- 
merable calamities, after the inhabitants 
had for seven months endured all and sac- 
rificed all, and now thought that at least 
their cities would be saved, it was an- 
nounced to them that the interest of the 
king required that both these cities should 
be razed to the ground. The unhappy 
people were compelled to wander forth out 
of their gates, as mendicants and destitute 
of all means of subsistence, into the near- 
est French cities, and Spires and Worms 
were both set in flames and reduced to 
ashes. On this occasion French avarice 
violated and sacrilegiously broke open the 
very graves of the ancient Salic emperors 
in the cathedral of Spires ; several silver 
coffins deposited there were removed, and 
the venerated bones they contained scat- 
tered upon the ground. In Worms alone, 
fifteen Catholic churches and convents, 
besides those of the Jesuits and Domini- 
cans, were reduced to ashes. When the 
young duke of Crequi, who had the chief 
command in these operations, was asked 
why he visited these cities with such se- 
verity, he merely replied, " It is the king's 
pleasure," — and produced a list of 1200 
46 



IN GERMANY. 361 



towns and villages which were yet to be 
destroyed. These enormities were per- 
petrated by a nation, calling itself the 
most civilized and polished in the world, 
and just at that period of its history too, 
which it denominated the golden age of its 
refinement ; they were the commands of a 
king, who wished to assume the character 
of a protector of the arts and sciences 
wherever he found them. Before he made 
known the designs which his thirst for con- 
quest had led him to form, he sent presents 
to sixty foreign savants, accompanied with 
the following letter from his minister, Col- 
bert : " Although the king," he says, " is 
not ^ T our sovereign, he is desirous of being 
your benefactor ; he sends this present as 
a token of his regard." In this way he 
succeeded in attaching to himself partisans 
amidst the most learned men of other na- 
tions ; but now none had longer confidence 
in the honesty of his intentions, and those 
who formerly wished success to his arms, 
broke out into execrations and curses 
against him and his people. 

This animosity against France, and the 
excellent generalship of the old duke of 
Lorraine, rendered the German arms, dur- 
ing the first years of the war, tolerably suc- 
cessful ; and several fortified towns on the 
Rhine were recovered from the French. 
After the duke's death, however, and when 
the zeal of the first moment had cooled 
down, the advantage turned in favor of the 
indefatigable enemy, especially after the 
great French general, the marshal of Lux- 
emburg, had in 1690 routed a German le- 
gion at Fleurus. Subsequently, however, 
in 1693, they in some measure regained 
their former position under a new German 
general, Prince Louis of Baden, a pupil of 
the duke of Lorraine, who ably defended 
the banks of the Neckar ; and with an 
army of inferior numbers, he made such 
an admirable stand at Heilbronn, that the 
enemy would not again venture to invade 
Swabia. 

All the belligerent nations being wearied 
out, a congress of peace was at length con- 
vened at Ryswick, a small village with a 
castle near the Hague, in Holland. Louis 
XIV. was desirous of peace this time, in 
order to prepare for a new war which he 
anticipated as near at hand. The death of 
Charles II. the king of Spain, was expected 
shortly to take place, and as he had no 
children, Louis wished to obtain that coun- 



362 



ELEVATION OF GERMAN PRINCES. 



try for himself. Accordingly, he now of- 
fered to deliver up many places, and among 
the rest the important citadel of Strasburg. 
But the negotiations were hardly entered 
upon before he succeeded, with his usual 
cunning, in disuniting the allies, by pro- 
mising especial advantages to England, 
Holland, and Spain. They therefore con- 
cluded a separate peace for themselves, and 
abandoned the emperor and empire alto- 
gether. And now the ambassadors resumed 
their high and haughty tone. 

When the question was discussed re- 
specting the compensation to be made for 
the excessive losses produced by the war, 
and when the cities of Worms and Swires 
alone demanded, as an indemnification, 
9,000,000 florins, while the duchy of Ba- 
den claimed 8,000,000, and Wurtemberg 
10,000,000, they replied in an ironical 
tone : " War brings with it many evils ; 
if the Germans are determined to have sat- 
isfaction, let them lead their army into the 
centre of France, and there plunder or 
conquer as much as they please." At last 
they engaged, out of all they had conquered, 
to deliver up Freiburg, Brisach, and Phil- 
ipsburg, together with those places reuni- 
ted by the four chambers beyond Alsace. 
On the evening before the ratification of 
peace, and just when all considered that 
every thing was arranged for signature, the 
French ministers came forward with an ad- 
ditional stipulation, insisting upon its being 
acceded to, viz., " That in all the reunited 
places now about to be restored, the Catho- 
lic religion should remain as it was ;" that 
is, in 1922 German townships which had 
been previously Protestant, and into which 
the French garrisons had introduced, with 
a high hand, the Catholic worship, the lat- 
ter should remain the state religion. The 
Protestant ambassadors of Germany stren- 
uously resisted this clause ; but their re- 
monstrances were not attended to, and the 
treaty of peace was signed. The worst 
feature of the case, and what Louis un- 
doubtedly aimed at, was that the Protest- 
ants looked upon the emperor himself as 
the secret mover of this so-called Ryswick- 
ian clause, whence it produced in Ger- 
many fresh distrusts on the subject of re- 
ligion ; and, in truth, the imperial ambas- 
sadors by no means showed themselves 
vigilant against the designs of France, nor 
were they sufficiently determined in their 
opposition. 



Another cause also of the discord which 
at this period prevailed in Germany, was 
the creation of a new electoral dignity, on 
behalf of the house of Hanover, or Bruns- 
wick-Luneburg. That princely house had 
rendered the emperor very important ser- 
vice in the wars against the Turks and the 
French ; Leopold, therefore, was desirous 
of rewarding it with the said electoral dig- 
nity, and a majority of the other electors, 
even those of the Catholic party, became by 
degrees agreeable to this proceeding, al- 
though it would, at the same time, add a 
new Protestant vote to the electoral college ; 
still, to them, this appeared not unreason- 
able, since the Protestants had lost a vote 
through the elector-palatine having gone 
over to the Catholic religion. But the 
princes, especially Brunswick-Wolfenbut- 
tel, struggled vehemently against this eleva- 
tion of one of their number, for thereby one 
of their most valuable votes would be with- 
drawn from them. When, therefore, the 
emperor, notwithstanding their opposition, 
conferred, in 1692, the investiture of the new 
electorate on Ernest Augustus of Hanover, 
it produced so much contention and general 
discontent in the college of princes, that it 
was deemed advisable, for the present, that 
Hanover should not be permitted to occu- 
py a place in the electoral assembly. The 
new electorate was not inconsiderable ; the 
elder brother, George William of Luneburg, 
had transferred his dukedom to his young- 
er brother Ernest Augustus, so that now 
Luneburg, Calenburg, and Grubenhagen, 
with the provinces of Hoya and Diepholz, 
formed together one of the largest of the 
German territories. The new elector was 
also chief standard-bearer of the empire, 
and he promised, in all cases of the election 
of an emperor, always to give his vote to 
the house of Austria, and to grant the Cath- 
olics in his own dominions the free exer- 
cise of their religion, as well as to furnish 
in aid of the war 500,000 dollars, together 
with 6000 men to Hungary, and 3000 to 
the Rhine. When Ernest Augustus died 
in 1698, even those of the electoral princes 
who had not heretofore approved of the cre- 
ation of a ninth electorate, now voted for 
the investiture of his son George Lewis ; 
the college of princes, on the other hand, 
protested anew against it ; nor did they re- 
cognise it till the year 1705. The house 
of Hanover, however, was soon to rise yet 
higher, for in the year 1714, George Lewis 



FIRST KING OF PRUSSIA. 



3G3 



ascended the English throne by inherit- 
ance, on the demise of Queen Anne, who 
had survived the whole of her thirteen chil- 
dren. 

The year 1696 also witnessed the ele- 
vation of a German prince to a royal 
throne ; the Elector Frederick Augustus 
of Saxony, after the death of the gallant 
Sobieski, was elected king by the Poles, 
and took the title of Augustus I. He was 
obliged to change his creed and conform to 
the Catholic church ; in his Saxon domin- 
ions, however, no alteration was attempted 
in the constitution of the church. The 
Polish crown, however, proved no boon to 
the Saxon house, and was soon lost again. 

This was a period of aggrandizing ef- 
fort among the princes, and these examples 
influenced several. A prince of Orange 
had just become king of England, and the 
elector of Saxony was king of Poland ; 
this prompted Frederick III., elector of 
Brandenburg, who was at the same time 
duke of Prussia, likewise to assume the 
royal title. His territories were indeed 
small, but Frederick loved splendor and 
outward show more than any thing else ; 
he caused himself to be proclaimed king at 
Konigsberg, on the 17th of January, 1701, 
and on the following day he solemnly 
placed the crown on his own head and that 
of his consort; henceforth he was known 
as Frederick I. of Prussia. 

The circumstances of the times were 
exceedingly favorable for these self-promo- 
tions ; at another period they might have 
encountered much opposition. The Span- 
ish war of succession was on the eve of 
breaking out, and the powers which were 
implicated in it hastened to obtain allies. 
The emperor Leopold was the first to ac- 
knowledge the new Prussian royal title, 
and he received in return assistance in the 
war, and the assurance that the imperial 
dignity should continue in the house of 
Austria. Sweden, England, Holland, Po- 
land, Denmark, and Russia, also soon fol- 
lowed, all equally from motives of state 
policy. On the other hand, France and 
Spain, together with the pope, finding their 
adversaries had already gained over the 
king, delayed their recognition until the 
peace of Utrecht. 

The curse of our history since the Thir- 
ty Years' War, has been that our country 
was drawn into all the quarrels of the na- 
tions of Europe, even such as were foreign 



to her, and her soil was the principal arena 
on which others spent their rage in war. 
Hence it is that the plains of Saxony, 
Swabia, and Bavaria, are distinguished by 
the names of so many ba'tles, and this is 
the reason why the banks of the Elbe, the 
Saale, and the Elster, as well as those of 
the Danube, the Lech, the Inn, and the 
Neckar, have been so severely trodden 
down by the burning foot of war. 

In like manner, at the commencement 
of the eighteenth century, that shock 
which convulsed the southern half of Eu- 
rope, was, to a great extent, fought out on 
the plains of Germany. This was occa- 
sioned by the death of Charles II., king of 
Spain. 

Two sovereign families, at that period, 
had the government of the greater part of 
Europe — the houses of Austria and Bour- 
bon : the former had separated into two 
branches, the Austrian proper and the 
Austro-Spanish branch ; but the moment 
had now arrived when both could again 
blend together in one. Louis XIV. had, it 
is true, married the eldest sister of the de- 
ceased king of Spain, but she had, by a 
solemn covenant, renounced her right to 
the Spanish succession. The second sister 
was married to the emperor Leopold ; she 
had made no such renunciation. Her 
daughter, however, consort of Maximilian 
Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, was obliged 
before her marriage, like her aunt, to re- 
nounce all her hereditary claims to Spain. 
The emperor Leopold, however, by a sec- 
ond marriage with a princess of the pala- 
tine house of Neuberg, had two sons, 
Joseph and Charles ; Leopold demanded 
the crown of Spain on behalf of the latter, 
on the ground that Leopold's mother was 
an aunt of Charles II. France, however, 
as well as Bavaria, refused to allow that 
the renunciations of these princesses af- 
fected their families, because they had 
given up only their own claims, and had 
no power to renounce the rights of their 
posterity. Each of these powers now en- 
deavored, through their ambassadors, to 
induce King Charles II., during his life- 
time, to make a will in their favor ; and 
Charles, with the view of maintaining the 

I independence of Spain as much as possi- 
ble, named Joseph Ferdinand, elector of 

: Bavaria, his successor. This youth, how- 
ever, died of the small-pox, even before 

I the king, in the year 1699, and the contest 



364 



TWO KINGS OF SPAIN, PHILIP V. AND CHARLES III. 



between the houses of Bourbon and Austria ' 
commenced afresh. Leopold could easily 
have obtained the victory if he had been 
represented by a more able envoy at Ma- 
drid, and if he himself had possessed more 
decision of character ; for both the Spanish 
queen and Cardinal Portocarraro, arch- 
bishop of Toledo, the most influential man 
at the court, were favorably disposed to- 
wards Austria. But Leopold's ambassa- 
dor, Count von Harrach, a haughty, ava- 
ricious blunderer, left the field quite clear 
for the adroitness and cunning of the French 
agent, the Marquis d'Harcourt ; this man 
gained over the most considerable of the 
Spaniards one after another, and, at last, 
even the cardinal, and through him the 
king himself. Charles made a secret will, 
and when he died, on the 1st of November, 
1700, it was discovered that he had named 
therein the grandson of Louis XIV., Philip, 
duke of Anjou, heir to the whole Spanish 
monarchy. The emperor was thoroughly 
confounded by this unexpected blow ; but 
he had to thank himself alone for it, for 
previously, when the Spanish court had 
repeatedly pressed him to let his son, the 
Archduke Charles, come into Spain with a 
small army — during the continuance of the 
former war with France — the emperor, 
owing to his want of resolution, refused to 
give his consent. 

Louis XIV. knew well that, notwith- 
standing the will of the late king, to take 
possession of Spain for his grandson with- 
out war was not possible ; for Austria had 
been too severely injured ; while the other 
states of Europe likewise viewed, with 
great jealousy, the excessive power of the 
house of Bourbon. William III., king of 
England and stadtholder of the Nether- 
lands, an active and very able man, who 
considered it his province to preserve the 
due balance of the powers of Europe, and 
therefore had always been the enemy of 
Louis, concluded an alliance between both 
of his dominions and Austria ; this was 
the more important, as England and Hol- 
land were the wealthiest and most power- 
ful rulers of the sea. Hence Louis con- 
sidered awhile whether he should accept 
of the Spanish king's will ; he then called 
his council together, and as they unani- 
mously concurred, he resolved to do so ; 
accordingly, he proclaimed his grandson 
king of Spain and both the Indies, in the 
presence of a brilliant assembly of his | 



I court. When he entered from his cabinet, 
leading the prince by the hand, he exclaim- 
ed, as stated by a French writer, with the 
air of a lord of the universe : " My lords, 
you see here the king of Spain. Nature 
has formed him for il ; the deceased king 
has nominated him, the people desire him, 
and I consent." 

This was the signal for a new T and dire- 
ful struggle in Europe. Germany was, 
alas ! divided in itself ; Prussia, Hanover, 
the palatinate, and a few other states were, 
from the beginning, for the emperor. Max- 
imilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria and 
also stadtholder of the Spanish Nether- 
lands, was on the side of the French, and 
Louis, in consideration of his claims to the 
Spanish succession, had already made a 
secret promise to him of the Netherlands ; 
whether seriously, it is difficult to say. 
The brother of Maximilian, the elector of 
Cologne, followed his example and received 
French troops into his territory, " for the 
good of the Germanic empire and the 
preservation of its peace, (!)" as it is ex- 
pressed in the official declarations. 

The emperor Leopold determined with- 
out delay on sending an army into Italy, 
to take possession of the Spanish territo- 
ries in that country, Milan and Naples. 
He placed at its head Francis Eugene, 
prince of Savoy, one of the first of the 
warriors and statesmen of his time, as well 
as of all history. He sprang from a colla- 
teral branch of the house of Savoy, and 
was intended in his youth for the clerical 
profession ; but his genius led him to the 
study of history and its great examples, 
and this again impelled him into the rapid 
current of active life, where the skill of 
such as aspire to glory is put to the test 
in sight of waving laurels. When in his 
twentieth year, he offered his services to 
Louis XIV. The latter, not deeming him 
worthy of notice on account of his dimin- 
utiveness, treated his offer with ridicule, 
and advised him to continue in the clerical 
profession. Eugene immediately turned to 
Austria, where the Turkish war seemed to 
favor his wishes, and he soon distinguished 
himself so greatly, that, after the deliver- 
ance of Vienna in 1683, on which occa- 
sion he fought gallantly, the emperor gave 
him the command of a cavalry regiment. 
Charles, duke of Lorraine, already recog- 
nised him as a hero, and predicted what 
! he would one day become in relation to 



PRINCE EUGENE— LOUIS XIV. AND THE STUARTS. 



305 



the imperial house ; and, in 1693, Leopold 
appointed him field-marshal. Louis would 
now gladly have gained him over to him- 
self, and for which object he sent to him 
an offer of the stadtholdership of Cham- 
paign, and the dignity of a marshal of 
France ; but Eugene answered the person 
deputed : " Tell your king that I am an im- 
perial field-marshal, which is worth quite 
as much as the staff of a French mar- 
shal." 

Eugene was in every respect a great 
general ; his mind embraced at once the 
most important enterprise, together with all 
its details, and while engaged in forming 
his plan of battle, and all its accompanying 
operations, he never neglected to provide 
for the most minute wants of his army, 
which consequently placed the greatest 
confidence in their commander. His eagle 
eye eagerly seized with the greatest promp- 
titude the advantages of the moment, and 
the errors of his adversary were speedily 
caught at and made available for his own 
object. He was, however, not less distin- 
guished in his private character as a man ; 
for his spirit rose superior to the religious 
and political prejudices of his day, and he 
esteemed more highly the arts of peace 
than the dazzling glories of war ; while, 
at the same time, he was so modest and 
unpretending, and estimated his own qual- 
ifications with so much moderation, that he 
not only regarded the promotion of others 
without envy, but, on the contrary, he wil- 
lingly occupied a subordinate post, if by 
so doing he could promote the general good. 
In person Prince Eugene was under the 
middle size, and as he walked amidst the 
tents of his camp, enveloped in his gray 
military cloak, it may be supposed that 
few would recognise in his small figure 
the renowned leader of armies, except those 
to whom the brilliant fire of his dark eye 
betrayed his presence. 

In the month of March, 1701, Eugene 
marched against Italy with the imperial 
army, together with ten thousand auxiliary 
troops from Prussia, and a division of Hano- 
verians. The forces assembled at Rover- 
edo, and ascended the mountain chain ; but 
all the passes on the other side were al- 
ready occupied by the French, so that it 
appeared impossible to descend. The im- 
perial general, however, ordered his men, 
who always obeyed him with enthusiastic 
ardor and alacrity, to cut a passage over 



the rocks and precipices to the extent of 
thirty miles, in which they marched, and 
thus, before the enemy could be at all 
aware of it, his army poured forth from 
the terrific passes of the mountains, and 
encamped on the plains of Verona. By 
two victories gained at Carpi and Chiari, 
Eugene drove the French from a part of 
Upper Italy, and established his winter 

j quarters there. 

As early as the autumn of 1701, an 

| alliance was formed between England, 

j Holland, and Austria. The maritime 
powers stipulated that they should retain 
possession of all the conquests they might 

I make in the Spanish Indies ; and in return, 
they promised the emperor to assist him in 
conquering the Spanish Netherlands, Mi- 
lan, Naples, and Sicily. The English 
would not have taken so active a part in 
the war, if Louis XIV. himself had not 
foolishly and impudently provoked their 
exasperation. England had just succeed- 
ed in driving from the throne the family of 
the Stuarts, on account of their zeal for the 
Catholic religion, and had transferred it 
to William of Orange. Louis received 
the exiled family and gave them his pro- 
tection, and in 1701, on the death of 
James II., (who died at Saint Germain,) 
he recognised his son James III. as king 
of Great Britain ; and it was even reported 
that this prince was about to effect a land- 
ing in England at the head of a French 
army. The English were so incensed 
that a stranger should thus presume to 
dispose of their throne, that king William, 
instead of 10,000 men, now obtained from 
parliament a vote for 40,000. 

William placed at the head of this army 
the earl of Marlborough, created after- 
wards a duke. He had not deceived 
himself in making this selection of his 
commander-in-chief ; Marlborough had 
learned the art of war in the school of the 
great Turenne, and, as a general, stood 
second to none of his day. Nature had 
formed him for a martial leader ; being 
tall, handsome, energetic, and of such 
noble deportment and superior genius, that 
the most elevated in rank and distinguish- 
ed men of every country involuntarily 
did homage to him. In individual feeling, 
he stood inferior to Eugene ; he did not 
possess that integrity and nobleness of 
mind which in the contemplation of grand 
objects loses sight of self ; while he is 



366 



ELECTOR OF BAVARIA— INVADES THE TYROL. 



also accused of an immoderate thirst for 
gain. 

In March, 1702, Marlborough landed in 
the Netherlands and placed himself at the 
head of the Anglo-Dutch army; his im- 
mediate object was to drive the French 
out of the electorate of Cologne. King 
William III. died the same month in con- 
sequence of a violent fall from his horse 
while hunting ; but his successor, Queen 
Anne, implicitly adhered to all his plans, 
and the war was continued. 

With this firm determination shown on 
the part of foreigners, the states of the 
Germanic empire resolved upon taking a 
decisive part in this war of vengeance 
against their hereditary enemy. The de- 
claration of war followed on the 6th of 
October, 1702, and it concluded thus : — 
"France has done every thing in her 
power to humble and crush the German 
nation, in order that she might the more 
easily effect, what she has so long and 
zealously been aiming at, viz., the estab- 
lishment of a universal monarchy." The 
conduct of the elector of Bavaria had 
likewise provoked the decision of the other 
members of the empire in favor of the 
same cause ; for, obstinately adhering to 
France, he had collected a considerable 
force with which he suddenly attacked and 
took possession of the free imperial city 
of Ulm, on the 3d of September ; an act 
severely condemned by the other states. 

The dukes of Brunswick also, in con- 
sequence of their continued indignation 
against the elector of Hanover, forgot 
themselves so far as to raise troops for the 
service of France ; and as they paid no 
regard to the reiterated warnings given to 
them, they were forcibly disarmed, in 
1702, by the elector of Hanover, and 
thenceforth compelled to submit to the will 
of the emperor and the nation. 

The fortress of Landau on the Rhine 
was also this year besieged and captured 
by the imperial general, Lewis of Baden. 
The Roman king, Joseph, came himself 
into the camp, and evinced great courage 
and resolution. In Italy, Eugene was as 
yet too weak to attempt any thing of im- 
portance ; and it appeared as though the 
hostile parties had determined to test each 
other's strength merely in skirmishes. 

The following year was one more rich 
in exploits. Marlborough employed it in 
the conquest of several fortified places on 



the borders of the Netherlands, and cap- 
tured Bonn, Tongern, Huy, Limburg, and 
Guelders. 

In Southern Germany affairs were not 
so prosperous, for the emperor was obliged 
to withdraw a considerable part of his 
army from the Rhine, in order to suppress 
the dangerous insurrection headed by 
Count Ragoczi, which had been raised in 
Hungary by French influence. The pro- 
tracted struggle in that country had the 
effect generally of greatly hindering the 
Austrian powers from making any thing 
like a demonstration against France. In 
the year 1703, the French field-marshal, 
Villars, succeeded in crossing the Rhine 
and uniting with the elector of Bavaria. 
The latter now devised the plan of making 
an incursion into the Tyrol, and possessing 
himself of that country, situated for him 
so conveniently. He marched thither 
with about 16,000 of the flower of his 
army, and the French marshal remained 
behind to cover Bavaria. Owing to a fire 
which unfortunately broke out in Kufstein, 
that strong mountain fortress fell imme- 
diately into the hands of the elector, and 
in their first terror several other places 
surrendered, and among the rest even In- 
spruck itself. Thence the Bavarians 
ascended the Brenner mountain to make 
their way into Italy. Here, however, they 
were anticipated by the brave Tyrolese, a 
people ever ready to lay down their lives 
and their all in the cause of their beloved 
country, who on the present occasion were 
strengthened by a large reinforcement of 
Austrian soldiers, under the leadership of 
the gallant amtmann, Martin Sterzing. 
They climbed up the rugged heights on the 
sides of the passes, and hurled trees and 
rocks down upon their foes, as they defiled 
beneath them, who, finding it impossible to 
continue their march, retreated in all haste. 
A Tyrolese sharpshooter in a ravine lay 
in ambuscade for the elector himself, but, 
deceived by his rich uniform, he shot the 
count of Arco in his stead. The Bavarian 
army suffered still greater loss on its re- 
treat, and, after two months, the elector re- 
turned to his territory with only half the 
forces he had taken with him. 

As a sort of indemnification he succeeded, 
during the winter of the same year, in tak- 
ing possession of the opulent town of Augs- 
burg, as well as of that of Passau, the fron- 
tier fortress of Austria, and on the Rhine 



BATTLES OF HOCHSTADT AND BLENHEIM. 



367 



the French had in the mean time conquered 
the strong fortresses of Brisach and Landau. 

To counterbalance these losses, the allies 
proposed the following year to try with all 
their forces united for better success, and 
according to the plan laid down it was de- 
termined that the three generals, Marlbo- 
rough, Eugene, and Lewis of Baden, should 
fight in conjunction in Southern Germany, 
and that General Stahrenberg should re- 
main in Italy to carry on a defensive war. 
The three generals met at Heilbronn on the 
Neckar, and Marlborough, with the mar- 
grave of Baden, directed his course to the 
Danube, and Eugene marched along the 
Rhine. The Bavarians had stationed a 
part of their army in an advantageous po- 
sition on the Schellen mountain, near Do- 
nauwerth, to dispute the passage of the im- 
perialists over the Danube ; but they were 
attacked there themselves, and after a brave 
defence compelled to fly, their entire camp 
falling into the hands of the enemy. 

After this engagement the united powers 
made overtures of peace to the elector, and 
promised him considerable advantages if 
he would withdraw from the alliance of 
France. He began to waver, and was on 
the point of signing the articles of peace, 
when a messenger informed him that Mar- 
shal Tallard was advancing with a fresh 
army to his assistance. On receiving this 
news, the elector threw the pen out of his 
hand and refused to sign the treaty. The 
marshal came, but with him came likewise 
Prince Eugene, who had followed at his 
heels and now joined Marlborough. They 
sent the old unyielding prince of Baden 
away to the siege of Ingolstadt, lest he 
should derange their plans of battle ; and 
the English general cordially fought hand- 
in-hand with the unpretending Eugene, as 
the latter was ever ready to sacrifice his 
own personal renown for the success of the 
common cause. 

4 On the 12th of October both generals 
took up their position immediately in front 
of the French, and the Bavarians near the 
small town of Hochstadt ; and on the 13th 
they began the battle. The enemy was 
far superior in numbers, and commanded a 
highly advantageous situation, while they 
were well defended by morasses. Marl- 
borough led the right wing, composed of the 
English, Dutch, and Hessians, against the 
French ; Eugene with the left advanced 
against the Bavarians. The battle was 



most fierce, and the assailants were several 
times driven back by a most terrible fire 
from the enemy's artillery. The contest 
was most severe on the left wing, where 
Maximilian fought with the utmost bravery, 
skilfully availing himself of his covered 
position in the bog. Eugene perceived that 
something extraordinary must be hazarded; 
careless of his own life, he rushed forward 
animating his men, when a Bavarian dra- 
goon close by levelled his piece at him, but 
one of the prince's orderlies cut him down. 
At that moment Prince Leopold of Dessau, 
with a number of Prussian infantry, pressed 
forward to his aid, and to him Eugene him- 
self ascribes the determination of the con- 
test in favor of this wing. Meanwhile 
Marlborough likewise had with his wing 
routed the French, and when the elector 
saw them flying from the field, he also re- 
treated with his division. Twenty-eight 
battalions and twelve squadrons of French 
still sought to defend themselves in the vil- 
lage of Blenheim, but they were surrounded 
and forced to yield themselves prisoners. 
Thus a great and decisive victory was 
gained by the allies ; 20,000 French and 
Bavarians lay on the field of battle, 15,200 
were taken prisoners, among whom was 
Marshal Tallard himself, with his son and 
818 officers. As to booty, the victors had 
won a rich military chest, 117 cannon, 24 
mortars, and 300 stand of colors ; and be- 
sides this, 5000 wagons, 3600 tents, and 
two pontoon bridges. From this day the 
name of Marlborough became the theme of 
heroic song throughout Germany, and the 
emperor created him a prince of the empire. 

The elector of Bavaria saw himself com- 
pelled to cross the Rhine with the French, 
and take up his position in Brussels ; his 
territory was occupied by the imperialists, 
and his consort retained for her support 
only the town and revenue of Munich. 
Thus, unhappily for him, terminated the 
campaign of 1704. 

In the following year, 1705, the emperor 
Leopold I. died of dropsy on the chest, in 
the sixty-fifth year of his age ; few of his 
subjects mourned for him, for he by no 
means possessed that affability with which 
princes so easily win the hearts of those 
who surround them, and what rendered 
him still more unpopular, was that he was 
too fond of intrenching himself behind the 
bulwark of the severest Spanish court eti- 
quette then still in practice. His dress 



368 



JOSEPH I.— WAR CONTINUED 



was always black, while the color of his 
stockings and the plume of his hat were of 
scarlet, and on his head he wore a peruke 
with long descending ringlets. His form 
was insignificant, his deportment serious 
and frequently gloomy, while his counte- 
nance was disfigured by a large projecting 
under lip. The most marked trait in his 
character was a severe, austere tone of 
piety, but it was of such a nature that it 
placed him completely under the direction 
and sway of the will of his clergy. In 
other respects he was conscientious, good- 
natured, and very charitable to the poor, 
but from want of judgment, his liberality 
was severely imposed upon. Leopold I. 
was not a sovereign equal to the times in 
which he lived, neither was he at all a 
match for an antagonist like Louis XIV. 
He was succeeded by his eldest son Joseph, 
in his twenty-seventh year. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Joseph I., 1705-1711— Continuation of the War— Riots 
in Bavaria— The Elector outlawed— Marshal Villeroi 
—Battles of Ramillies and Turin, 1706— Triumph of 
Marlborough and Eugene— Complete overthrow of 
the French — General Capitulation — Naples — Spain — 
Battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet, 1708-1709— 
Defeat of the French under Bourgoyne, Vendome, 
and Villars— Humiliation of Louis XIV.— England- 
Queen Anne— Marlborough recalled and dismissed — 
Death of Joseph L, 1711— Charles VI., 1711-1740— 
Peace of Utrecht. 1713— Peace of Rastadt and Baden. 
1714— Death of Louis XIV., 1715— The House of 
Austria in its Relations with the Germanic Empire- 
Peaceful Reign of Charles VI.— His Death, 1740— 
Maria Theresa of Austria— Her Title to the Imperial 
Throne disputed by Charles Albert of Bavaria— Fred- 
erick II. of Prussia— His extraordinary Genius and 
energetic Character— His Army — Invades Austria— 
The first Silesian War, 1740-1742— Glogau— Sanguin- 
ary Battle of Molwitz — Defeat of the Austrians — 
Alliance of France, Spain, Bavaria, and Saxony, 
against Austria, in support of Charles Albert— Hano- 
ver— George II. of England— Charles Albert, King 
of Poland— Election of Emperor in Franktbrt. 

Leopold I, was succeeded by his eldest 
son Joseph, in his twenty-seventh year, 
who was endowed with an energetic and 
aspiring mind. During a short period it 
was doubtful whether or not the new em- 
peror would continue the war with equal 
energy in favor of his brother Charles, 
who had proceeded to Spain in 1704, where 
he had since continued, and had been actu- 
ally acknowledged as king in Aragon, 
Catalonia, and Valencia. Joseph, how- 
ever, declared his determination to prose- 



cute the war with vigor, and he kept his 
word. 

Nevertheless, there was nothing of im- 
portance accomplished anywhere during 
the campaign of 1705. Eugene was sent 
to Italy, in order to reorganize the army 
there, which had fallen into great disorder ; 
but more than this he was not able to do 
this year. Marlborough had returned to 
the Netherlands, where he was obliged to 
collect fresh forces. In Bavaria, mean- 
time, a violent tumult broke out, in conse- 
quence of the oppressive measures adopted 
by the Austrian officers and garrisons. 
They forced the youth of the country into 
the Austrian service, and this outrage led 
to a revolt on the part of the sturdy and 
independent Bavarians. They took up 
arms, liberated the young men who had 
been pressed into service, attacked several 
bodies of the Austrian troops, and encour- 
aged by their first success, they collected 
together about 20,000 of the bold peasant- 
ry under the orders of a young and fiery 
student named Mainl. They proceeded at 
once to make an assault upon the fortresses 
of Braunau and Sch'arding, and forced the 
small garrisons to surrender. The Aus- 
trians were obliged to negotiate with them 
and to conclude an armistice, not as with 
rebels, but as with men defending their 
independence. They, however, availed 
themselves of this circumstance by collect- 
ing together a small imperial army from 
the neighboring districts, and with this as- 
sistance they routed the peasants, recov- 
ered from them one town after another, 
and in some measure re-established order. 
This, however, was attended with many 
acts of severity, and the feeling of bitter 
animosity between the two parties in- 
creased more and more. The elector him- 
self, being looked upon as the first mover 
in the insurrection, and an enemy of the 
empire, was, together with his brother, the 
elector of Cologne, now formally declared 
an outlaw, and his territory escheated as a 
fief of the empire. At the urgent request 
of the elector palatine, the emperor re- 
stored to him the upper palatinate which 
his family had lost in the Thirty Years' 
War, and which had been transferred to 
Bavaria, together with its ancient seat in 
the assembly of electors. About this time 
also the princes, who had hitherto disputed 
the electoral dignity of Hanover, at length 
yielded ; it was universally acknowledged, 



BATTLE OF RAMILLIES— BATTLE OF TURIN. 



369 



and the elector palatine resigned to the 
new elector of Hanover the office of grand 
treasurer. 

France had determined to turn her chief 
force in the succeeding campaign against 
the Netherlands, in order that she might, 
if possible, obtain in wealthy Holland the 
means of continuing the war. Accordingly 
she sent into the field the finest army that 
had as yet appeared in this war ; but its 
general, Marshal Villeroi, was no match 
for the daring Marlborough. Actuated by 
vain confidence, he left his strong position 
at Louvain on the 22d of May, in order to 
attack the enemy on the plains of Ramil- 
lies.* This was exactly what Marlbo- 
rough desired ; his position was excellently 
defended by a morass and some ditches 
filled with water, so that when the enemy 
advanced to the attack, it was impossible 
for them to approach the weaker and more 
exposed points in his order of battle, pro- 
tected as they were by a natural defence ; 
while he, on the other hand, could turn his 
whole force upon their separate points and 
break through them. Before the battle, a 
French officer declared their army to be so 
superior, that if they did not conquer that 
day, they ought never again to show their 
faces before the enemy. Nevertheless 
they were defeated ; for no bravery can 
atone for the faults of a general. More 
than 20,000 men were lost, and eighty I 
standards, together with the drums and 
colors of the royal guard itself ; and two 
months elapsed before the French army 
was able to repair its losses. 

On the other hand the conqueror march- 
ed through Brabant and Flanders, took 
possession of all the towns, made them 
swear allegiance to Charles III. as their 
rightful sovereign, and a council of state 
was established at Brussels in the name of 
the new king. 

Prince Eugene, on his part, would not 
allow this year to pass without some great 
action in Italy. He undertook one of the 
most daring expeditions to be found in 
the annals of war. With not more than 
24,000 German troops he completed a 
march of more than two hundred miles, 
ascending mountains and crossing rivers, 



* This field is almost identical with that on which 
the great battle of La Belle Alliance and Waterloo 
was fought, and the latter name already was employed 
to designate the engagement above referred to more 
than a century ago. 

47 



and through a country wholly occupied 
by the enemy, in order to effect a junction 
with the duke of Savoy, who was closely 
pressed, and whose capital city, Turin, 
was at that moment besieged by the ene- 
my. To the astonishment of every one, 
the expedition succeeded. Eugene arrived 
in time to aid the duke, and hastened to 
the relief of Turin. Although his army 
was much inferior in strength, and only 
indifferently equipped, he nevertheless 
ventured an attack upon the French lines 
on the 7th of September, at four o'clock in 
the morning. He was received by a ter- 
rific cannonade, which, however, did not 
prevent his men from bravely rushing for- 
ward. Prince Leopold of Dessau, subse- 
quently known by the name of the old 
Dessauer, led the Prussians on the left 
wino; against the intrenchments, followed 
in the centre by the Wiirtembergers and 
the troops of the palatinate, and those of 
Gotha on the right wing ; at the same 
time Count Daun made a sally with his 
men from the citadel. The battle was 
extremely obstinate ; two assaults made 
by the Germans were repulsed, when at 
length, after two hours' fighting, the Prus- 
sians* succeeded in mounting the ramparts 
first, and were soon followed by the others. 

The confusion of the enemy was greatly 
increased through their rear line being at- 
tacked by the garrison of Turin, and the 
loss of both their chief generals, the duke 
of Orleans and Count Marsin, who were 
severely wounded and obliged to leave the 
field of battle. Marsin was taken prisoner 
and died next day at Turin ; 5,000 dead, 
and a yet greater number of wounded cov- 
ered the field of battle, and the rest fled im 
such disorder over the mountains into 
France, that of the whole army, originally^ 
80,000 strong, scarcely 16,000 men es- 
caped. All the immense supplies they 
had brought with them, 213 pieces of can- 
non, 80,000 barrels of gunpowder, together 
with a vast quantity of ammunition, fell 
into the hands of the victors. The results 
of the battle, however, presented still 
greater advantages than all this booty, for- 



* In a letter to Count Singendorf, Prince Eugene 
himself savs: " The prince of Anhalt has once more 
done wonders with his troops at Turin. I met him 
twice in the thickest fire, and in the very front of it,, 
and I cannot conceal it, that in bravery, and especially 
in discipline, his troops have far surpassed mine." 
The emperor Joseph himself wrote to Prince Leopold,, 
as well as to Prince William of Saxe-Gotha, very hon- 
orable letters of thanks. 



370 NAPLES— THE 



the French lost rapidly one place after an- 
other in Italy, and were forced to conclude 
a general capitulation, according to the 
terms of which they evacuated Italy en- 
tirely, and engaged to send no more troops 
there during the whole war. The heroic 
conduct of Prince Eugene during this 
memorable campaign had produced such 
glorious results, that his fame resounded 
from one end of Europe to the other, and 
in token of his high regard for his great 
and distinguished merits, the emperor pre- 
sented him with a valuable sword, and ap- 
pointed him governor-general of Milan. 

In the year 1707 France lost a third 
portion . of the Spanish inheritance, which 
fell into the hands of the emperor ; Lom- 
bardy and the Netherlands had already 
been secured to him by the two great bat- 
tles of the pi'eceding year. Naples, where 
only a small body of Spanish troops was 
quartered, was taken possession of without 
-any difficulty, and thus France lost its last 
hold in Italy ; while in the Netherlands 
not a single place was now left for Marl- 
borough to take. The only compensation 
left to Louis XIV. was in the Upper Rhine, 
where he availed himself of the slow pro- 
gress made by the imperialists in their 
operations. The old general, Lewis of 
Baden, who died in 1707, was succeeded 
by the margrave of Baireuth, who was 
equally as inactive in his movements as 
his predecessor, and who, by his irresolu- 
tion, allowed the French to cross the Rhine 
at Strasburg, and to resume their whole 
system of relentless devastation in Fran- 
conia and Swabia. It has been calculated 
that, in the space of only two months, they 
levied contributions to the amount of nine 
millions of florins. The margrave, to the 
satisfaction of all, did not long delay giving 
in his resignation as commander-in-chief, 
and he was replaced by a more active 
leader, George Lewis, elector of Hanover. 
The ill condition of the imperial army, 
however, prevented him from undertaking 
any thing important ; he was obliged to 
content himself with forcing the French, 
through want of supplies, to recross the 
Rhine, and with opposing their passage a 
second time in the following year. 

An expedition which Prince Eugene had 
to make, by desire of the maritime powers, 
'ji the same year, 1707, from Italy to the 
south of France, in order to take possession 
of Toulon, succeeded no better than those 



RHINE — SPAIN. 



previously undertaken by Charles V. in 
the same quarter, while King Louis had 
the satisfaction to see his grandson Philip 
V. once more master of nearly the whole 
of Spain. The Archduke Charles had 
been, it is true, extremely fortunate in his 
operations in Spain the preceding year ; 
his army, which chiefly consisted of Portu- 
guese auxiliaries, had succeeded in taking 
the capital, Madrid, and he had there been 
proclaimed king of Spain ; but his own 
natural indolence, the dissension existing 
among his generals, the hatred of the Cas- 
tilians towards him and the Aragonians, as 
well as to the English and Portuguese, 
together with other causes, assisted gradu- 
ally to deprive him of his conquests, so 
that in the year 1707 he retained nothing 
more beyond Catalonia. 

Meantime Louis XIV. had already suf- 
fered such severe losses in this war, and 
his country was so exhausted, that he most 
anxiously longed for peace, and by con- 
trolling his innate feeling of pride, he made 
attempts to purchase it even at great sacri- 
fices. His adversaries, however, deter- 
mined to punish him severely this time for 
all his former arrogance ; Eugene and 
Marlborough especially, being hostilely 
disposed towards the vain monarch, used 
all their influence equally both in Austria 
and England to prevent any pacificatory 
measures, being resolved to reduce him to 
the most humiliating condition, and in 
which object they succeeded. 

Both these generals, after Eugene had 
regulated affairs in Italy, formed a junction 
once more in the Netherlands ; and thus 
united, they gave battle to, and completely 
defeated the dukes of Bourgoyne and Ven- 
dome — between whom there was great dis- 
union — on the 11th of June, 1708, at 
Oudenarde. After this victory, Eugene 
boldly attacked the citadel of Ryssel, which 
was regarded as impregnable, and of which 
he made himself master. 

The ill success experienced by France 
in this campaign, was made still more 
grievous by its being followed by an "uffS? 
paralleled severely cold winter, 1708, and 
the consequently serious injury produced 
thereby. The cold was so intense that the 
very animals in the forests and the birds in 
the air were frozen to death, and the vines 
and fruit-trees completely destroyed — while 
the inhabitants themselves, already suf- 
fering so acutely from the war, were driv- 



BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET. 



371 



en completely to despair by this terrible 
visitation of nature ; their lamentations 
were heart-rending, and all resources for 
the supplies of the army in the next cam- 
paign were entirely destroyed. Thence 
the king, being now completely discouraged 
and crestfallen, was obliged to humble him- 
self once more, and make overtures of 
peace ; he declared, accordingly, that he 
was willing to renounce Spain, India, Mi- 
lan, and the Netherlands, if they would 
leave to Philip V. Naples and Sicily. But 
the two generals, who appeared at the 
Hague in the midst of these negotiations, 
declared briefly that the house of Austria 
should not lose even a single village of the 
Spanish monarchy, and when this severe 
exaction was at length agreed to. they de- 
manded still farther concessions from the 
territory of France itself : " Alsace," they 
said, " must be given up. and an entire 
line of strong places in the Netherlands, as 
well as in Savoy, must be surrendered, to 
secure these countries for the future against 
the crafty proceedings of France." All 
this the French envoys successively con- 
ceded ; they only refused their consent to 
one proposal of their enemies, and which 
was in truth of a character highly derog- 
atory and dishonorable, viz. : that in case 
his grandson Philip would not resign 
Spain of his own accord, Louis should 
himself assist in expelling him therefrom 
by force of arms. To such an indignity 
the French monarch would not submit, and 
the war was commenced again. 

Part of the summer of 1709 had already 
passed away in these negotiations, and Eu- 
gene and Marlborough hastened to avail 
themselves of the remaining portion of the 
season. They took possession of Tournay, 
and marched against Mons. This place 
Marshal Villars wished to protect, and had 
accordingly taken up a strong position at 
Malplaquet, in front of the city. The two 
victorious generals, however, attacked him 
in his intrenchments without delay, on the 
11th of September, and after a battle, the 
most obstinate and sanguinary during the 
whole war, victory declared in favor of the 
allies. Eugene himself, at the very outset 
of the action, received a grazing shot in 
the head ; but he very calmly folded his 
pocket-handkerchief round his head, and 
led on his troops into the very hottest fire. 
Mons was now closely besieged, and shortly 
afterwards taken. 



Another campaign was now lost, and 
Louis XIV. was a^ain forced to renew his 
offers of peace. He agreed to every thing 
that was demanded, excepting that in order 
not to be obliged to send an army to assist in 
the expulsion of his grandson from Spain, he 
promised to furnish the allied powers with 
a sum of money instead for that purpose. 
I But Louis was now to experience in his 
own person what others had but too often 
felt through him, viz., how acutely severe 
the haughty insolence of the conqueror 
pierces the heart of him whom misfortune 
has laid prostrate at his feet. He was now 
forced to witness what was but too clearly 
manifested, how by the duplicity he had 
himself formerly practised in all his ne- 
gotiations, he had alienated from him the 
confidence of all the other European na- 
tions ; he was answered that, as long as 
Philip V. remained in Spain, they could 
put no trust in the promises of his cabinet ; 
and if he seriously desired peace, he must 
commence by satisfying all the demands 
made by the allied powers, and fulfil all the 
conditions of the treaty within the period of 
two months. 

After such a declaration, expressed in 
terms so haughty and overbearing, the 
humbled monarch was forced to recom- 
mence war, at whatever sacrifice, and 
Eugene and Marlborough succeeded with- 
out much difficulty in capturing one town 
after the other on the frontiers of France ; 
while in addition to this the news now ar- 
rived from Spain, that Count Stahrenberg, 
Charles's general, had completely defeated 
the army of Philip V., and that on the 28th 
of September, 1710, Charles had made his 
triumphal entry into Madrid. 

Louis XIV., already old and feeble, was 
now reduced to the last extremity, and was 
left without one resource. After so many 
wars, and the consequent sacrifice of so 
many thousands of lives, together with such 
large sums of money, he was forced to be- 
hold the destruction of the whole of that fab- 
ric built to perpetuate the grandeur of his 
name and government, and he was even 
called upon to offer up a portion of his own 
ancient patrimonial realm. 

Never did fate appear to have dealt 
more hardly with one who felt secure in 
the conviction that he had elevated him- 
self to the highest pinnacle of monarchal 
greatness and imperial glory. But his 
adversaries had themselves now lost sight 



372 



DEATH OF JOSEPH I. — PEACE OF UTRECHT. 



of that moderation in the moment when its 
influence would have saved them ; they 
had likewise become arrogant through 
their good fortune, whence they lost a 
great portion of the fruits of their victories. 
Three favorable circumstances at once 
rescued France from the great extremity 
to which she was reduced, and gained for 
her more liberal conditions of peace. 
These fortunate events were : the recall 
and dismissal of the duke of Marlborough, 
the triumph of the French partisans in Spain, 
and the death of the emperor Joseph I. 

In England, where the friends of Marl- 
borough had hitherto governed the state, an 
opposite party had, during his absence, 
gradually and secretly formed itself into 
a powerful body, and adopted the term 
Tories or Royalists, in contrast to the 
other — the Marlborough party, which re- 
presented the Whigs or friends of the peo- 
ple. The efforts made by Marlborough in 
the war were now regarded as suspicious 
by Queen Anne, and his wife, who had 
hitherto held great sway over her mind, 
was now supplanted by another influential 
party, Lady Masham ; a new parliament 
was elected in 1710, of which the Tories 
formed the majority, and thence measures 
for peace were loudly advocated in substi- 
tution for those of war. Marlborough was 
allowed to hold command for a short time 
longer, but with such restrictions that he 
almost immediately afterwards resigned it 
altogether. 

The death of the emperor Joseph I., on 
the 17th of April, 1711, contributed not a 
little to establish a peace. He died of the 
small-pox, in his thirty-third year, and is 
represented in history as a prince of an 
active and prompt character, and far supe- 
rior to his father and brother. His mind 
was capable of entertaining the most noble 
and enlarged ideas, and thence it was that 
his penetrating eye selected Eugene, with 
his extraordinary genius, as worthy of his 
entire confidence. As the emperor died 
without heirs, he was succeeded to the 
throne by his brother, the Archduke Charles. 
The question now arose respecting the 
equilibrium of the powers of Europe, as in 
the time of Charles V. : whether it were 
advisable that the present Charles, if elect- 
ed by the Germans as their emperor, under 
the title of Charles VI., should be allowed 
to preside over the half of Europe, and the 
power of the house of Austria thus be- 



come so preponderating ? For Charles 
VI. would have possessed the same domi- 
nation as Charles V., if he united the 
whole of Austria to the Spanish monarchy. 
Such a predominance appeared dangerous 
to the other states, especially to the mari- 
time powers, and they accordingly pro- 
moted the election of Charles as emperor, 
with the view of afterwards depriving him 
of a portion of the Spanish succession. 
He was therefore crowned at Frankfort, on 
the 22d of December, 1711. 

Charles, however, had in the mean time 
lost all he had gained in Spain. Defeated 
several times by the able French general, 
the duke of Vendome, all his possessions 
there were reconquered, and Philip V. was 
re-established in his kingdom. 

During this interval the English minis- 
ters had been secretly negotiating with 
France, and the preliminary conditions of 
peace were already signed ; so that the 
allies found themselves forced to agree to 
stipulations by no means advantageous to 
them — so little honorable had been the 
conduct of England in her proceedings 
with regard to her confederates. The 
conferences for a general peace now com- 
menced, and Utrecht was chosen as the 
place of assembly. 

Upon the subject of the main point to be 
discussed — the Spanish inheritance — they, 
notwithstanding the protestations of the em- 
peror, were soon agreed. Philip V. was 
to have Spain and India, and Charles the 
remainder ; at the same time Philip was to 
renounce all claim to the throne of France, 
so that the two crowns of Spain and France 
could never be placed upon the same head. 

France ceded to England Hudson's Bay 
and Newfoundland, and moreover, by de- 
sire of that power, she demolished the 
whole of the fortified works of Dunkirk. 
To Portugal she gave up likewise various 
territories in South America ; to Prussia 
the possession of Spanish Guelderland, and 
the sovereignty of Neufchatel and Valen- 
gin, and she acknowledged its prince as 
king of Prussia. Savoy obtained impor- 
tant fortresses on the French frontiers, and 
as that country could also lay claim to the 
Spanish crown, the island of Sicily was re- 
signed to her as an indemnification. Hol- 
land, which had adhered to the league 
more faithfully than all the others, and 
had always refused the advantages offered 
by a separate peace with France, received 



DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.— THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA. 



373 



but very poor amends, while she was for- 
ced to relinquish the strongest fortresses 
she had conquered, only being allowed to 
retain a few of the weaker places, to her 
of little service. Spain eventually sur- 
rendered to England the stronghold of 
Gibraltar and the island of Minorca, and 
thus England reaped the greatest benefit 
from this treaty of pacification. 

The emperor and the imperial states, 
deserted now by their allies, found them- 
selves obliged either to negotiate a peace 
or prosecute the war alone. The stipula- 
tions made by the French were of the most 
shameful and humiliating nature ; inas- 
much as Louis, in order no doubt to prove 
himself extremely generous towards his 
ally, the elector of Bavaria, demanded 
that all the estates of that prince should be 
restored to him, and that the territories of 
Burgau and Nollenburg, together with the 
island of Sardinia, as a kingdom, should 
likewise be ceded to him: a truly royal 
recompense for him who had been the 
faithful ally of the empire's foe ! To have 
agreed to such conditions would have been 
too dishonorable ; accordingly the war was 
resumed — but with what chances of suc- 
cess ? Eugene with his forces, now re- 
duced to a mere handful of imperialists, 
was not in a condition to face the entire 
French army under the command of Vil- 
lars, nor even to maintain his ground in 
defence of the banks of the Rhine ; whence 
the adjacent circles of that territory were 
again devastated, and the important for- 
tresses of Landau and Friburg again fell 
into the hands of the French. 

In this state of things, Eugene and Vil- 
lars, in November, 1713, met in the castle 
of Rastadt, and recommenced negotiations. 
These two great generals, who had already 
more than once confronted each other on 
the field of battle, were now equally de- 
sirous of being distinguished as the pro- 
moters of peace, and after overcoming the 
difficulties thrown in their way, and which 
in one or two instances were produced by 
the overbearing pride of Louis himself, 
they at length signed the treaty of peace 
on the 7th of March, 1714. The emperor 
received the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, 
Sardinia, Mantua, and the sea-ports of Tus- 
cany ; and France restored all the con- 
quered places she had gained on the Rhine, 
as far as Landau. The electors of Bava- 
ria and Cologne were freed from the im- 



perial ban, and were reinstated in all their 
possessions and dignities. 

These were the principal conditions of 
peace, but there were many other points, es- 
pecially relative to the Germanic empire, 
which were definitively agreed to on the 7th 
of September, 1714, at Baden, in Aarau. 

And thus, once more, a violent tempest 
had passed over our heads. Meantime, the 
great war in the north, and which at this 
moment convulsed the other moiety of 
Europe, north and east, although not much 
felt in Germany, pursued its course until 
the death of the Swedish monarch, Charles 
XII., in December, 1718. During the ill 
fortunes of Sweden, Brandenburg took pos- 
session of a portion of Swedish Pomerania, 
and Hanover secured to itself by purchase, 
the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, and 
both retained their acquisitions during the 
peace. On the death of Louis XIV. in 
1715, Europe, after these two great wars, 
was suffered to enjoy for some time a state 
of repose. 

We have described the important war 
just concluded more in detail, because 
therein France lost her ascendency ; while 
for Austria and Germany in general, it pro- 
duced that favorable moment by which they 
were enabled to occupy, once more, their 
ancient honorable position in the world's 
history. As it was to be feared, since 
Louis XIV. had manifested such desire for 
conquest, that if left to itself, a single state 
must be too weak to resist the prepondera- 
ting power of France, King William III. 
of England strenuously labored, single- 
handed, to oppose, by means of a conven- 
tion of several states, a barrier to that 
ambition, so that in future the laws of 
justice and equity should alone govern 
nations among themselves. Thence he 
was the founder of the new system of po- 
litical equilibrium, and merits the apprecia- 
tion due to a great man ; for he effected 
great things with small means, and was, in 
truth, the shield of Europe. Beyond every 
thing else, however, he founded his hopes 
for the maintenance of lasting peace and 
security upon the union of England witn 
Austria — an alliance, to use the expression 
of that period, of the most independent 
Protestantism with the most legitimate Ca- 
tholicism. This union, in fact, produced 
an entire new form in the development of 
all the relations of the different European 
states. But one of its most important re- 



374 



STATE OF AFFAIRS IN GERMANY. 



suits has been to render the principles of 
tolerance, reciprocal esteem, and moral 
dignity, more prevalent among nations ; 
and it is in this respect especially that the 
first moiety of the eighteenth century dis- 
tinguished itself, in spite of its many im- 
perfections. Thence, by this means, Austria 
was placed once again in the centre of 
Europe, as the power destined to establish 
relationship between all other nations, and 
to maintain among them order and union ; 
while with respect to Germany itself, she 
was called upon to defend, with still greater 
power, the pristine dignity and the ancient 
constitution of that empire. The glory and 
the acquisitions that had fallen to her share 
through the late war, appeared indeed as an 
indication of the favor of divine providence, 
and as a ratification of the rank she was 
to hold in order to bring into operation the 
objects she was destined to realize. She 
was, in fact, more powerful now than even 
if she had succeeded in uniting the Spanish 
crown with that of Austria ; for the reign 
of Charles V. himself had already shown 
that such an extension of dominion is any 
thing but real augmentation of power. 
Austria was chiefly indebted for her pres- 
ent state of elevation to the great genius 
of Prince Eugene, and to the sovereign she 
lost too soon, the emperor Joseph I., who 
entered completely into the exalted ideas 
of that distinguished man. 

Had the emperor Charles VI. possessed 
sufficient penetration of mind to perceive 
the position he was called upon to secure 
to Austria and Germany in the history of 
European policy, and of which he might 
have made himself master forthwith, he 
would have been enabled to establish the 
greatness and renown not only of his own 
portion of the empire, but of the whole of 
Germany, and have laid the foundation for 
a long and glorious peace throughout 
Europe. But Charles's genius, as well as 
that of the age he lived in, was not capable 
of comprehending, much less executing 
such an important plan. The idea of the 
equilibrium of the states became more and 
more materialized into a careful estimation 
of the physical powers, a measurement of 
the produce of countries, and an exact 
census of their subjects and soldiers. 
Thence one of the greatest evils origina- 
ting in the reign of Louis XIV., became 
now more universally adopted, inasmuch 
as sovereigns sought for the security of 



their independence, not in the love of their 
subjects, where alone it rests, but in the 
great number of their soldiers, ever ready 
to strike the blow. Whenever one state 
augmented its mercenaries, its neighbor 
followed the example, and this was almost 
the only scale of proportion between nations ; 
while, at the same time, all moral and in- 
tellectual power was accounted as nothing, 
because it could not be reduced to measure- 
ment. Such a state of things must bring 
with it a heavy judgment; intellect thus 
misprized, abandoned altogether the struc- 
ture, the formation of which had cost so 
much labor and pain, and which it alone 
could uphold, and thence this system of 
equipoise, after a short duration of splen- 
dor in the time of Eugene and William, 
and an extended period of doubtful exist- 
ence, finally fell its own sacrifice at the 
end of the same century in which it took its 
rise. 

In consequence of this system, and the 
position therein occupied by the house of 
Austria, Germany found itself implicated 
in. the wars of that dominion ; besides 
which, it was forced to share in all the 
commotions of Europe, without reaping 
any advantage by them, until the venera- 
ble and tottering fabric of the empire, com- 
pletely overcome by continual concussion, 
fell to pieces. For in the existence of 
nations, as in that of individuals, there is 
no pause ; if they do not press onward 
they retrograde incessantly, and Germany 
had just shown itself frigidly indifferent and 
unwilling to embrace a favorable opportu- 
nity for its elevation. 

Meantime, the last twenty years of the 
reign of Charles VI. were, with trifling ex- 
ceptions, a period of peace. He more es- 
pecially devoted himself to the internal ad- 
ministration of his extensive and beautiful 
provinces ; and this, after an epoch of so 
much suffering and calamity, operated 
gratefully and beneficially. As he had no 
male issue, he had drawn up a solemn law, 
called the Pragmatic Sanction, according 
to which he transferred to his daughter, 
Maria Theresa, the peaceful possession of 
his hereditary lands. This he was ex- 
tremely anxious to have confirmed by the 
leading states of Europe, and in this object, 
after many abortive endeavors, he succeed- 
ed ; but this sanction, nevertheless, did not 
serve to secure his daughter, after his death, 
from the attacks of a host of enemies, who 



DEATH OF CHARLES 



VI. — MARIA THERESA. 



37.3 



hoped to make good their pretensions by 
force of arms. 

The emperor himself carried on a war 
from the year 1733 to 1735, on behalf of 
Augustus III. of Saxony — who had been 
elected kino; of Poland — against the French, 
who were desirous of dethroning him, and 
substituting in his place Stanislaus Leczin- 
ski, father-in-law to the French monarch, 
Louis XV. This war, however, was not 
favorable to Austria and Germany ; Au- 
gustus III. continued, indeed, by the subse- 
quent treaty of peace, king of Poland, but 
in return for this, Germany was obliged to 
sacrifice to its rapacious neighbor a new 
province : Lorraine being ceded to Stanis- 
laus, and through him it came into the 
hands of France ; Francis Stephen, then 
duke of Lorraine, being made grand-duke 
of Tuscany, while the Spanish infante, Don 
Carlos, was indemnified for Tuscany by the 
cession of Naples and Sicily. The Austri- 
an army was equally unsuccessful against 
the Turks, and at the conclusion of peace 
in 1739, the government was forced to give 
back the important fortress of Belgrade, 
which Prince Eugene had conquered, and 
which had served as a frontier stronghold 
in that quarter. 

The emperor Charles VI. died October 
26, 1740, and his daughter, Maria There- 
sa, by virtue of the Pragmatic Sanction, 
took possession of the government in all his 
dominions. But immediately after the de- 
cease of the emperor, an envoy of the elec- 
tor of Bavaria arrived, furnished with a 
declaration from his master, in which he 
said : " He could not acknowledge the 
young queen as the inheritress and suc- 
cessor of her father, because the house of 
Bavaria had legitimate claims to the hered- 
itary Austrian provinces." These preten- 
sions the elector founded upon his descent 
from the eldest daughter of the emperor 
Ferdinand I., whose posterity ought to insist 
upon their title to those possessions, seeing 
that the male line of the house of Austria was 
now extinct. This claim, however, it was 
evident, could only be made valid in case 
the late emperor had not left a daughter ; 
but as he had done so, she must take pre- 
cedence of all collateral female relations. 
The law advisers of the elector attempted 
to justify the claims of their sovereign upon 
several grounds ; but what, however, in- 
fluenced the elector in his proceedings be- 
yond every thing else was, the encourage- 



ment he received from France, who secret- 
ly promised him her aid in the dismember- 
ment of the Austrian inheritance. 

Before, however, the dispute in this quar- 
ter was brought to a decision by force of 
arms, another enemy presented himself to 
oppose Maria Theresa, and whose appear- 
ance was still more unexpected, viz : the 
young king of Prussia, Frederick II., who 
only having just mounted the throne in the 
same year, 1740, marched suddenly into 
Silesia, and took possession of that country. 
In his manifesto, which he published at the 
same time, he laid claims to various prin- 
cipalities of Silesia, viz., to Jagerndorf, 
Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau respectively. 
With regard to the first territory, he traced 
his rights from the period of the Thirty 
Years' War, when the margrave of Bran- 
denburg-Jagerndorf was placed under the 
ban of the empire, and his principality con- 
fiscated by the emperor Ferdinand II., be- 
cause he had formed an alliance with the 
Bohemian king, Frederick V. The king 
of Prussia maintained, that even supposing 
the said act of outlawry against that prince 
was just, still the land in fee simple ought 
not to have been withheld from his kindred, 
when they were not implicated in the of- 
fence he committed. But his claims to the 
principalities of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Woh- 
lau, Frederick based upon a covenant of a 
much earlier date, viz., upon that of Duke 
Frederick of Liegnitz with Joachim II. in 
the year 1507. What, however, more es- 
pecially worked and operated in the soul 
of the young and ambitious king, and 
which, in the very first year of his reign, 
made him take up arms so eagerly, in or- 
der to seize the opportunity by which he 
might renew those claims — which but for 
his appearance in the world might have re- 
mained perhaps in abeyance forever — this 
incentive he himself discloses to us in a 
very few words. After having recorded, 
in his History of the house of Branden- 
burg, the elevation of Prussia into a king- 
dom by Frederick I., he gives the follow, 
ing explanation : " This act of Frederick 
I. served as a stimulus to all his succes- 
sors, for by that he seemed to indicate to 
them the grand object by which he was 
swayed, and to address them thus : ' I have 
gained now a title for 3'ou, and it is for you 
to render yourselves worthy of it ; I have 
laid the foundation for your greatness, and 
it is for you to complete the work I have 



376 FREDERICK 



commenced.' " These words are the key 
which throws open to our view the motives 
by which Frederick the Great was actua- 
ted throughout his whole reign. The same 
sentiments by which Charlemagne had been 
incited, and which, brought by him so suc- 
cessfully into operation, made him a con- 
queror ; the same ideas by which Gustavus 
was urged on to the most daring enterprises, 
even to the sacrifice of his life on the field 
of battle, worked likewise in the mind of 
Frederick. Thence he held himself to be 
the chosen instrument appointed by fate to 
raise his people to the rank which, in his 
strength of mind, he regarded as complete- 
ly feasible, and to embody in the title of 
king the more substantial possession of 
royal power and aggrandized dominion. 
Nature had endowed him with a genius so 
bold and aspiring, that he felt his pres- 
ent sphere of action much too contracted 
for the exercise of his vast plans, and he 
accordingly lost little time in extending his 
field of operations. In energy and activity 
of character Frederick has never been sur- 
passed by even the most distinguished and 
enterprising men in the pages of history, 
and none ever acted with such command- 
ing influence upon his age. But again, 
the greatest man is an evidence of his age, 
reflecting in a clear mirror its virtues and 
defects. We must not, therefore, be sur- 
prised if Frederick II., notwithstanding the 
greatness of character inherent in him, does 
not in many points maintain his superiority 
when placed in comparison with the great 
men to whom we have alluded, and if even in 
certain circumstances he may appear mean 
and ignoble, when, perhaps, in ordinary 
times his acts might have merited a more 
noble interpretation ; neither must we be 
astonished that the evils he produced in his 
country called forth the severe and bitter 
complaints against him. 

At the death of Frederick William I., 
on the 21st of May, 1740, Frederick was 
only twenty-eight years of age ; his essen- 
tially active mind, excited still more by in- 
cessant application to the sciences, and by 
constant communication with learned men, 
was adapted for the most profound subjects 
of research. The study of history had 
transported his thoughts far beyond the nar- 
row confines of his own times, and had in- 
stilled within him the most elevated ideas 
of the dignity of kings, of which his first 
acts as sovereign gave immediate evidence. 



THE GREAT. 



It was soon shown that he was resolved to 
be his own ruler ; his activity in the ad- 
ministration of affairs, the attention he de- 
voted to all subjects, from those of the most 
grave import down to those of the most tri- 
vial nature, his sacrifice of rest and plea- 
sure, the strict distribution of his hours, so 
that not one should be lost in inactivity — 
all this excited the greatest astonishment 
in those of his court, who had never heard 
of, or been accustomed to witness their 
sovereigns imposing upon themselves so 
many sacrifices for the government of their 
dominions. The extraordinary effect thus 
produced is very aptly described by a 
resident ambassador when writing to his 
own court : " In order to give you a cor- 
rect idea of the new reign," he says, " it is 
only necessary to state that the king posi- 
tively does all the work himself, while his 
prime minister has nothing to do but to is- 
sue forth immediately from the cabinet the 
commands he receives, without ever being 
consulted upon the subject. Unfortunate- 
ly, there is not one at the king's court who 
possesses his confidence, and of whose in- 
fluence one might avail one's self in order to 
follow up with success the necessary pre- 
liminaries ; consequently, an ambassador 
is more embarrassed here than at any 
other court." In truth, the policy intro- 
duced by France into Europe, which con- 
sisted in envenoming all relations of sov- 
ereigns between each other, by employing 
every art, of cunning and espionage in or- 
der to discover the projects of foreign 
courts, even before they had been matured 
by those courts themselves, could not be 
brought to bear against Frederick II. ; for 
he weighed over every plan within the si- 
lence of his own breast, and it was only in 
the moment of its execution that his resolu- 
tion was made known. 

Thus it was that he proceeded with his 
invasion of one of the Austrian provinces 
on the death of Charles VI. Some prepa- 
rations for war were observed being made, 
it is true, but these were only partially ne- 
cessary, inasmuch as the system of econo- 
my and good order pursued by Frederick 
William I. had enabled him to leave to his 
son an excellent army of 80,000 men, and 
a treasury of more than eight millions of 
dolktrs ; besides which, every thing was 
arranged with so much silence and secrecy, 
that none could penetrate into the real in- 
tentions of the young king. Usually, be- 



FIRST SILESIAN WAR— BATTLE OF MOLWITZ. 



377 



fore undertaking a war, it was necessary 
to seek an alliance with other powers ; but 
in this case Frederick communicated with 
no ambassador, nor would he enter upon 
or contract any treaty with any one sover- 
eign. He knew full well that the best help 
lies in ourselves ; and he likewise calcu- 
lated upon the strict discipline and activity 
of his army, upon which, devoted to it as 
he was with his whole soul, he never failed 
to rely during his entire reign. 

" When the king resolves to make a 
journey," says the afore-mentioned ambas- 
sador, " it is his custom never to announce 
his intention to those around him, nor to 
those even who are to accompany him, un- 
til a few hours before his departure, when 
he finds them all ready in waiting, for his 
retinue consists neither of court nor cour- 
tiers, but is formed of the elite of his prin- 
ces, generals, and adjutants." Thence, by 
means of such expedition and secrecy, he 
was enabled to augment the power of his 
states and to supply the wants of the mass. 

The emperor Charles VI. died on the 
20th of October, 1740, and on the 13th of 
December of the same year Frederick II. 
marched already into Silesia. While his 
army however was en route for Silesia, his 
ambassador appeared simultaneously at 
the court of Vienna with proposals for a 
convention. Frederick offered the queen 
of Hungary, if she would give up peace- 
fully the principality of Silesia, the aid of 
his arms in the maintenance of her other 
dominions, and his vote at the electoral col- 
lege for her husband, Francis Stephen of 
Tuscany, on electing the future emperor 
of Germany ; but these proposals were re- 
jected. The few Austrian troops quar- 
tered in Silesia were very soon routed ; 
the fortified places alone made resistance 
and were closely besieged ; the following 
spring, however, was to decide whether the 
possession of this country, thus so easily 
subjected, could be maintained against an 
Austrian army. Field-marshal Neuperg, 
an Austrian general of the school of Eu- 
gene, advanced with a numerous body of 
troops to reconquer Silesia, and the young- 
er soldiers of Prussia, who were as yet on- 
ly acquainted with the theory of war and 
not with its realities, stood now front to 
front opposed to those who ranked unques- 
tionably among the first warriors of Europe. 
But the first essay of the Prussian arms 
crowned them with glory. In the night of 
48 



the 9th of March the hereditary prince of 
Dessau scaled and carried the walls of the 
fortress of Glogau, and on the 10th of 
April the king, with the main army, came 
up with the Austrians at Molwitz, where 
he was not at all expected by them ; they, 
however, gained sufficient time to form 
their line of battle, and the action com- 
menced about two o'clock in the afternoon. 
It remained for a long time undecided, 
for the Austrian cavalry fought with the 
greatest bravery, and throwing the right 
wing of the Prussians into confusion, rush- 
ed on to their train of battery, of which they 
took possession, and turned the muzzles of 
the cannon against the Prussians themselves. 
The king, who now for the first time beheld 
war in all its fearful reality, lost his self- 
command ; Schwerin, his experienced field- 
marshal, who viewed all that passed with 
the greatest coolness and resolution, being 
well acquainted with and depending upon 
the chances of war, advised his sovereign 
to fall back upon the division commanded 
by the duke of Holstein-Beck, in order 
with him to cover the retreat if necessary. 
This advice, after considerable hesitation, 
the king followed, and towards dusk he 
withdrew with a small retinue, and rode 
to the little town of Oppeln. He imagined 
the place was still occupied by the Prus- 
sians, but they had been driven from it the 
previous evening, and when in answer to 
the sentinel's " Who goes there ?" he re- 
plied, " Prussians !" the king and his small 
party were forthwith greeted with a dis- 
charge from the muskets of the Austrians 
behind the grated gate. The king quickly 
turned round and galloped off to the small 
town of Lowen, and was only saved by the 
darkness of the night from being taken 
prisoner. Meanwhile, scarcely had he 
quitted the field of battle before fortune 
changed in favor of the Prussians ; Field- 
marshal Schwerin, by a dexterous attack 
on the enemy's flank, turned the success of 
the day to the side of his sovereign ; and 
the sharp-shooting of the Prussians, to 
which the Austrians were as yet unaccus- 
tomed, completely decided the battle. The 
king received the happy tidings on the fol- 
lowing morning at Lowen, and hastened 
to congratulate his brave general and his 
army upon their success. 

This sanguinary and dearly-purchased 
victory turned the eyes of all his contem- 
poraries upon the young sovereign of Prus- 



378 



GENERAL ALLIANCE FORMED AGAINST AUSTRIA. 



sia : and this enterprise, because it was 
successful, was applauded as being the 
decision of fate in his favor. Had how- 
ever Frederick been unfortunate, a thousand 
voices would have condemned and ridiculed 
him as a fool, for having undertaken the 
realization of projects without having cal- 
culated upon the power necessary to ensure 
their success ; similar to the judgment pro- 
nounced upon Charles Albert of Bavaria, 
who with equal ambition advanced and 
stretched out his hand to seize the royal 
and imperial crown. And in truth, the 
daring power which attempts aught of a 
nature uncommon and extraordinary in the 
grand theatre of the world, is only appre- 
ciated in proportion to the success with 
which the execution of its design may be 
crowned. 

The ill success of the Austrian arms in 
Silesia encouraged the French government 
to avail itself of the moment now offered 
to promote the dismemberment of the Aus- 
trian states. Cardinal Fleury, who now 
ruled in France at the head of the govern- 
ment, and found in Marshal Belle-Isle a 
clever diplomatist, succeeded in concluding 
with that view an alliance between France, 
Prussia, Spain, Bavaria, and Saxony ; for 
the elector of Saxony, Augustus III., 
although he was likewise king of Poland, 
came forth with his claims to the Austrian 
inheritance, originating in a preceding mar- 
riage of the house of Saxony, and Spain 
was anxious to appropriate to herself the 
duchies of Parma and Placenza. Besides 
which, the plan of this coalition was to 
elevate the electoral prince of Bavaria, 
Charles Albert, to the imperial throne ; and 
although he at first hesitated, he, neverthe- 
less, eventually decided to accept of the 
heavy burden attached to such an important 
election. It was agreed that the choice 
should be made in Frankfort. 

Accordingly, two French armies march- 
ed in the summer of 1741 across the Rhine ; 
the one advanced against the frontiers of 
Hanover, whereby Maria Theresa lost her 
last ally, George II. of England, who, 
anxious to preserve his electorate, conclu- 
ded a treaty by which he engaged to remain 
neutral. The other French army marched 
on direct to Austria, and joined the elector 
of Bavaria in the month of September. 
This prince, who, since the month of June, 
had already taken by surprise the impor- 
tant city of Brunau on the frontiers, now 



no longer hesitated to march upon Lintz, 
which he took and entered, causing himself 
to be acknowledged there as hereditary duke 
of Austria. Vienna, the capital, began now 
to feel alarmed, and every thing valuable 
and precious was forthwith transported to 
Presburg in Hungaria ; the elector being 
only within three days' march of the city. 
But quite suddenly and unexpectedly he 
altered his line of march and proceeded to 
Bohemia. This change of resolution ex- 
cited universal astonishment, more espe- 
cially as, by the taking of Vienna, Maria 
Theresa must have lost every thing, as she 
was without an army to oppose the elector. 
But it was his jealousy of Saxony which 
made him alter his plans, and removed him 
from the heart of Austria. A Saxon force 
had entered Bohemia ; and Charles Albert, 
who was anxious likewise to gain posses- 
sion of that country, and dreaded lest the 
Saxons might wrest it from him, preferred 
abandoning Vienna for the moment, and 
determined to conquer Bohemia. Accord- 
ingly he marched at once against Prague, 
and was favored so much by fortune that 
this important place was surprised and fell 
into his hands, with scarcely any resistance, 
on the 29th of November. Immediately 
afterwards he caused himself to be declared 
king of Bohemia, and received from all 
the civil and military estates the oath of 
fealty. Thence he marched to Mannheim, 
where he resolved to await the result of the 
election of emperor. Thus the house of 
Bavaria appeared to attain an elevation 
more and more splendid and glorious. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Charles VII., Emperor of Germany, 1742-1745— Maria 
Theresa in Hungary— Her Appeal to the Nobles — 
Their Devotion to her Cause— March into Bavaria- 
Seize that Country and banish its Elector — Charles 
"V II. a Fugitive— Battle of Czaslau between the Aus- 
trians ancf Prussians, 1742 — Treaty of Peace between 
Maria Theresa and Frederick II.— Continuation of 
the Austrian Succession War, 1742-1744— The French 
in Prague under Marshal Belle-Isle— Prague besieged 
by the Austrians— Abandoned by the French — 
Charles VII. in Bavaria— Again a Fugitive— George 
II. of England in Genu any— Battle of Dettingen, 
1743— Defeat of the French— Alliance of Saxony aud 
Austria— Second Silesian War, 1744-1745 — 111 Success 
of Frederick— Death of Charles VII , 1745— Silesia- 
Battle of Hohenfriedberg — Frederick victorious — 
Battle of Sorr— The Princes of Brunswick — Fred- 
erick triumphant — Battle of Kesseldorf— Frederick 
conquers and enters Dresden — Peace of Dresden 
and End of the Second Silesian War— Francis I. 
elected Emperor, 1745-1765 — Austria and France 
—Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 174b— Brief Interval of 



379 



Repose, 1 748- 1 756 — State of Affairs — Alliance of 
England and Prussia, 1756 — Alliance between 
France and Austria, 1756— Saxony— Russia— Swe- 
den— Combination ot Powers against Prussia— The 
Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 — Frederick in Sax- 
ony—Battle of Losowitz, 1756— Frederick victorious 
— The Saxons lay down their Arms— Frederick Con- 
queror of Saxony — Immense Armies opposed to Fred- 
erick—His Presence of Mind— Desperate Battle of 
Prague — Charles of Lorraine— Death of the Prussian 
General Schwerin, and the Austrian General Brown 
— Frederick victorious— Battle of Kollin— General 
Daun— Frederick's grand Manoeuvre — Generals Zie- 
then and Hulsen— trederick and Prince Maurice of 
Dessau— Defeat of Frederick— Shameful Conduct of 
the Duke of Cumberland— Convention of Closter- 
Seven between him and the French— Battle between 
the Russians and Prussians at Grossjagersdorf— De- 
feat of the Prussians— Withdrawal of the Russians— 
The Empress Elizabeth of Russia— The Grand Chan- 
cellor Bestuschef— Retreat of the Swedes. 

Charles Albert succeeded in his de- 
signs upon the imperial crown, and was 
elected at Frankfort on the 22d of January, 
1742, his cause being seconded by France 
and Prussia ; but his reign was short and 
agitated. It already commenced under 
very unfavorable auspices, for on the very 
day that Charles was crowned emperor at 
Frankfort, the Austrian general, B'arenk- 
lau, took possession of Munich, his capital. 

Maria Theresa was indebted to the ener- 
gy of her own mind alone for this happy 
change in her fortunes. She knew per- 
fectly well wherein was based the power 
of the sovereign, and she accordingly avail- 
ed herself of this advantage. She lost no 
time in exciting in a high degree the af- 
fection and enthusiasm of the nation over 
which she still held sway, and which ad- 
hered to her with the greatest fidelity ; and 
this it was that saved her. She convoked 
a grand imperial diet of the Hungarians at 
Presburg in the autumn of 1742 ; here, 
overwhelmed as she was with affliction at 
the persecutions of her enemies, the prin- 
cess presented herself before the assembled 
nobles of Hungary, and holding in her 
arms her infant son, as yet un weaned — 
subsequently Joseph II. — she presented the 
child to them, and with her eyes filled with 
tears, which operated with irresistible force 
upon the audience, she addressed and ap- 
pealed to them for aid against her enemies 
in language thus expressed : " To your 
valor and heroic fidelity we confide ourself 
and infant ; and in you alone will we put 
our whole trust." At these words the 
Hungarian warriors exclaimed with en- 
thusiasm, " We will die for our Queen 
Maria Theresa ; our lives and every drop 
of our blood shall be devoted to her !" In 
a very brief space of time more than 15,000 



nobles and chiefs were assembled, mounted 
and completely armed, and collected to- 
gether numerous bodies of troops on every 
side, in Croatia, Slavonia, Wallachia, as 
well as in Austria and the Tyrol. And 
thus what official commands would only 
have produced after long intervals of delay, 
attachment and devoted courage completed 
in a few weeks. The whole of Upper 
Austria was delivered from its enemies in 
six days, when the victorious army march- 
ed on to Bavaria, and, as we have seen, 
took possession of Munich, and the new 
emperor was forced to live in retirement 
at Frankfort, far from his own dominions. 

In another quarter, however, fortune was 
not equally favorable to Austria. Prince 
Charles of Lorraine had received orders 
from the council of war at Vienna to give 
battle to the Prussian army, in order to 
check the further success of Frederick II., 
who still maintained his position in the 
beautiful territory of Silesia, and was now 
penetrating into Moravia. Prince Charles 
followed him to Bohemia, and their armies 
met at Czaslau. They were nearly equal 
in force, and the position each occupied 
had its advantages and disadvantages, and 
the troops on both sides fought valiantly, 
whence the fate of the battle wavered on 
either side, until the king, who here dis- 
played his generalship, caused an adjacent 
eminence to be suddenly taken possession 
of, whence he attacked the entire flank of 
the Austrians. This manoeuvre, added to 
the disorder caused among the Austrian 
cavalry by the pillage of the Prussian 
camp, decided the contest, and Charles 
sounded the retreat. The loss sustained, 
however, was nearly equal on either side, 
and eighteen pieces of cannon were all the 
trophies gained by the Prussians. 

The results of this battle, however, were 
more important than the battle itself, for it 
brought to maturity a treaty of peace be- 
tween Maria Theresa and Frederick, by 
the terms of which, severe as they were, 
the former nevertheless agreed to resign all 
claim to the conquests made by the young 
king, and which was all the latter desired. 
Negotiations of peace, therefore, were 
quickly commenced, and on the 28th of 
June the treaty was signed by both powers 
at Berlin. The king retained Upper and 
Lower Silesia and the province of Glatz, 
with the exception of the towns of Troppau, 
Jagerndorf, and the mountains of Silesia 



380 



PEACE BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA 



on the other side of the Oppa ; being an 
extension of territory measuring seven 
hundred German square miles. On the 
other hand he paid over 1,700,000 dollars 
to the English, who had previously advan- 
ced that sum to the country he had thus 
conquered. 

Thus freed from such a formidable ene- 
my, the Austrians were now enabled to 
turn all their force against the French and 
Bavarians, for the Saxons, following the 
example of the Prussians, had withdrawn 
from the war. The French army was 
still in Bohemia, and held possession of 
Prague. The prince of Lorraine marched 
against that place and besieged it, and very 
soon reduced it to a state of famine, which, 
however, as is generally the case, pressed 
more heavily upon the inhabitants, for the 
military seized upon all provisions by force 
of arms. When, however, all was consum- 
ed, and after more than a thousand unhappy 
beings had fallen a sacrifice to starvation, 
the whole city resembling a large infirm- 
ary, Marshal Belle-Isle put into operation 
a plan he had determined upon in the last 
extremity. He collected all the troops 
still available, amounting to about 14,000 
men, abandoned the city in the night of the 
17th of December, 1742, and marched 
forth in the most bitter cold weather, 
through mountain regions and across path- 
less, snow-covered ravines to Eger, where 
after a toilsome march of eleven days he 
arrived. But in those eleven days more 
than four thousand men had perished, be- 
sides those left behind in Prague. Thus 
ended the dominion of France in Bohemia ; 
nor was Charles VII. more fortunate than 
his allies. While the Austrians had march- 
ed their whole force against Bohemia, he 
had availed himself of the moment, and 
retook possession of the whole of Bavaria 
in the course of the autumn ; in the sub- 
sequent spring, however, he was forced to 
abandon his territory once more as a fugi- 
tive, and took refuge again in Frankfort, 
an Austrian administration being organ- 
ized meantime in Bavaria. 

In the year 1742, England likewise took 
an active part in the war against France ; 
she captured all her ships at sea, took pos- 
session of her colonies; while King George 
II. landed in Germany with an army of 
English troops, reinforcing it with Hano- 
verians and Hessians, with which he at- 
tacked and overthrew the French on the 



27th of June, at Dettingen, pursuing them 
across the Rhine. In addition to this the 
court of Vienna succeeded in gaining over 
the Saxon minister Bruhl, whose influence 
over his sovereign was all-powerful, and 
through him an alliance was formed be- 
tween Saxony and Maria Theresa. Thus 
fortune had now crowned her firmness, and 
transferred the victory to her side, while 
the only loss she sustained was that of the 
Silesian possessions ; this, however, she 
hoped either to recover or find compensated 
by some other acquisition. 

Meantime, Frederick had not beheld 
without some anxiety and alarm the suc- 
cessful progress made by Austria, and 
more especially her treaty of alliance with 
Saxony ; for how easily might they now, 
when no longer occupied with France and 
Bavaria, turn their combined power against 
him ? At the same time he felt it due to 
his own dignity not to allow the emperor, 
whose election he had promoted, to be over- 
thrown ; accordingly, the urgent appeals 
made to him by Charles VII. prevailed. 
The king of Prussia forthwith made pre- 
parations for a fresh campaign, in 1744, 
entered the field with 100,000 men, " impe- 
rial auxiliaries" as he termed them, march- 
ed into Bohemia, and took Prague ; the 
duke of Lorraine, however, advanced 
against him with a numerous army, and 
forced him to retreat from Bohemia into 
Silesia. This was an unfortunate cam- 
paign for the king ; he suffered great losses 
in men, ammunition, and provisions, ex- 
hausted all his military stores and money, 
and found to his cost that no faith was to 
be placed in his French allies; while, 
finally, he lost the emperor Charles VII., 
who died suddenly, on the 20th of January, 
1745. 

The aid of Frederick came only in time 
to afford the emperor the consolation of 
dying in his own palace at Munich, which 
city he had reconquered for the third and 
last time, but which immediately after his 
death fell once more into the hands of the 
enemy. With his death the principal mo- 
tive urged by the French for carrying on 
the war vanished, and Frederick now found 
himself abandoned by his ally. Meantime, 
Maria Theresa declared publicly that, 
inasmuch as the king of Prussia had bro- 
ken the treaty of peace concluded at Bei- 
lin, Silesia must revert to the house of 
Austria. Upper Silesia, accordingly, was 



PEACE OF DRESDEN— EMPEROR FRANCIS I. 



381 



overrun with Austrian troops, several of 
the principal fortresses fell into their hands, 
and it required all the firmness and strength 
of soul at his command to prevent the 
hard-pressed king from sinking under the 
weight of his difficulties. Full of confi- 
dence, however, in his army, and in the 
chances of fortune in his favor, he, on the 
4th of June, attacked the prince of Lor- 
raine at Hohenfriedberg. The prince was 
by no means prepared for such an unex- 
pected and sudden attack, and the victory 
was soon decided in favor of the king of 
Prussia ; thus he retained Silesia, while 
the Austrians made a hasty retreat back to 
Bohemia. 

In the ensuing year, however, they re- 
ippeared in Silesia ; the prince of Lorraine 
laving received orders to advance at the 
lead of 40,000 men, and give battle to the 
dng, whom he surprised in his camp near 
Borr of only 18,000 men. This was a 
hard-fought battle for this small body of 
Prussians, and lasted more than five hours ; 
but, eventually, they gained it. The Aus- 
trian general committed many important 
blunders ; while the generals in Frederick's 
service were, on the other hand, perfect mas- 
ers in all the tactics of the war. One of 
hem, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, after- 
wards so celebrated, took possession of an 
mportant height, which by a singular ac- 
cident wa's defended by his brother Lewis, 
at the head of a party of Austrians. 

Nevertheless, this victory had not re- 
moved all the danger with which Frederick 
was threatened ; for it was now resolved 
that the Austrians should form a junction 
with the Saxons, and the army thus united 
should march direct to Berlin, in order to 
force the king, by the capture of his capi- 
tal, to abandon Silesia ; and by this means, 
Saxony was in hopes of gaining from him 
the duchy of Magdeburg. But as soon as 
Frederick perceived this movement, he 
speedily collected together his whole army 
and marched to Lusatia. At the same 
time he gave orders to the old duke of Des- 
sau to collect his forces near Halle, and 
marching into the electorate, to proceed 
direct to Dresden. He overtook the Sax- 
ons and a division of the Austrians on the 
heights near the village of Kesseldorf, at- 
tacked them at once, and, in spite of their 
favorable position, gained a complete vic- 
tory over them. This triumph gained for 
Frederick the capital city, Dresden, which 



he entered on the 18th of December, and 
procured the peace of Dresden, which 
terminated the second Silesian war, and 
confirmed the Prussians in their posses- 
sions. 

In the beginning of the year 1745 Maria 
Theresa had already concluded a treaty of 
peace at Fussen, with the son of the late 
emperor Charles VII., by which Maximil- 
ian Joseph recovered his principality, on 
renouncing for himself and his descendants 
all claims to the succession of Austria, and 
promising to give his vote for the election 
of emperor to the grand-duke of Tuscany, 
Maria Theresa's husband. Meanwhile, 
the other electors also, with the excep- 
tion of the elector of the palatinate and 
Frederick II., gave their votes to the same 
duke, and Francis I. was elected at Frank- 
fort on the 15th of September, 1745, and 
crowned on the 4th of October following. 
The king of Prussia, likewise, formally 
acknowledged him in the treaty of peace 
concluded at Dresden. 

The war with France continued some 
years longer without any successful results 
to Austria ; for since the celebrated general, 
marshal of Saxe, commanded the French 
army, he had continually been gaining 
ground in the Netherlands. This general 
obtained two victories over the Austrians 
in the year 1745, one at Fontenoi, and an- 
other at Raucour, and took both the Aus- 
trian Netherlands and Dutch Flanders. 
These victories gained by the French army 
tended more and more to increase the in- 
clination for peace, and in April, 1748, the 
ambassadors met at Aix-la-Chapelle. The 
peace drew nearer and nearer to its con- 
clusion during the whole course of the 
summer, and followed on the 18th of Oc- 
tober. Austria gave up in Italy, Parma 
and Piacenza to Don Philip, the youngest 
son of the king of Spain ; France, how- 
ever, got nothing for the great sacrifice 
she had made, both of men and money, in 
this war, and was obliged to see the house 
of Austria, which she wished to destroy, 
secured afresh, and put in possession of 
the imperial dignity. 

The period of eight years which had 
been allowed to the different states of Eu- 
rope, from the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle un- 
til a new war broke out, did not produce 
in them the desired feeling of united firm- 
ness and security ; but, on the contrary, 
all seemed unsettled and in dread of the 



382 



TREATY OF PEACE— ALLIANCE OF ENGLAND AND PRUSSIA. 



new commotions which hovered over this 
brief state of repose. For it was but too 
evident that the inimical powers so recently- 
roused up — not having as yet found their 
equilibrium — had only made a pause for 
the purpose of soon resuming hostilities 
against each other with renewed vigor. 
The empress-queen could not brook the 
loss of Silesia, and she felt this loss the 
more acutely, inasmuch as she was obliged 
to undergo the mortification of knowing 
that the king of Prussia, by adopting a 
proper course of administration, had been 
able to double the revenue of that beauti- 
ful country. Frederick, on the other hand, 
was too clear-sighted not to foresee that a 
third struggle with her was inevitable. 
Among the other European powers, too, 
there was a restless spirit at work ; they 
entered into alliances, looked about them — 
now here, now there — for friends, and in- 
creased their strength by land and sea. 
Europe was at this moment divided by two 
leading parties — France, Prussia, and 
Sweden adhered to the one, Austria, Eng- 
land, and Saxony to the other ; the rest had 
not yet come to any conclusion as to which 
party they should support, but their assist- 
ance was eagerly sought by both. Maria 
Theresa at first cast her eye upon the pow- 
erful state of Russia, whose empress, Eliz- 
abeth, appeared inclined to hurl back her 
bold northern neighbor into his former in- 
significance ; and eventually both parties 
concluded an alliance by means of the 
grand-chancellor of Russia, Bestuschef, 
who had a personal dislike to the king of 
Prussia, because the latter refused to grat- 
ify his avaricious disposition. In order to 
induce Russia to take active measures 
against Prussia, England found it necessary 
to act upon the grand-chancellor with her 
money, and by this means a war was all 
but declared already between Russia and 
Prussia. George II. of England more es- 
pecially desired this, in order that he might 
by such war be relieved of the anxiety he 
felt for his principality of Hanover ; for, 
as he was already engaged in a maritime 
war with France, with the view of acquiring 
new territories in other parts of the world, 
it was to be expected that France in union 
with Prussia would forthwith attack his 
electorate. Maria Theresa, however, on 
her part, saw this storm preparing in the 
north of Europe without fear or inquietude, 
as she nourished strong hopes that it would 



give her an opportunity of reconquering 
her Silesian territory. 

This, indeed, was the period of that 
cunning and refined diplomacy which has 
been termed state wisdom ; an epoch which 
established between sovereigns false and 
artificial relations, but never inspired noble 
and exalted ideas and principles. Frede- 
rick the Great, although he understood 
well how to calculate after the manner of 
his contemporaries, was, nevertheless, so 
far superior to them in the feeling of his 
own strength and resources, that he placed 
his whole and exclusive reliance on himself 
and people. The others sought assistance 
chiefly from among each other ; and, as a 
necessary consequence, were often in great 
difficulties ; while Frederick, inasmuch as 
his calculations were far more simple, at- 
tained with greater certainty the object in 
view. Thence it was that he now formed 
and put into immediate execution a plan 
no less unexpected than extraordinary. 
Abandoning the lukewarm aid of France, 
which lay, as it were, in a state of political 
lethargy, and had afforded him but very 
trifling assistance in his two Silesian wars, 
he suddenly turned to England, now so 
much increasing in power and enterprising 
boldness, and claimed her alliance ; and 
the English nation, which has always 
shown a preference for engaging in a cause 
backed by patriotic and straightforward 
principles, readily acceded to his proposal : 
nor, perhaps, was an alliance ever accepted 
in England with more universal enthusiasm 
and cordial feelings than this. Both na- 
tions, which in their essential endeavors 
could not become dangerous to each other, 
needed this reciprocal aid against other ad- 
versaries ; and, at the time, required the 
mutual confidence of each other in order 
that England might be at ease with regard 
to Hanover. Hence the alliance between 
England and Prussia, which based its se- 
curity in the sympathy of both nations, 
might be truly termed a natural alliance, 
and was founded upon firmer grounds than 
those of mere state policy. 

By this single turn the relations which 
had hitherto existed between the different 
states of Europe were altogether changed. 
Prussia had declared itself independent of 
France, and England of Austria ; and, 
through a singular capricious sport of for- 
tune, France and Austria, who had been 
enemies for three hundred years, now 



COMBINATION OF POWERS AGAINST FREDERICK. 



383 



found themselves, to their own astonish- 
ment, placed in close proximity, and called 
upon to give each other their hands ; and 
all the rules of political calculation hitherto 
held as immutable, were at one blow de- 
molished. Luckily for Austria, she pos- 
sessed in her prime minister, Prince Kau- 
nitz, and in the empress Maria Theresa 
herself, two whose power of mind enabled 
them at once to perceive and avail them- 
selves of the altered position of affairs, 
and did not suffer themselves to be held in 
check by ancient custom. They sought 
for an alliance with France, and obtained 
it. On the 1st of May, 1756, the treaty 
of Versailles was drawn up, after that be- 
tween England and Prussia had been al- 
ready concluded at Westminster in the 
month of January of the same year. 

The elector of Saxony and king of Po- 
land, Augustus III., was guided in every 
thing by his minister, Count Briihl ; he 
himself was fond of ease and a life de- 
voted to sensual pleasure ; but his minis- 
ter, who, without any true merit, had 
raised himself from the office of page to 
that of minister of state, was full of se- 
cret designs. He hated King Frederick, 
because he himself was despised by him, 
and allied himself with Prince Kaunitz 
for the purpose of ruining Prussia, and 
both found in the Russian chancellor, Bes- 
tuschef, the third associate in their alli- 
ance. The empress Elizabeth of Russia 
was also personally an enemy to King 
Frederick, inasmuch as he made her the 
subject of his satire ; and various malicious 
members of her court had even laid before 
her some of the king's productions, con- 
taining much mockery and scandal. 

With respect to Sweden, she, this time, 
adhered so much to France and her inter- 
ests, and followed in her footsteps so close- 
ly, that the king of Prussia could not but 
expect to find an enemy in this otherwise 
so honorable a nation, when it came to a 
general war. 

Thus Austria, Russia, France, Sweden, 
and Saxony, had now all united against 
one king, whose dominions scarcely con- 
tained five millions of inhabitants, and who 
was deprived of all foreign aid, with the 
exception of England, who, however, in a 
continental war, could not ensure much 
resource. Accordingly, the three minis- 
ters felt secure within themselves of the 
fate of Silesia ; and already they beheld, 



in imagination, the bold and enterprising 
king reduced to the government of his sin- 
gle duchy of Brandenburg. In this cal- 
culation, however, they had altogether lost 
sight of that power of mind with which 
this prince was endowed, and the prodigies 
of courage and endurance a nation can 
perform when inspired with pride and con- 
fidence by their ruler. 

The king was already acquainted with 
their designs, for through a secretary of 
the Saxon government, whom he had 
bribed, he received copies of all the docu- 
ments and treaties between the courts of 
Vienna, Petersburg, and Dresden, and by 
these means saw what storms were gather- 
ing over his head. In this trying position 
the great Frederick had recourse to those 
extraordinary means suggested at once by 
his bold and undaunted spirit. Determined 
not to lose a moment by preparing only for 
his defence, and thus quietly await the 
coming danger, he forthwith rushed to meet 
and face it as it advanced ; for, however 
unfortunate might be the result produced 
by adopting this daring and immediate 
course, still it could not equal, much less 
exceed, the evil he beheld in the distance, 
and which could only grow more and more 
serious and fatal by tardy measures. 

Frederick made his preparations for the 
campaign with so much secrecy and order 
that none could observe his design ; and 
thus, in the month of August, 1756, sev- 
enty thousand Prussians suddenly made 
their appearance in Saxony, and demand- 
ed a free passage to Bohemia. The object 
of the king was not so much to proceed to 
hostilities against the Saxons, as to force 
them, by a bold manoeuvre, to join him, as 
had previously been done by Gustavus 
Adolphus ; for, in order to attack Bohe- 
mia, as he hoped, with success, it was ne- 
cessary that he should make sure of Sax- 
ony in order to serve him as a point d'appui. 
Accordingly, he endeavored by every pos- 
sible means of persuasion, through his en- 
voys and negotiations, to bring Augustus 
III. to form an alliance with him ; when, 
however, he found he could not succeed, 
and all he could gain from Count Briihl 
was a promise of remaining neutral, Fred- 
erick felt he could not with safety allow a 
doubtful and armed power to remain in his 
rear, and proceeded at once to act upon 
the offensive. The Saxons, amounting to 
seventeen thousand men, thus surprised, 



384 BATTLE OF 



gave way, and leaving behind their bag- 
gage and provisions, hastily retreated to 
the narrow valley of the Elbe, between 
Pirna and the fortress of Konigstein, and 
encamped there, where they raised up 
strong and almost impregnable intrench- 
ments. This plan was the best for them 
to adopt ; while for Frederick it was more 
disadvantageous than if they had crossed 
the mountains and formed a junction with 
the Austrian army ; for this army, still in 
a disordered and weak state, could not, 
even when reinforced by the Saxons, have 
succeeded in resisting the first attack of 
the Prussians in Bohemia, in addition to 
which, the latter now saw themselves 
forced to lose much precious time in block- 
ading the Saxons, and cutting off their sup- 
plies ; while the imperial army availed 
itself of this interval, and recovered its 
organization and strength, and would be 
enabled, by a successful battle, to relieve 
the Saxons. Such, indeed, was the course 
taken by the imperial general after the 
king had been four weeks quartered in 
Saxony. 

On the 30th of September Field-marshal 
Brown, commander-in-chief of the imperial 
troops, advanced to Budin on the Eger, and 
directed his march against the position 
taken up by the Prussians on the moun- 
tains which separate Saxony from Bohe- 
mia. Meantime, the king advanced against 
him with a portion of his army, consist- 
ing, however, only of 24,000 men against 
70,000, being compelled to leave the rest 
behind to keep the Saxons at bay, while 
the Austrians were commanded by the 
best officers in the service ; nevertheless, 
he did not hesitate to risk making a des- 
perate attack, and he succeeded. The 
two armies met on the 1st of October, 
close to the little town of Lowositz. The 
country around was mountainous, and the 
Austrian general, accordingly, was unable 
to draw up the whole of his army in line 
of battle, especially his cavalry, which 
consequently could not take its share in 
the action ; while, on that account, the fire 
from the artillery and small arms was 
much more severe, and in which latter the 
Prussians excelled the Austrians. But it 
was now no longer by the Austrians of the 
Silesian wars that they were opposed, but 
by men who, for ten years, had undergone 
severe practice, were better disciplined, 
more active than ever before, and were 



LOWOSITZ. 



well supplied with excellent artillery. 
Mid-day had now arrived, but the Prus- 
sians, in spite of their skill and bravery, 
were not able to gain any advantage over 
the firmness of the Austrian ranks. 

After six hours' incessant firing, tne left 
wing of the Prussians at length expended 
all their ammunition, and began now to 
lose courage on finding they could receive 
no fresh supply. " What I" exclaimed the 
duke of Bevern, who commanded this di- 
vision, " have you not been taught to at- 
tack the enemy with the point of the bayo- 
net?" At these words they closed their 
ranks, and rushed in full charge against 
the Austrians ; all resistance was in vain, 
for like an impetuous, sweeping torrent, 
they threw down all before them, and took 
the little town of Lowositz by storm. This 
was the decisive moment ; and although 
but a small portion of his troops had been 
engaged in the action, General Brown 
nevertheless sounded a retreat and with- 
drew to Budin, on the opposite side of the 
Eger. 

Frederick in this battle learned to know 
the new and improved system of warfare 
now exercised by the Austrians, and al- 
ready felt how severe must henceforth be 
the struggle he should have to maintain 
with them. On the other hand again, the 
heroic courage and devotion displayed by 
his own troops had excited within him the 
greatest admiration, and on this point he 
addressed them thus : " I have now seen 
what my warriors can do ; never, indeed, 
since I have had the honor to lead them on 
to battle, have they performed such prodi- 
gies of valor." 

Frederick now saw how urgently neces- 
sary it was that he should put an end to 
the delay so long produced by the Saxon 
army, which, indeed, although placed in a 
most distressing position, nevertheless en- 
dured every privation with the most heroic 
firmness. Both men and horses had long 
been in want of the most necessary sup- 
plies, and all were now so much reduced 
that if succor did not quickly arrive, they 
must perish. They had received intelli- 
gence in their camp that Field-marshal 
Brown was on his march, and they were 
all buoying themselves up with the hope 
of soon seeing his colors waving on the 
mountains instead of those of the Prussians, 
when all at once loud shouts of victory 
proclaimed the success gained by the Prus- 



SAXONY— IMMENSE ARMIES AGAINST FREDERICK. 



385 



sians in the battle of Lowositz, and resound- 
ing through valley and mountain, were 
echoed forth in the Prussian camp. The 
impression produced by this event upon the 
distressed Saxons was truly painful, redu- 
ced as they were to the last extremity of 
suffering and want. The only chance of 
deliverance now left to them was by mak- 
ing a desperate effort to fight their way 
through into Bohemia ; this they accord- 
ingly attempted, but opposed by the very 
elements themselves, for they were over- 
whelmed by a complete hurricane of wind 
and drenching rain, and harassed by the 
Prussians, they failed in their object, and 
thus these brave men, who having now 
been three days and nights without food or 
rest, were nearly dropping down from ex- 
haustion and disease, were forced to lay 
down their arms, their number now re- 
duced to 14,000, and with their general, 
Count Rutowski, gave themselves up pris- 
oners to the Prussians on the 14th of Oc- 
tober. 

The officers were set at liberty on their 
parole of honor, but the men were forced 
to enter the Prussian service. Frederick 
calculated that these 14,000 men, if he 
gave them their liberty, would serve as a 
considerable reinforcement in the ranks of 
the enemy, and if he detained them as 
prisoners of war they would cost him an- 
nually some millions of dollars to support ; 
thence he determined to derive some ad- 
vantage for the expense they incurred for 
their maintenance. For at this period the 
soldier was considered less as a citizen of 
the state than as a man who equally sold 
over both body and spirit to the military 
service for a certain period, and could, 
therefore, soon accustom himself to serve 
in the ranks of him against whom he may 
even have previously fought : military 
honor was distinct from civil honor, and 
the oath of the soldier was held to be more 
sacred than the word of the citizen. Nev- 
ertheless Frederick derived but little ser- 
vice from the Saxons ; they deserted his 
colors in troops on the first favorable op- 
portunity, and hastened to return to their 
king in Poland, whither he had repaired 
after the loss of his army, or they went 
over to the Austrians. Such were the re- 
sults of the first campaign : Saxony re- 
mained in the hands of Frederick II. 

The preparations made for the ensuing 
campaign presented to the eyes of Frede- 
49 



rick an aspect in prospective affairs of a 
character any thing but encouraging. The 
great powers of Europe, infuriated by the 
stand he made, had now become more 
firmly united than ever in their determina- 
tion to destroy him, and combined together 
with all their armies to overwhelm him. 
Austria came forth with all the troops, to- 
gether with all the wealth and resources 
furnished by her extensive territories ; Rus- 
sia contributed no less than 100,000 men ; 
France supplied even a greater number ; 
Sweden came forward with 20,000 men ; 
while the Germanic empire generally, re- 
garding the invasion of Saxony by Frede- 
rick as a violation of the peace of the 
country, offered to the imperial court an 
additional aid of 60,000 men. Thus a 
combined army of at least 500,000 men 
stood under arms ready to march against 
the king of Prussia ; while he, on the 
other hand, could only oppose to this migh- 
ty and overwhelming force 200,000 men, 
and those collected together only at the 
sacrifice of every resource at his command. 
As allies he only possessed England, the 
landgrave of Hesse, and the dukes of 
Brunswick and Gotha, and he was obliged 
to leave them alone to carry on the war 
with France ; and, with respect to the 
other powers, he hoped to make up for his 
inferior force by the ability of his great 
generals and doubling his strength by 
rapid marches, and thus swiftly passing 
with the same army from one point to 
another, be enabled to fight his enemies 
one after the other. Thence, he resolved 
to direct his first and principal effort against 
Austria, whom he regarded as his chief 
enemy, while in the mean time he left be- 
hind 14,000 men under the command of 
his old Field-marshal Lehwald, for the de- 
fence of Prussia itself against the attack 
of the Russians, leaving only 4000 men 
for the protection of Berlin against the 
Swedes ; fortunately, however, for Prussia, 
the Swedish portion of the allies took no 
very serious share in the war. 

Maria Theresa, influenced by an extra- 
ordinary predilection for her husband's 
brother, Prince Charles of Lorraine, ap- 
pointed him, although he had already been 
twice beaten by Frederick, commander-in- 
chief of the imperial army ; while, under 
his orders she placed the talented and ex- 
perienced soldier, General Brown. This 
arrangement proved of great service to 



386 



BATTLE OF PRAGUE. 



the king. Brown, with his usual prudence 1 
and forethought, advised Prince Charles to 
anticipate the quick movements of the 
Prussians in the attack they contemplated, 
and penetrating into Saxony and Silesia, 
thus remove the seat of war from the 
hereditary states of Austria ; Charles of 
Lorraine, however, although on other oc- 
casions too precipitate, resolved in this case 
to be the very opposite, preferring to adopt 
the defensive, and was anxious to wait un- 
til he had drawn around him all the forces 
he could collect. This was exactly what 
Frederick most anxiously desired, and he 
contrived to strengthen the prince in the 
belief that he himself, overmatched by so 
many powerful enemies, thought it most 
prudent to assume the defensive likewise. 
Suddenly, however, and while the Austri- 
ans imagined themselves in perfect securi- 
ty, the Prussians broke up, and dividing 
themselves into four divisions, poured forth 
in rapid marches across the mountains into 
Bohemia, and, like so many mighty and 
impetuous mountain rivers, swept all before 
them, taking possession of all the supplies 
of the imperialists, which served to furnish 
themselves with provisions during several 
months, and reunited their forces at a cer- 
tain hour in the morning of the 6th of 
May, at the appointed quarters in the 
vicinity of Prague. 

The prince of Lorraine, hastily collect- 
ing together all his troops, had now taken 
a strong, intrenched position in the moun- 
tains, near Prague, where he considered 
himself secured against every attack. 
Frederick, however, to whom every hour 
which delayed the execution of the final 
blow appeared as lost, resolved to give bat- 
tle at once now that the enemy was within 
sight, and in this determination he was 
cordially seconded by his favorite officer, 
General Winterfeld, a bold and undaunted 
warrior, whose ardor nothing could with- 
stand. Accordingly the latter received 
orders to reconnoitre the enemy's position, 
and he reported that their right wing might 
be easily attacked, as in front of it were 
several green meadows, which would fa- 
cilitate the advance of the troops. But 
these — as he thought — meadows, were no- 
thing else but deep dried-up ponds, with 
slimy bottoms, which had been sown with 
oats, and after the harvest, were again to 
serve as fish ponds. This error served 
ultimately to produce much injury to the 



Prussians in their attack. The venerable 
Field-marshal Schwerin, who had only ar- 
rived at head-quarters that morning with 
his fatigued troops, and was altogether 
unacquainted with the spot chosen for the 
scene of action, suggested that they should 
postpone operations until the following day ; 
but the king, whose impetuosity was not to 
be restrained, and who, having now formed 
in his mind completely the plan of a glo- 
rious battle, was impatient to put it into 
execution, would not listen for a moment to 
any further delay. Upon this the old 
warrior, who, in his seventy-third year, 
retained still a great portion of his youth- 
ful fire, exclaimed, as he pressed his hat 
over his eyes : " Well, then, if the battle 
shall and must be fought this day, I will 
attack the enemy there on the spot where 
I see him !" 

The battle only commenced at ten 
o'clock in the morning ; so much time 
having been taken up in making the neces- 
sary preparations, as the ground turned 
out to be generally swampy and hilly. 
As the Prussians worked their way through 
and approached the enemy, they were re- 
ceived with a terrific cannonade ; the car- 
nage was dreadful, and whole ranks were 
levelled with the ground ; indeed, it seem- 
ed impossible for human courage to hold 
out against such tremendously destructive 
odds. Each attack made was unsuccess- 
ful, and the ranks of the Prussians began 
to waver. At this moment the brave old 
marshal, Schwerin, seized an ensign, and 
calling upon his troops to follow him, 
rushed into the thickest of the fire, where, 
however, pierced with four balls, the vete- 
ran warrior fell and died the death of a 
hero. General Manteufel released the 
gory standard from the firm grasp of the 
dead old soldier, and led on the troops, 
now burning with revenge at the loss of 
their brave commander. The king's broth- 
er, Prince Henry, sprang from his horse, 
and led on his men against a battery, 
which he conquered ; and Duke Ferdinand 
of Brunswick attacked and overthrew with 
the greatest courage the left wing of the 
Austrians, pursuing the enemy from moun- 
tain to mountain, and conquering seven 
intrenchments. Nevertheless, the victory 
remained undecided as long as Field-mar- 
shal Brown was able, by his influence and 
command, to maintain order among the 
ranks of the Austrians ; at length, how- 



BATTLE OF KOLLIN. 



387 



ever, he fell, mortally wounded, and with 
his fall vanished all success from the Aus- 
trian side. King Frederick, who with his 
keen eye surveyed the field of battle, 
quickly perceived the enemy begin to give 
way, and seeing a large gap in the centre 
of their ranks, he at once advanced, with 
some of his chosen troops, and, dashing 
into it, completely destroyed all communi- 
cation between them, and put them entirely 
to rout. Thus the victory was gained : 
the Austrians fled in every direction, the 
greater portion of the fugitives throwing 
themselves into Prague, and the rest has- 
tening to join Marshal Daun, who was 
posted in Kuttenberg with an army of re- 
serve. 

Dearly, however, was this victory pur- 
chased ! Twelve thousand five hundred 
Prussians lay dead or wounded on the bat- 
tle-field, and among them was included 
one precious corpse — that of Field-mar- 
shal Schwerin ; but the remembrance of 
his heroic death, and the blood-stained flag 
he bore in his nervous grasp, were regard- 
ed by the Prussian army as the most sa- 
cred legacy, serving them as a continual 
source of excitement to follow in the same 
path of glory. The Austrians, likewise, 
suffered an irreparable loss in the death 
of Field-marshal Brown ; he had grown 
gray in the wars of his country, and the 
experience he had undergone rendered 
him the most distinguished general of his 
day. 

The struggle in Bohemia was by no 
means decided by this battle, although the 
actual position of the parties was such that 
the campaign bid fair to terminate glori- 
ously in favor of Frederick, for he now 
kept the prince of Lorraine a prisoner in 
Prague, together with 46,000 men, without 
any resources left to enable them to hold 
out for any length of time. Their only 
hopes of relief rested in Field -marshal 
Daun, who was then in the immediate vi- 
cinity with a considerable body of troops ; 
but if he himself should be defeated by the 
king, the army hemmed in within the walls 
of Prague must be lost, the campaign it- 
self won in the most glorious manner by 
the Prussians, and, perhaps, peace obtain- 
ed, already in the second year of the war ; 
for Frederick desired nothing more than 
what he obtained at the end of the war — 
the retention of Silesia. Fate, however, 
had not decreed that he should obtain this 



object so easily, and it was decided that 
his career of success should receive a 
check, while his spirit was doomed to un- 
dergo bitter and painful trials. 

He determined not to wait for the attack 
of Daun, but to anticipate it ; and after he 
had remained five weeks before Prague, 
he withdrew, with twelve thousand men, 
in order to join Prince Bevern, who had 
kept the army of Daun in observation, and 
which Frederick forthwith attacked, near 
Kollin, on the 18th of June. The plan of 
the order of battle adopted by the king 
was excellent : and had it been followed 
out entirely it would have given him the 
victory. Frederick decided upon this oc- 
casion to employ the same order of battle 
as that used in ancient times by Epami- 
nondas, and by which he overcame the in- 
vincible Spartans : this was termed the 
oblique line of battle. By this plan, the 
weakest force, by promptitude of action, 
was enabled to operate with advantage 
over a superior body ; for instance, if the 
general in command has recourse to such 
a bold manoeuvre it is very rare if he does 
not succeed, but to ensure this victory he 
must be certain of the perfect co-operation 
of his army, so that by the celerity and 
exactitude of its movements the enemy 
may be completely deceived and van- 
quished before he has even had time to 
perceive the plan of attack by which it 
has been accomplished. Such was the 
manoeuvre practised by the Prussians at 
Kollin, and the first onset made by Gene- 
rals Ziethen and Hulsen upon the right 
wing of the Austrians put them entirely to 
rout. The centre and the other wing of 
the Prussian army had now only to follow 
it up forthwith, by falling upon the enemy's 
flank, battalion after battalion in succes- 
sion, and thus complete its entire annihila- 
tion. While, however, every thing was 
thus operating in the right direction, the 
king himself, as if the usual clearness of 
his mind became suddenly clouded in im- 
penetrable gloom, gave orders for the rest 
of the army to make a halt ! In truth, 
throughout the whole of this important 
day, Frederick presented in his own per- 
son and manner something so unaccounta- 
bly gloomy and repulsive that it rendered 
him totally incapable of attending to the 
ideas and observations suggested by those 
around him ; he rejected every thing they 
advised, and his sinister look, together with 



388 



DEFEAT OF FREDERICK, 



.— THE ALLIED ARMIES. 



his bitter remarks, only made them shun 
his presence. 

When, at the most important and deci- 
sive moment, Prince Maurice of Dessau 
ventured to represent to the monarch the 
serious consequences that must result from 
the change he had commanded to take 
place in the plan of the order of battle, and 
reiterated his observations and arguments 
in the most urgent manner possible, Fred- 
erick rode up close to his side, and with 
uplifted sword, demanded, in a loud and 
threatening tone of voice, whether he would 
or would not obey orders % The prince at 
once desisted and withdrew ; but from that 
moment the fate of the day was decided. 
Through the halt thus made so ill-timed, 
the Prussian lines found themselves right 
in front of the position held by the Aus- 
trians, and which they had strongly in- 
trenched and made completely insurmount- 
able ; and when they made an attempt to 
take it by assault, the regiments were swept 
away one after the other by the destructive 
fire of the Austrian artillery. No exertion, 
no desperate effort, could now obtain the 
victory ; fortune had now changed sides. 
General Daun, already despairing of suc- 
cess at the commencement of the battle, 
had marked down with a pencil the order 
to sound a retreat, when, just at that mo- 
ment, the colonel of a Saxon regiment of 
cavalry having perceived that the ranks of 
the Prussians changed their order of bat- 
tle, resolved to delay execution of orders, 
and placed the official paper in his pocket. 
The Austrians now renewed their attack, 
and the Saxon regiments of horse were 
more especially distinguished for the des- 
perate charges they made, as if determined 
to revenge themselves for the injuries en- 
dured by their country. In order that all 
might not be sacrificed, orders were issued 
to make a retreat, and Daun, too well 
pleased to gain this, his first victory over 
Frederick the Great, did not follow in pur- 
suit. The Prussians lost on this day 
14,000 men, in either killed, wounded, or 
prisoners, and forty-five pieces of artillery. 
This formed nearly the moiety of the Prus- 
sian army, for in this battle 32,000 Prus- 
sians had fought against 60,000 Aus- 
trians. 

What a change of fortune was this to 
Frederick ! After having been on the point 
of capturing an entire army in the very 
capital of the country, and thus extinguish- 



ing, at the first moment of its commence- 
ment, and in the short space of eight months, 
the most dreadful war, he found himself 
forced to raise the siege of Prague, and 
abandon Bohemia altogether ; having, in 
addition to these reverses of fortune, to la- 
ment, with sincere grief, the death of his 
beloved mother, who died ten days after the 
sad battle of Kollin. The allies of Aus- 
tria, after this unexpected victory, resumed 
operations with greater activity than ever. 
The Russians invaded the kingdom of Prus- 
sia, the Swedes pursued their preparations 
more vigorously, and two French armies 
crossed the Rhine in order to attack the ter- 
ritory of Hesse, Hanover, and thence to 
march against the hereditary states of Prus- 
sia. One of these armies, under the com- 
mand of Prince Soubise, advanced towards 
Thuringia, in order to form a junction with 
the imperial forces under the orders of the 
prince of Hilburghausen ; while Marshal 
d'Estree, who commanded the leading 
French army, on entering Hanover, fought 
and beat the duke of Cumberland at the 
head of the Anglo-Germanic troops, on the 
26th of July, near Hastenbeck, on the We- 
ser. This defeat was produced through 
the inexperience and imbecility of the Eng- 
lish general ; for his army, although limit- 
ed in force, had, nevertheless, obtained con- 
siderable advantages through the courage 
and good generalship of the hereditary 
prince of Brunswick, and had forced the 
French general to sound a retreat, when 
the duke, to the no little surprise and in- 
dignation of every one, abandoned the field 
of battle, nor halted in his shameful retreat 
until he reached the Elbe near Stade. Nay, 
to complete the disgrace, he was forced 
shortly afterwards to conclude at Closter- 
seven, on the 9th of September, a conven- 
tion by which he engaged to disband his 
troops, and give up to the French Hanover, 
Hesse, the duchy of Brunswick, and the 
whole of the country situated between the 
Weser and the Rhine. 

The duke of Richelieu, who succeeded 
Marshal d'Estree in the command of the 
French troops, was a man of a most over- 
bearing and prodigal character, devoid of 
all conscientious feeling or principle, and 
gloried in draining the country by every 
possible means of cruel exaction ; and as 
all around him followed his example, and 
made the gain of money and licentiousness 
their all-ruling passion, this degrading 



BATTLE OF GROSSJAGERNDORF. 



389 



practice spread more and more widely 
throughout the ranks of the entire army, 
until there was no excess to which it did 
not resort. In their system of devastation, 
indeed, the French, although belonging to 
a more polished nation, surpassed even the 
Cossacks and Calmucks, who, at this mo- 
ment, were similarly occupied in the king- 
dom of Prussia itself. The destruction of 
morals is more surely to be dreaded from a 
civilized than a barbarous people ; because, 
under the charm of seduction, it leaves be- 
hind a consuming poison in every city and 
village generally, and especially in the 
more sacred bosom of domestic life. The 
bad reputation of the French army, and the 
hatred felt and shown by the Germans, na- 
turally more plain and simple in their man- 
ners and customs, against the smooth and 
polished mask of vice, contributed not a lit- 
tle to gain over the hearts of the majority 
of the people throughout Germany in favor 
of the cause of Frederick. Indeed, it was 
almost inconceivable, with what joy the 
people generally received the news of the 
victories he gained, although perhaps at the 
same moment their own princes, as mem- 
bers of the imperial states, were in arms 
against him. Such is the commanding in- 
fluence exercised by a superior mind over 
his age ; such the sympathy which a gen- 
erous heart can rarely withhold from him 
who by strength and courage is enabled to 
battle with an overpowering and inflexible 
destiny ! But much of this feeling was 
produced, likewise, through beholding how 
Frederick, with the aid only of his own 
Prussians, had to contend against hordes of 
barbarians from the east, as well as the 
hated and most formidable enemy from the 
west ; while in the interior, he had to face 
the Austrian armies composed of soldiers 
all differing in language, customs, and man- 
ners, but all equally eager after pillage, 
including Hungarians, Croatians, and Pan- 
durians. Had Frederick carried on the 
war merely against the Austrians and other 
Germans, true patriots would only have 
deplored the blindness of the hostile parties 
in thus contending against each other when 
they ought, on the contrary, to have 
sheathed the sword and held out to each 
other the hand of fraternal peace and friend- 
ship. The north of Germany was more 
especially attached to Frederick, ranking 
itself on the side of his own people, and 
participating in their joys and sorrows; for 



as that was the seat of war against the 
French, the cause of Frederick was regard- 
ed as that of Germany. 

The convention of Closterseven paved the 
way for the French as far as the Elbe and 
Magdeburg itself ; and their second army, 
now united with the imperial troops, was 
already in Thuringia, and made prepara- 
tions for depriving the Prussians of the 
whole of Saxony, whence the latter received 
their stores and supplies of provisions. 

This was not the only side by which 
Frederick was hard pressed. The Swedes 
spread themselves throughout the whole of 
Pomerania and Ukermark, and laid those 
countries under heavy contributions, while 
they had only to avail themselves of their 
whole force in order to advance direct upon 
Berlin itself, and make themselves, with 
scarcely any opposition, masters of that city. 
The Russian general, Apraxin, had already 
entered Prussia with 100,000 men, and to 
oppose him, Field-marshal Lehwald had 
only 24,000 men ; nevertheless, he was 
forced to give the Russians battle, however 
great the sacrifice, as Frederick sent him 
strict orders to drive out these barbarians and 
put an end to their devastations. Accord- 
ingly the action took place at Grossjugern- 
dorf, near Welau ; but the most undaunted 
and desperate courage displayed by the 
Prussians was employed in vain against 
a force so overwhelming. Lehwald was 
forced to retreat, after a loss of several 
thousand men, and thus Prussia now ap- 
peared irretrievably lost — when, to the asto- 
nishment, of all, Apraxin, instead of advan- 
cing, withdrew to the Russian frontiers ten 
days after the battle he had gained. 

Thus we find, from time to time, the 
troubled path of Frederick illumined b}^ a 
glimmering ray of hope, which appeared 
to lead him on to better fortune. This time 
it originated in the serious illness of the 
empress Elizabeth of Russia ; and the 
grand-chancellor Bestuschef, believing her 
death close at hand, and having his eye 
directed to her successor, Peter III. — 
an admirer and friend of the Prussian 
nero — lost not a moment in commanding 
General Apraxin to withdraw his troops 
from the Prussian dominions. This enabled 
the arm} 7 under Lehwald to march against 
the Swedes, who, on the approach of the 
Prussians, evacuated the entire country 
and retreated as far as Stralsund and 
Riigen. 



390 



CONTINUATION OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Continuation of the Seven Years' War, 1757-1760 — Bat- 
tle of Rossbach, 1757 — Total Defeat of the French — 
General Seidlitz and the Prussian Cavalry — Reverses 
of Frederick— Silesia— Battle of Leuthen, 1757— Fred- 
erick's Appeal to his Officers and Army — Their 
Enthusiasm — Complete Overthrow of the Austrians — 
Glorious Results to Frederick— His Proposals of Peace 
rejected by Maria Theresa— France — Russia — Eng- 
land's Enthusiasm for Frederick — William Pitt— Eng- 
land supports Frederick — Treaty of Closterseven 
disavowed — Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick General- 
in-Chief of the Allied Army — Defeats and drives 
away the French from Germany — Frederick in Silesia 
— Schweidnitz— Frederick's rapid March intoMoravia 
— Olmutz — Bohemia — Pomerania — Battle between 
the Russians and Prussians at Zorndorf, 1758 — Dread- 
ful Slaughter and Defeat of the Russians — The Prus- 
sians attacked and defeated by the Austrians at Hoch- 
kirch, 1758 — Frederick's Presence of Mind — The Prus- 
sian Army— The Imperial Diet— The Prince of Meck- 
lenburg—The Imperial Ban against Frederick pro- 

Sosed — Negatived — The Allied and French Armies — 
attle of Bergen, 1759— Partial Success of the French 
— Battle of Minden — Shameful Conduct of the Eng- 
lish General, Sackville— Defeat of the French— Bat- 
tle of Kay and Kunersdorf, 1759 — Total Defeat of 
the Prussians — Frederick's Misfortunes — His Despair 
—Prince Henry of Prussia— Continued Reverses of 
Frederick — Battle of Liegnitz, 1760 — The Prussians 
defeat the Austrians — Beneficial Results to Frederick 
—Battle of Torgau, 1760— Total Defeat of the Aus- 
trians — Frederick in Leipsic. 

Frederick, after having endeavored for 
a considerable time, but in vain, to give 
battle to the Austrians in Lusatia, broke 
up his army, and in the month of August 
advanced up the Saale into Saxony, in 
order to drive the French out of that coun- 
try. After various marches and counter- 
marches he at length came up with them 
and the imperial army on the 5th of No- 
vember, in the village of Rossbach, close 
to the Saale. Frederick had only 22,000 
men, while the enemy had 60,000 ; and 
they already began to triumph in anticipa- 
tion of his overthrow, being determined 
that the king, with his handful of troops, 
should not escape them this time. He en- 
camped his army upon a height, and the 
French advanced by forced marches, with 
sound of trumpet, towards his camp, curious 
to see whether or not he would have the cour- 
age to make a stand against them, for their 
object was to surround him completely, and 
thus, by making him prisoner, put an end to 
the war at once. The Prussians, however, 
fired not a single shot, but remained per- 
fectly quiet, apparently unprepared for, or 
not taking any notice of the movements of 
the enemy ; the smoke ascending from their 
cooking fires indicated their present occu- 
pation, while Frederick himself took his 
meal with his general officers and staff with 
the appearance of the greatest coolness and 
indifference. But when the favorable mo- 



ment arrived, about half-past two o'clock 
in the afternoon, he gave his orders accord- 
ingly, and in an instant, as if by magic, 
the tents were struck, the army drawn up 
in battle array, the artillery opened its tre- 
mendous fire, and Seidlitz, at the head of 
his brave cavalry, dashed among the bat- 
talions of the enemy as they arrived. The 
French had never, hitherto, encountered 
such rapidity of action from the Germans, 
and they found it totally impossible to form 
into line ; for they were completely over- 
whelmed and routed before they could even 
attempt it, and in the course of less than 
half an hour the action was decided, and 
the entire French army put hors de combat. 
They were seized with such a panic that 
they never halted until they reached the 
middle states of the empire, while many, 
even, deeming themselves still insecure, on- 
ly paused when they reached the opposite 
banks of the Rhine. Seven thousand pris- 
oners fell into the hands of the king, in- 
cluding nine generals and three hundred and 
twenty officers of every rank, together with 
sixty-three pieces of cannon and twenty- 
two standards ; while this glorious victory 
only cost the Prussians one hundred and 
sixty-five in killed, and three hundred and 
fifty wounded. The king was indebted for 
this great triumph to the excellent state of 
discipline and order maintained throughout 
his whole army, which was thus enabled, 
at such momentary notice, to execute so 
successfully the daring plans formed often 
so suddenly and unexpectedly by their royal 
chief ; above all, however, he owed much 
of this victory to the rapid and overwhelm- 
ing courage of General Seidlitz and his 
cavalry. 

Saxony was now rescued and secured on 
this side, while the moral effect of the bat- 
tle of Rossbach produced much benefit to 
the king ; nevertheless, his military labors 
and fatigues, for this year, were not yet 
completed. For, during his absence, his 
favorite and confidential friend, General 
Winterfeld, had perished in an action near 
Moyes ; the duke of Bevern had retreated 
with his army into Silesia as far as the walls 
of Breslau, and as he could not undertake 
any thing against the united forces of the 
prince of Lorraine and Field-marshal Daun, 
the important fortress of Schweidnitz fell, 
on the 11th of November, into the hands of 
General Nadasti. On the 22d, the entire 
Austrian army attacked the Prussians at 



FREDERICK'S REVERSES— APPEALS TO HIS ARMY 



391 



Breslau, and vanquished them after a vig- 
orous defence ; the duke of Bevern, dread- 
ing his sovereign's wrath, yielded himself 
prisoner — according to all appearance vol- 
untarily so — to the Austrians ; and, finally, 
the capital, Breslau, with all its rich sup- 
plies of provisions and ammunition, was 
given up to the imperialists through the 
cowardice of General Lestwitz. Thus 
Silesia appeared now to be lost for Freder- 
ick ; for, if it should be allowed to remain 
only one winter in the hands of the enemy, 
they would fortify it in every possible way, 
so as to make it totally impossible for him 
ever to reconquer it. On the other hand, 
it appeared equally impossible, unless by a 
miracle, to recapture it with the 14,000 
men he brought with him from Saxony, 
and the 16,000 forming the remnant of the 
vanquished army under the duke of Bev- 
ern. 

It was in moments like this, when all 
around him assumed that gloomy charac- 
ter, such as must naturally produce despair 
and desolation in the mind, that King Fred- 
erick displayed in the most striking manner 
the greatness of his genius, the treasure of 
mental resources at his command, and the 
irresistible power with which he operated 
upon the feelings of all under him. He 
summoned a council of his generals and 
chief officers, and addressed them in such 
soul-inspiring language, that they were 
aroused to a state of the most ardent and 
zealous enthusiasm. He represented to 
them the difficult, and even desperate con- 
dition in which their country was at that 
moment placed, and under which it must 
inevitably sink, if he could not calculate 
upon their courage to save it. " I know 
you all feel that you are Prussians," he 
added, in conclusion; "nevertheless, if 
there be one among you who fears to share 
such dangers with me, he is at liberty to re- 
sign his command from this very day, without 
having the slightest reason to dread any re- 
proach from me for so doing." And when 
in reply to this he beheld in the eyes of all 
around him the expression of the one uni- 
versal determined feeling — that they would 
all rally around their brave sovereign, and 
devote their lives to his and their country's 
cause, he exclaimed, with gratified mien : 
"I was well convinced, beforehand, that 
not one of you all would desert me in this 
trying moment ; whence I am sanguine in 
my hopes of victory. Should I fall, and 



thus be prevented from rewarding you for 
your courage, be assured our country will 
not neglect to do so. Farewell then, my 
friends and comrades ; in a short time we 
shall either have driven away the enemy 
now before us, or this will have proved our 
eternal adieu !" 

The enthusiasm called forth by this inspi- 
ring language soon produced its good effects 
throughout the entire army, and all await- 
ed with eager impatience the moment for 
marching against the foe. The latter had 
taken up an equally strong and advan- 
tageous position behind the river Lohe, 
where it was extremely difficult for the 
king to attack him. The cautious leader, 
Field-marshal Daun, was desirous of hold- 
ing possession of it, for he had already 
learned to know at Kollin how necessary it 
was to command a good position in order to 
check and hold at bay the impetuosity of the 
king. But General Luchesi and others of 
the imperialists, who held it degrading to a 
victorious army to seek to intrench itself in 
a position against a force so much inferior in 
numbers, persuaded Prince Charles to 
march at once and meet the king, assuring 
him, "that the parade guard of Berlin" 
as they thus styled the Prussian army. 
" would never be able to make a stand 
against them." This advice was most ac- 
ceptable to the prince, naturally of a more 
impetuous than reflective disposition, and 
he marched forth. The two armies accord- 
ingly met on the vast plain in the vicinity 
of Leuthen, on the 5th of December, exact- 
ly one month after the battle of Rossbach. 
The imperial army, in its plan of attack, 
extended its lines over a space of nearly 
five miles ; while Frederick was forced to 
have recourse to those means by which he 
was enabled to double his power by the ce- 
lerity of his manoeuvres, and adopted, on 
this occasion, his former oblique order of 
battle. He caused a false attack to be made 
on the right, while his principal attack was 
directed against the left wing ; and having 
overcome this completely, the consequent 
disorder was communicated to the whole 
of the Austrian army. Resistance had now 
become useless, and in the course of three 
hours Frederick gained the most complete 
victory. The field of battle was covered 
with the slain, and whole battalions surren- 
dered themselves prisoners, amounting al- 
together to 21,000 men. Added to this, 
the Prussians captured one hundred and 



392 



THE ALLIED ARMIES 



thirty cannon, and three thousand ammuni- 
tion and other wagons. This is one of the 
most extraordinary victories met with in 
history, where 30,000 men only were op- 
posed to 80,000, and by which it was am- 
ply proved how superior genius may some- 
times triumph over superior numbers, and 
more especially when the ideas and plans 
formed, are seconded and carried out with 
that proportionate activity and firmness, so 
gloriously displayed on this occasion by the 
Prussians. 

Meantime, Frederick and his army, how- 
ever great had been their efforts, would not 
allow themselves time for repose, although 
so much needed, but followed up without 
the least delay the fruits of their victory, 
until they had completely driven out the 
Austrians from the Silesian territories be- 
yond the Bohemian mountains. This was 
undertaken by the ever-active and indefat- 
igable General Ziethen, and was accom- 
plished by him with his usual success, 
making immense booty and numerous pris- 
oners ; while, meantime, the king himself 
attacked Breslau, which he captured with 
its garrison of 17,000 men, and in the same 
month, December, Liegnitz likewise sur- 
rendered to his conquering arms. Thus, 
by one bold stroke, upon which he risked 
his all, cost what it may, Frederick recon- 
quered the whole of Silesia — where he was 
enabled to take up his winter quarters as 
far as Schweidnitz — as well as Saxony; 
and, what was more than all, he gained for 
himself that immortal renown in the annals 
of his country which will continue to be 
handed down to the latest posterity. The 
Austrian army, however, which so shortly 
before was so powerful in numbers, exceed- 
ing 80,000 men, and so perfect in its ap- 
pointments, had suffered so much that its 
relics when collected in Bohemia, scarcely 
mustered 17,000 fighting men. All the 
Prussian territories, as far as Westphalia, 
were now completely freed of the enemy. 

Four grand battles, and numerous ac- 
tions more or less important, had combined 
to make the preceding year, 1757, one of 
the most sanguinary to be found in history. 
Both parties had sufficiently tested their 
strength against each other ; and Frederick 
now offered at the court of Vienna terms 
of peace, manifesting by this the principles 
of ancient Rome — not to propose peace un- 
til after he had gained a victory. But the 
empress Maria Theresa still continued too 



much embittered against the conqueror of 
Silesia to admit of the acceptance of his 
proposals ; and, in addition to this, every 
care had been taken to conceal from her 
the heavy losses sustained by her army at 
the battle of Leuthen, as well as the dis- 
tressed condition to which the war had re- 
duced her states. She was likewise influ- 
enced in her resolution by France, which 
insisted upon the continuation of the war in 
Germany, otherwise that power would be 
obliged to contend alone against England. 
Thence the offers of Frederick were reject- 
ed, and preparations for a fresh campaign 
renewed on a more extensive scale than 
ever. Prince Charles of Lorraine, who had 
lost the confidence both of the army and the 
country, was forced to resign the chief 
command. It was found, however, ex- 
tremely difficult to meet with his substitute, 
for the brave Field-marshal Nadasti, ow- 
ing to the jealousy and intrigue excited 
against him, was completely supplanted, 
and eventually the choice was fixed upon 
Field-marshal Daun, for whose reputation 
the victory of Kollin had effected far more 
than his otherwise natural tardiness of ac- 
tion and irresolution merited. 

The French armies were likewise rein- 
forced, and another general-in-chief, Count 
Clermont, was appointed instead of the 
duke of Richelieu. The latter, accordingly, 
returned to France with all the millions he 
had exacted, during the period of his ser- 
vice, upon which he lived in the most ex- 
travagant, gorgeous style, in the face of the 
whole world, and in defiance of all shame 
and disgust. Russia also joined in the de- 
sire for a continuation of the war, and the 
chancellor Bestuschef, who had in the pre- 
vious year recalled the army from Prussia, 
was removed from office, and another lead- 
er, General Fermor, was placed at the head 
of the Russian troops ; he, in fact, lost not 
a moment, but marched at once against 
Prussia, in the month of January, and con- 
quered the kingdom without any resistance, 
owing to the absence of General Lehwald, 
who with the army was then in Pomerania, 
contending against the Swedes. 

In order to oppose and make a stand 
against such serious and overwhelming 
danger, Frederick was forced to summon 
together the entire and extreme resources 
of his own dominions, as well as those of 
the Saxon territories. Levies in money 
and troops were forthwith made with equal 



FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK— DEFEATS THE FRENCH. 



393 



activity and rigor, and the king found him- 
self reduced to the necessity of coining coun- 
terfeit money for the payment of his troops : 
a measure which such a case of extreme 
necessity alone can justify or excuse. He 
knew, however, too well that, since the feu- 
dal system of war had been succeeded by 
that of modern times, the grand principle 
upon which war must now be carried on 
was founded upon the employment of its in- 
fluential agent — money. For as regarded 
allies upon whom he might place depend- 
ence, he possessed only England and a few 
princes in the north of Germany, and these 
were already paralyzed by the disgraceful 
convention of Closterseven. Fortune, how- 
ever, served him very favorably at this 
moment in England ; the British nation, 
always ready to acknowledge and appreci- 
ate patriotic achievements in every quarter, 
was inspired by the battle of Rossbach with 
the greatest enthusiasm for Frederick ; 
while the most complete disgust was gen- 
erally excited against the shameful conven- 
tion of Closterseven. In accordance with 
these feelings, the celebrated William Pitt, 
who had just been appointed prime minis- 
ter, caused this treaty, which had not as 
yet been confirmed, to be at once disa- 
vowed, and determined to continue the war 
with renewed vigor. The army was forth- 
with augmented, and the appointment of its 
leader was intrusted to Frederick himself. 
His eagle eye soon fixed upon the genius 
best adapted for its extraordinary powers to 
be chosen to co-operate with himself, and 
he accordingly furnished the allied army 
with a truly distinguished chief, Ferdinand, 
duke of Brunswick, who, by his good 
generalship, so well justified Frederick's 
choice, that his name will ever continue to 
maintain its brilliant position on the side of 
that of the great king, in the records of this 
sanguinary war. 

According to a plan agreed upon between 
Frederick and himself, the duke already 
opened the campaign in the month of Feb- 
ruary, and, marching at the head of his 
small army, he surprised the French in 
their winter quarters, where they were liv- 
ing in abundance and luxury at the ex- 
pense of the Hanoverians and Hessians ; 
the odds between the two armies were 
great, for the duke had only 30,000 men 
against their 100,000. But with him all 
his measures were so well calculated, 
while on the part of his adversaries so 
50 



much negligence and frivolity existed, in 
combination with the incapacity of their 
general, that in a very few weeks the duke 
completely succeeded in driving them out 
of the entire country situated between the 
Aller and Weser, and the Weser and the 
Rhine ; their haste being such that they 
abandoned all their provisions and ammu- 
nition, and more than 11,000 were taken 
prisoners by the allied army. They re- 
crossed the Rhine near Diisseldorf, hoping 
there to be secure ; in this however they 
deceived themselves. Duke Ferdinand 
pursued them to the other side of the Rhine, 
attacked them at Crefeld, and, in spite of 
their superiority in numbers, he put them 
completely to rout, causing them a loss of 
seven thousand slain. After this battle the 
city of Diisseldorf surrendered to the duke, 
and his light cavalry scoured the country 
throughout the Austrian Netherlands, even 
to the very gates of Brussels itself. 

Frederick, during this interval, had not 
been idle. He commenced with laying 
siege to Schweidnitz, which strong and im- 
portant place still remained in the hands 
of the Austrians, and carried it by assault 
on the 18th of April. Field-marshal Daun 
meantime remained stationary in Bohemia, 
and used every exertion to cut off the 
march of Frederick into that country, for 
he fully expected to be attacked there by 
the king. But while he imagined himself 
perfectly secure, Frederick suddenly broke 
up with his army, and instead of proceeding 
to Bohemia, advanced, by forced marches, 
to Moravia, and laid siege to Olmtitz. In 
this expedition was shown the peculiarity 
of Frederick's genius, which led him to 
undertake the most bold, extraordinary, 
and perilous enterprises, while his constant 
aim and glory was to take his enemy by 
surprise ; and on this occasion he was more 
especially influenced by the idea, that if he 
once became master of Olmiitz, he would 
then have the command of the most im- 
portant position in an Austrian territory 
hitherto perfectly undisturbed, and thus be 
enabled to threaten the immediate vicinity 
of "Vienna itself. Fortune, however, did 
not this time second his bold design ; the 
place defended itself with the greatest bra- 
very, the inhabitants of the country, faith- 
ful to their empress, annoyed the Prussians 
as far as was in their power, and conveyed 
intelligence to the imperial army of all 
their movements. By this means Daun 



394 BATTLE OF 



was enabled to intercept and seize upon a 
convoy of three thousand wagons, upon the 
arrival of which the entire success of the 
siege depended ; whence it was obliged to 
be given up. But now the retreat into 
Silesia was blocked up; and Daun, hav- 
ing taken possession of every road, felt cer- 
tain that he had caught the enemy within 
his own net. Frederick, however, suddenly 
turned back, and marching across the moun- 
tains, arrived in Bohemia — where the Aus- 
trian general did not at all expect him — 
without the loss of a single wagon ; and he 
would not have been forced to leave this 
country so soon again had not the invasion 
of the Russians recalled him to Pomerania 
and Neumark. Accordingly he recrossed 
the mountains from Bohemia into Silesia, 
and leaving Marshal Keith behind to pro- 
tect the country, he hastened with 14,000 
men to attack the Russians. 

At every step he took as he marched 
through the provinces he met with the sad 
effects of the devastation committed by these 
barbarians, who spared neither women, chil- 
dren, the young, nor the old. The town 
of Ciistrin was burnt to ashes, with the ex- 
ception of three houses, and the land around 
presented one vast desert. When the king, 
as well as his entire army, beheld these 
melancholy scenes, they were overwhelmed 
with burning rage, and the moment they | 
came in sight of the enemy they com- 
menced the attack, when one of the most 
sanguinary battles of the entire Seven 
Years' War was fought, and which rased 
from nine o'clock in the morning until ten 
at night. Thirty-seven thousand Prussians 
were opposed to sixty thousand Russians, 
fighting hand to hand in the manner of the 
ancient Germans, each combatant resolved 
to perish rather than yield in the fatal 
struggle — and in which the Prussians, after 
what they had seen, were more especially 
excited to wreak their vengeance upon the 
savage invaders — giving bv their sovereign's 
command no quarter, but fighting for life or 
death. On the evening of this sanguinary 
day more than 19,000 Russians lay dead or 
wounded on the field of battle ; but, on the 
other hand, nearly 11,000 Prussians were 
slain or disabled, for the Russians, finding 
they were completely edged in, and to all 
appearance without any hope of escape, 
sold their lives dearly, and fought, like- 
wise, with desperpte courage. If, indeed, 
it had not been for the invincible cavalry 



ZORNDORF. 



of Seidlitz, which flew in every direction 
where the danger was greatest, to the sup- 
port of their sinking comrades, and thus, by 
efforts almost superhuman, overthrew whole 
battalions of the enemy, the victory would 
still have remained doubtful, as indeed 
was acknowledged by Frederick himself. 
As it was, however, the Russian general, 
Fermor, abandoned Prussia entirely, and 
retreated into Poland ; while Frederick 
marched into Saxony, where his brother 
Henry was hard pressed by the superior 
forces of the Austrians. 

General Daun, on the approach of the 
king, retired to a strong position he had se- 
lected in Lusatia. His object was to cut 
off the passage of the king into Silesia, in 
order that his general, Harsch, might have 
time to conquer the fortress of Neisse. 
Frederick, however, who perceived his 
aim, hastened to occupy the route to Sile- 
sia through Bautzen and Gorlitz, and 
marched close past the lines of the Austri- 
an army, in order to encamp himself upon 
an open plain situated between the villa- 
ges of Hochkirch and Cotitz. This plan 
was any thing but wise, although it showed 
great contempt for the enemy. His quar- 
ter-master, Marwitz, and at the same time 
a confidential favorite, represented to him 
the great danger to which he was exposed 
I by taking up this position, and, hesitating 
at first, he finally refused to pitch the 
camp there, in spite of the king's commands. 
He was, however, forthwith placed und>°r 
arrest, and his duties transferred into the 
hands of another. The army continued 
here encamped three days, completely ex- 
posed to the attacks of the enemy, so much 
superior in numbers ; while Frederick re- 
mained obstinately deaf to all the repre- 
sentations of his generals. He considered 
that as the Austrians had never attacked 
him first, he might easily calculate thnt 
Field-marshal Daun would never think, 
and was quite incapable of undertaking 
such a bold step ; while, in addition to 
this self-deception, he was betrayed by an 
Austrian spy, whom the enemy had bought 
over, and who accordingly furnished him 
with false reports of their plans and pro- 
ceedings. 

On the morning of the 14th of October, 
and before the dawn of day, the Prussian 
army was aroused by a discharge of ar- 
tillery ; the Austrians having, during the 
night, silently advanced to the village of 



BATTLE OF 



Hochkirch, and exactly as the church- 
clock chimed the hour of five, they fell 
upon the Prussian advanced posts, took 
possession of the strong intrenchment at 
the entrance of the village, turned the 
muzzles of the cannon against their ad- 
versaries, and, by a murderous fire, de- 
stroyed all the Prussians that attempted to 
make a stand in its defence. The slaughter 
committed was dreadful, for the troops 
poured forth in thousands to assemble in 
the principal street of the village as head- 
quarters. The generals and principal offi- 
cers endeavored in vain, amid the dark- 
ness, to form them in regular line of battle ; 
the brave Prince Francis of Brunswick 
had his head carried away by a cannon- 
ball, in the very moment he was about to 
attack the enemy on the heights of Hoch- 
kirch ; Field-marshal Keith, a venerable 
but equally brave and well-tried warrior, 
fell pierced with two bullets, and Prince 
Maurice of Dessau was likewise danger- 
ously wounded. Generals Seidlitz and 
Ziethen formed their squadrons of cavalry 
on the open plain, and threw themselves 
with all their usual bravery upon the Aus- 
trians ; but the advantages they gained 
could not compensate for the serious loss 
already sustained. Hochkirch, the camp, 
together with all the baggage and ammu- 
nition fell into the hands of the enemy. 
The dawn of day brought with it no ad- 
vantage, for an impenetrable fog prevented 
the king from reconnoitring the enemy's 
position as well as his own, so as to be 
enabled, perhaps, by a prompt movement, 
to bring back to his colors that good for- 
tune which had thus so unexpectedly aban- 
doned him. Nevertheless, his regiments 
had now, through that discipline which 
was never so admirably displayed as at 
this moment, succeeded in forming them- 
selves into regular order, and when, tow- 
ards nine o'clock, the sun made its ap- 
pearance, he perceived that the Austrian 
army had already nearly surrounded him 
on every side, and he accordingly gave 
orders for a retreat. This took place in 
such good order, that the Austrian general 
was taken so much by surprise that he 
found it impossible to attempt to oppose it, 
and returned to his old quarters. The 
king, however, had suffered a loss of sev- 
eral of his best generals, nine thousand 
good soldiers, and more than one hundred 
pieces of cannon ; and, as he had lost all 



HOCHKIRCH. 395 



his baggage, nothing was left wherewith 
to supply his troops with clothing for the 
approaching winter. 

Meantime, the king maintained the ut- 
most tranquillity and firmness of mind 
throughout this period of trial, and his ap- 
pearance inspired his troops with the same 
feeling. And, in truth, if Frederick ever 
showed himself great in misfortune, he did 
so especially after this serious loss ; for, 
although deprived of all the necessary pro- 
visions and supplies for his army, he never- 
theless was not less successful in accom- 
plishing by hasty marches and masterly 
manoeuvres his original plan ; and thus, 
deceiving the enemy, and circuiting his 
position, forced General Harsch in all 
haste to raise the siege of Neisse. Silesia 
was now entirely freed from the enemy ; 
while Daun, conqueror as he was, after 
being unable to prevent Frederick from 
entering Silesia, and obtaining, by his at- 
tack upon Dresden, no other result but 
that of forcing the Prussian general, Count 
Schmettau, in his defence to set fire to the 
beautiful suburbs of that capital, returned 
in mortification to Bohemia, where he es- 
tablished his winter-quarters. Thus su- 
periority of genius produced those results 
for the conquered, which otherwise might 
have fallen to the share of the conqueror. 

At the end of this year Frederick found 
himself, in spite of the vicissitudes he had 
undergone, in possession of the same coun- 
tries as in the preceding year, in addition 
to which he now had Schweidnitz, which 
was not in his hands previously ; while in 
Westphalia all his provinces which had 
been captured by the French were now 
reconquered by the valor of Prince Fer- 
dinand. The latter had not certainly been 
able to maintain, with his small army, his 
position on the other side of the Rhine ; 
but, at the end of the campaign, he forced 
the French to abandon the whole right 
bank of that river, and to establish their 
winter-quarters between the Rhine and the 
Meuse. 

The following year, however, in spite of 
the perils he had already undergone and 
battled against, the heroic king found him- 
self destined to encounter vicissitudes, which 
rendered this period of the war more trying 
than perhaps any other. The hope of be- 
ing at length enabled to crush him, exci- 
ted his enemies to strain every effort in or- 
der to effect this object. The Austrian 



396 



THE AUSTRIAN AND PRUSSIAN ARMIES. 



army was completely reorganized and rein- 
forced to its full complement, and indeed, 
with every coming year, it marched into 
the field with increased vigor and augment- 
ed numbers, because the ranks were filled 
up with the hardy peasantry of the heredi- 
tary lands, who were well drilled, and who 
being intermingled with the more experien- 
ced and well-tried veterans of many a hard- 
fought battle — of whom, notwithstanding 
the heavy losses sustained, the army still 
retained a powerful body — were soon initi- 
ated in the rough and perilous scenes of 
the camp. In Frederick's small army, on 
the other hand, which had to contend equal- 
ly with Austrians, Russians, Frenchmen, 
and Swedes, as well as with other troops of 
the empire itself, the number of those who 
had escaped the sword and disease, formed 
but a small body, and consequently its 
ranks were principally filled with newly- 
levied and inexperienced recruits. And 
however speedily these young soldiers, who 
often joined the army at the early age of 
boyhood, entered into the spirit and honor 
of the cause for which they fought, and in 
which they emulated, as much as possible, 
the acts of their more veteran comrades — 
sometimes, perhaps, even surpassing them 
in daring courage — still their number was 
far inferior compared with those levied in 
Saxony, Anhalt, Mecklenburg, and such 
as were collected in various other parts, 
consisting chiefly of deserters. Thence, 
although the Prussian army was soon com- 
pleted in all its numbers and appointments, 
it fell far short when compared with the 
Austrians in internal organization and uni- 
ted strength.* Besides this, Frederick's 
own estates, as well as those of Saxony and 
Mecklenburg, suffered so much by oppres- 

* A foreigner of rank and great wealth, having re- 
quested to be permitted to serve in the campaign of 1757 
as a volunteer, Frederick granted his wish, and the no- 
ble recruit arrived in a splendid carriage, and attended 
by several servants ; in fact, displaying an unusual lav- 
ishment of expense and luxury. He received, how- 
ever, no mark of distinction, and, indeed, very little or 
no attention, being generally stationed in the wagon- 
train. He bore no part in any engagement, much less 
in any general battle, and had to experience the morti- 
fication of not sharing in the victorious action of Ross- 
bach. He had often sent a written complaint to the 
king, but without any effect; at length, however, he 
had an opportunity of addressing the king in person, 
when, in reply to his representations upon the subject, 
Frederick said, " Your style of living, sir, is not the 
fashion in my army ; in fact, it is highly objectionable 
and offensive. Without the greatest moderation, it is 
impossible to learn to bear the fatigues which accom- 
pany every war, and if you cannot determine to sub- 
mit to the strict discipline my officers and troops are 
forced to undergo, I would advise you, in a friendly 
way, to return to your own country." — Miilcher. 



sive taxation, and the continual conscription, 
which thus seriously diminished the male 
population, that it seemed as if they never 
could recover from the sad effects. The 
duke of Mecklenburg, indeed, in his indig- 
nation, acted with such imprudence at the 
diet of Ratisbon, as to place himself at the 
head of those princes who were most loud 
and bitter in their complaints against Fred- 
erick, and demanded nothing less than that 
the ban of the empire should be at once 
pronounced against him ; for which act the 
duke's land was subjected to the most ex- 
treme severity of treatment, and, in fact, 
dealt with rather as that of an enemy than an 
ally. The imperial ban, however, was not 
adjudged against the king, for as the same 
sentence must have been pronounced against 
the elector of Hanover, the evangelic states 
refused to condemn two such distinguished 
members of their body. Besides which, 
this word, which in ancient times was more 
fatally annihilating in its effects than the 
sharp edge of the sword itself, had, unfor- 
tunately, long since become void of power 
and effect, and if pronounced, would only 
have exposed more degradingly the dissolu- 
tion of the Germanic confederation. 

Maria Theresa, however, by her urgent 
appeals to the sovereigns of France and 
Russia to carry on the war, endeavored to 
effect the destruction of Frederick with far 
more certainty than could have been ac- 
complished by all the bans pronounced 
against him by the imperial diet. The 
empress of Russia, in order to obliterate the 
stain of the battle of Zorndorf, sent fresh 
troops under the command of General Solti- 
kow, a brave and active officer. In Paris, 
the duke of Choiseul, hitherto French am- 
bassador at Vienna, and the chief promoter 
of the war against Frederick, was now 
chosen prime-minister, and he determined 
to employ all the forces at command, in 
order to reconquer Westphalia, Hanover, 
and Hesse. Had this design been brought 
into execution, these countries would have 
experienced the most dreadful persecution, 
and Hanover more especially would have 
been singled out by France upon which to 
wreak her vengeance, for the losses she had 
sustained both at sea and on her coasts, 
from the naval expeditions of Great Britain. 
For the glorious victories obtained by the 
British men-of-war had completely dimin- 
ished the maritime force of France, while 
both in North America and the East Indies 



BATTLES OF BERGEN AND MINDEN. 



397 



all her settlements and possessions were 
reduced or captured. Prince Ferdinand, 
with his small army, was, however, the 
only disposable power at command to op- 
pose the enemy in his designs against Ger- 
many from this quarter. 

Ferdinand was menaced upon two sides : 
on that of the Maine by the army of the 
duke of Broglio, whose head-quarters were 
at Frankfort, which he had taken by sur- 
prise — for, in spite of its being an imperial 
free city, and although it had accordingly 
furnished, without hesitation, its quota of 
contributions to the confederation in men 
and money for the war against Frederick, 
it was not the less exposed to attack ; and 
from the point of the Lower Rhine, Marshal 
de Contade advanced with the main body 
of the army, to invade and overrun Hano- 
ver. Ferdinand was in hopes of being 
able, like Frederick, to make a successful 
stand against both armies through the ce- 
lerity of his movements, and marching at 
once against the duke of Broglio at the 
opening of the campaign, came up with 
him on the 12th of April at Bergen, near 
Frankfort. He immediately attacked him 
with his brave Hessians, but the position 
occupied by the French was too strong, 
while they were enabled to replace the 
troops they lost by continual fresh sup- 
plies, whence the Hessians were repulsed 
in three attacks. Ferdinand now pru- 
dently resolved not to expose his army to 
the chances of a total defeat, and accord- 
ingly made a retreat in good order. It re- 
quired, however, the exercise of all the 
genius and experience he possessed to ena- 
ble him to protect Lower Saxony against 
the attack of Marshal de Contade. This 
general had succeeded in crossing the 
Rhine near Diisseldorf, and, marching 
through the Weser forest towards Giessen, 
formed a j unction with Broglio, and took Cas- 
sel, Paderborn, Miinster, and Minden, on the 
Weser. In all his operations thus far he 
was equally prompt and successful, and 
Ferdinand found himself forced to with- 
draw as far back as the mouth of the Weser 
near Bremen, while the French general 
now regarded Hanover as already within 
his grasp. 

In Paris all were in high glee at this 
glorious beginning — but the German hero 
soon changed that exultation into the oppo- 
site feelings of sorrow and depression by 
gaining a brilliant victory. Ferdinand, 



placing full confidence in his resources, 
marched to meet the French army, and 
found it, on the 1st of August, near Minden, 
occupying a position, the nature of which 
offered him every advantage for the attack. 
Contade was forced to fight, inasmuch as 
his supplies were cut off, but he calculated 
upon his superiority in numbers ; he, how- 
ever, gave very few proofs on this day 
of his talent and experience, although at 
other times he had not shown himself want- 
ing in ability. Contrary to all military 
practice hitherto, he placed his cavalry in 
the centre, and this very error in his tac- 
tics, and which, no doubt, he expected must 
operate to his advantage, produced his de- 
feat and Ferdinand's triumph. He order- 
ed the British and Hanoverian infantiy, 
whose steady firmness he had already test- 
ed, to advance and charge the enemy's cav- 
alry — a bold and happy idea, and which 
by the results effected, was through its re- 
alization an additional evidence of Ferdi- 
nand's superior genius, which at such a 
moment directed him to swerve from the 
ordinary course of operations. The French 
cavalry, forming the elite of the whole ar- 
my, astounded at this daring attack of the 
allied infantry, met the charge with tolera- 
ble firmness at first, and endeavored to 
force the ranks of their bold opponents and 
gallop over them ; but every attempt they 
made against these solid and invulnerable 
ranks of bayonets was completely defeated, 
and at length the sweeping discharges of 
the artillery, together with the destructive 
execution made by the well-aimed muskets 
of the infantry, produced the greatest con- 
fusion among them, and put them complete- 
ly to flight. Ferdinand now gave orders 
to General Sackville to dash through the 
hollow space thus left in the centre of the 
French line with his British cavalry, and 
to pursue the flying enemy ; by obeying 
which orders he would have completely 
divided the two wings of the French army, 
and thus overpowered by the allies, its en- 
tire destruction must inevitably have fol- 
lowed. But whether it was through jeal- 
ousy or cowardice — for his unaccountable 
behavior has never been clearly explain- 
ed — the English general turned traitor, dis- 
obeyed the order given by the duke, and 
thus allowed the French time to reassemble 
and make good their retreat. As it was, 
however, they lost eight thousand men and 
thirty pieces of cannon. But the results 



398 BATTLE 



of this battle were still more important. 
Contade, being now continually pursued, 
withdrew along the Weser to Cassel, and 
thence continued his retreat southward to 
Giessen ; while the army of Ferdinand cap- 
tured successively Marburg, Fulda, and 
Miinster, in Westphalia, so that, by the end 
of the year, this distinguished general found 
himself once more in possession of the same 
territories he occupied at its commence- 
ment. 

King Frederick had not shown his usual 
eagerness to open the campaign this year, 
inasmuch as his advantage did not now, so 
much as at the commencement of the war, 
depend upon the results of prompt meas- 
ures ; but the main object of his plans at 
this moment was rather if possible to pre- 
vent the junction of the Russian and Aus- 
trian armies. He encamped himself in a 
strong position near Landshut, whence, by 
sudden incursions directed equally against 
the Russians in Poland and the Austrians 
in Bohemia, he wrested from them their 
most valuable magazines, and thus prevent- 
ed both armies, for a considerable time, 
from undertaking any important enterprise ; 
for when, according to the system pursued 
by the belligerent parties at this period, the 
armies remained quartered in a country for 
any length of time, they abstained as much 
as possible from depriving the inhabitants 
of all their provisions ; whence much great- 
er supplies were rendered necessary for the 
troops. 

At length, however, the Russians, con- 
sisting of 40,000 men, crossed the Oder, 
and Laudon was waiting ready to join them 
with his 20,000 Austrians. Frederick, in 
such an extremity, resolved, in order to save 
himself, to have recourse to extraordinary 
measures. Among his generals he had 
one, young it is true, but at the same time 
distinguished beyond any other for his dar- 
ing courage in difficult circumstances : this 
was General Wedel. Him he held as best 
qualified to be intrusted with the command 
against the Russians, but he was doubtful 
whether or not, perhaps, the senior generals 
would submit to his orders. The king, 
however, decided at once to adopt the plan 
of the Romans — who in extreme danger 
made it a rule to place the whole authority 
and direction of affairs in the hands of one 
man. whom the y styled their dictator — and 
accordingly appointed General Wedel dic- 
tator over the army opposed to the Rus- 



OF KAY. 



sians. According to the royal instructions 
he received, he was to attack the enemy 
wherever he came up with them. These 
instructions the young dictator obeyed to 
the letter, but without reflecting upon what 
such orders presupposed. Accordingly he 
attacked the Russians on the 23d of June, 
at the village of Kay, near Ziillichau, but 
planned his attack so badly that, in order 
to make it, his army was forced to cross a 
bridge and march through a long narrow 
line of road, in single files, so that the bat- 
talions were only able to reach the field of 
battle in successive bodies ; where, as they 
arrived, they were received by a murder- 
ous discharge of grape-shot, and were thus 
destroyed in detail by the Russians. The 
Prussians lost more than 5000 men, and the 
enemy being thus no longer opposed, effect- 
ed a junction with Laudon without any 
further delay. 

It was necessary now that Frederick 
himself should hasten with his 43,000 men 
to meet the combined forces of the enemy. 
He knew and felt the great danger to 
which he was about to expose himself per- 
sonally, and summoning his brother Henry 
from his camp at Schmottseifen, gave him 
strict charge to watch the movements of 
Field-marshal Daun, and besides this, ap- 
pointed him regent of the Prussian domin- 
ions, in case he himself should be either 
killed or taken prisoner in this expedition. 
At the same time, however, in the event of 
such a misfortune, he demanded from him 
the most solemn promise, never to submit 
to a peace which in the slightest degree 
might bring shame or disgrace upon the 
house of Prussia. Frederick well knew 
how to live and die as a king, and he would 
willingly have lost his life rather than be 
made a prisoner ; for he was too well aware 
what great sacrifice his enemies would 
have demanded for his ransom. 

On the 12th of August, he found the 
united forces of the Russians and Austri- 
ans, amounting to 60,000 men, strongly in- 
trenched upon the heights of Kiinersdorf, 
near Frankfort on the Oder. After recon- 
noitring their position, he formed his plan 
of battle, and which was so drawn out as 
to ensure not only a complete victory, but 
likewise the entire annihilation of the ene- 
my. Many have condemned the king for 
conceiving his plan upon such desperate 
and cruel principles ; but this very plan is 
a characteristic evidence of the greatness 



BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 



399 



of a general, who prefers terminating the 
war with one blow rather than tediously 
prolonging it by a succession of insignifi- 
cant actions, and which, nevertheless, when 
summed together, prove by their results 
still more murderous in the lives sacrificed. 
And, again, why should such a reproach 
be made against Frederick, seeing how 
many enemies he had to battle with at 
once, and how much reason he had rather, 
if possible, to bring hostilities to an end 
with each, by contending with them sepa- 
rately ? But the plan of the battle of 
Kiinersdorf was not the cause of the mis- 
fortune of the day ; it was produced, firstly, 
through ignorance of the different localities 
around — for although the king had collect- 
ed information from those who knew the 
country, he was still left without an exact 
knowledge of the field of battle ; and, 
secondly, through the too great confidence 
he placed in human strength. For after 
having succeeded, by the most extraordi- 
nary exertions of his troops, in his attack 
against the left wing of the Russians, cap- 
turing ninety pieces of cannon, and putting 
the whole of this left wing to flight — so that 
the king, in his elated hopes, had already 
dispatched a courier to Berlin with the an- 
nouncement of victory — and the day now 
declining, his generals advised him to pause 
and spare his worn-out soldiers, especially 
as the Austrians had not as yet taken any 
share in the battle, and the right wing of 
the Russians still remained immoveable. 
They likewise added their expectations, 
that the enemy would withdraw from the 
field in the course of the night of his own 
accord. The king, however, who would 
not hear of any work being half done, paid 
no attention to their representations ; while 
at the same time, no doubt, he perceived 
how dangerous it would be to break off 
the fight in the immediate vicinity of the 
Austrian army, ready prepared and wait- 
ing for battle; according^, he gave imme- 
diate orders to make a fresh attack. Thus 
the soldiers, already faint and exhausted 
with the great exertions they had made 
during the whole of that hot day, were 
again doomed to scale the heights and con- 
quer the strongest positions, whence the 
batteries of heavy artillery scattered the 
most dreadful havoc among their ranks. 
The greatest courage could not possibly 
hold out before such superiority of force ; 
each time that their generals, and the king 



himself, led them on to the attack, they 
were repulsed, until at last the entire army 
was seized with terror and dismay, and 
took to flight. The Austrian cavalry now 
pursued and fell upon the fugitives, causing 
the most dreadful carnage, and all hopes 
of making a retreat in good order were out 
of question. Frederick himself, when he 
witnessed the defeat of his troops, a defeat 
such as he had never before experienced, 
was seized with such overpowering feel- 
ings of depression and despair, that he re- 
nounced all thought of saving his own life; 
there he was seen amidst the dead, the 
dying, and the wounded, in every part of 
the field, during which he had two horses 
killed under him, and he himself received 
a bullet in his left side which penetrated 
through his coat to his waistcoat pocket, 
where fortunately its dangerous course was 
stopped by his gold snuff-box. At length, 
as he continued utterly regardless of all 
that passed around him, paying no atten- 
tion to the warnings of those near him to 
save his life, and as at that moment several 
squadrons of the Austrian cavalry were 
galloping towards him, some of his suite 
seized the bridle of his horse and led him 
away almost by force from the field of 
battle. He was conveyed under the es- 
cort of Captain Prittwitz and his troop of 
hussars to a temporary place of security. 
Here the king wrote with his pencil a 
hasty note to his minister, Finkenstein, 
saying, "All is lost! save the royal fam- 
ily !" and a few hours afterwards he sent 
another note with the words : " The conse- 
quences of this lost battle will be still more 
dreadful than the battle itself. I shall not 
survive the ruin of my country. Farewell 
forever !" 

Such was the depressed and gloomy state 
of Frederick's mind and heart; and when 
on the evening of that dreadful day, as he 
lay stretched sleepless upon his bed of 
straw, in the almost roofless hut of a poor 
peasant, in the village of Oetscher, and 
while his small retinue were asleep on the 
stone floor around him, he was thus aban- 
doned to his own thoughts, he felt more 
acutely than ever how little it is that man, 
with all his strength, can accomplish when 
left to himself, and how vain are all his 
calculations. For, in his present reverses, 
he saw and acknowledged that if he and 
his nation were not rescued by a higher 
power, they must be irretrievably lost. The 



400 JEALOUSY OF THE RUSSIAN AND AUSTRIAN GENERALS. 



road to Berlin was now left completely open 
for the invasion of the conquering enemy, 
and he would be enabled to penetrate without 
opposition into the very heart of the king- 
dom. Of the Prussian army the king, on 
the morning after the battle, was only able 
to collect together about 10,000 men, and 
it was only after some time had elapsed, 
when a considerable body of the fugitives 
had returned, and he had been joined by all 
the stray troops he could muster, that his 
whole force was increased to 20,000 men ; 
while with great difficulty he partially re- 
placed the 165 pieces of cannon he had 
lost at Kiinersdorf, by a fresh supply from 
Berlin. Nevertheless, his capital was 
saved ; for the Russian general — influ- 
enced either by some secret consideration 
towards his hereditary prince, Peter, or 
perhaps, by the indignation excited against 
the Austrians for their inactivity, did not 
follow up his victory. For when he was 
summoned by Field-marshal Daun to ad- 
vance with his forces, Soltikow wrote to 
him in reply : " I have already gained two 
battles, and now I only wait to march in 
advance until I receive news that you have 
gained two victories likewise. It is not 
just that the troops of my empress should 
be expected to do every thing alone." 
This jealousy and discontent between the 
leaders of both nations continued during 
the whole war, and produced more than 
once the salvation of the Prussian monarch 
in moments of extreme difficulty and dan- 
ger. 

Meantime the Austrian general was de- 
tained in Lusatia by the king's brother, 
Prince Henry, who on this occasion em- 
ployed every stratagem in the art of war to 
gain his object, and by continual marching 
and counter-marching, without risking a 
single battle, forced his enemy to retreat 
across the mountains of Bohemia. The 
prudence and caution exercised by the 
prince in conducting this war were such, 
that he effected, without shedding a drop 
of blood, that which the impetuosity and 
rash courage of his brother would only 
have accomplished after a sanguinary bat- 
tle ; and it appeared as if fate had brought 
the two together, in order that the one 
brother might repair the faults of the other. 
Frederick himself has avowed this charac- 
ter of his brother, when he says : " He was 
the only general throughout the entire war 
who committed no faults." 



Nevertheless, Prince Henry could not 
prevent the king from suffering at the end 
of this campaign two severe losses. The 
first was the evacuation of Dresden, the 
most important place for the Prussians 
during the whole war, and which was sur- 
rendered to the Austrians. Frederick, 
after the battle of Kiinersdorf, had sent 
orders to Count Schmettau, the governor of 
that city, in case he was seriously attack- 
ed, to save, before every thing else, the 
military chest which contained seven mil- 
lions of dollars. Following but too exactly 
these commands, General Schmettau gave 
up the city to the imperial army the same 
day (the 4th of September) on which Gen- 
eral Wunsch — sent too late by the king to 
the succor of the city — arrived in the 
vicinity. The chest was saved, but all 
the provisions, together with the place it- 
self, were sacrificed : a loss which enabled 
General Daun to establish his winter quar- 
ters for the first time in Saxony. Frede- 
rick used all his efforts in order to dislodge 
him from this position. He dispatched 
General Fink with 13,000 men to attack 
the rear of the Austrian army near Maxen ; 
but, in his desire to see the idea he had 
formed brought into operation, the king 
lost sight of the danger of the enterprise. 
The general, who, however, at once per- 
ceived this peril, but who, in spite of his re- 
presentations, was forced to proceed to ac- 
tion, lost, immediately on being attacked, 
all confidence and presence of mind, and, 
after a brief but sanguinary combat, sur- 
rendered, together with the remains of his 
army, about 5000 fighting men, to the 
Austrians. Such an event was hitherto 
unheard-of in the Prussian army, and it 
served as an expiation for the 14,000 Sax- 
ons who, at the commencement of the war, 
were made prisoners by the Prussians 
nearly on the very same spot. Daun 
entered the city of Dresden with his prison- 
ers in triumph, and nothing could now alter 
his determination to take up his winter 
quarters in Saxony. The king, who could 
not endure the idea, resolved to harass him 
by his firmness, and remained encamped, 
in the open plain, and in spite of the most 
severe frost, near Wildsruf, during the 
space of six weeks ; through which he for- 
ced Daun to do the same, and to suffei 
equally from the inclemency of the season. 
Finally, however, in the month of January, 
1760, the excessive, rigorously cold weather 



CONTINUED DISASTERS OF FREDERICK. 



401 



forced both leaders to afford their armies 
some repose, and the king, determined not 
to abandon that portion of Saxony which 
still belonged to him, established his head- 
quarters in Freiburg. 

The situation of King Frederick became 
more and more difficult at the opening of 
every fresh campaign. The sphere of in- 
dependence which he could still call his 
own, and in which he could move freely, 
had not been much, if at all, circumscribed ; 
but the resources upon which he depended 
for life and strength to carry on the war, 
declined materially. His army was con- 
siderably diminished in numbers, and was 
very deficient in its appointments ; while, 
on the other hand, the forces of the enemy 
appeared to increase more numerously after 
each successive loss. His ever bold and 
enterprising spirit, which indeed was only 
brought into full operation when on the 
attack, was now forced to submit to a war 
of defence ; and even this, at the com- 
mencement, yielded him but little advan- 
tage. In this campaign he determined to 
protect Saxony himself, while his brother 
Henry was to maintain the Marches against 
the Russians, and General Fouquet was to 
defend Silesia against the Austrians, under 
Laudon. But the latter, the most distin- 
guished of all the Austrian generals, had 
under his command an army thrice the 
strength of that of the Prussians, and was 
enabled to hold it in a state of perfect inac- 
tivity, while a detachment of his own forces 
laid siege to the important town and citadel 
of Glatz. Fouquet, therefore, now relin- 
quished his position in the Silesian moun- 
tains, in order to afford more immediate 
succor wherever it might be required. 
But now the towns and villages in the 
mountains, inhabited by an active and in- 
dustrious people, were forthwith most se- 
verely and cruelly handled by the Austrian 
troopers, and their urgent appeals deter- 
mined the king to give his general orders 
to resume his former post in the mountains 
near Landshut. Fouquet, who was of a 
severe and austere disposition, whence he 
was by no means liked in Silesia, although 
at the same time he was a most brave and 
determined soldier, perceived the peril he 
was in ; but, as his representations were 
quite ineffectual, he resolved, at any rate, 
to meet his fate, not, like Fink at Maxen, 
by a surrender, but by defending himself 
to the last. Accordingly, when on the 
51 



23d of June, he, with his 8000 Prussians, 
was attacked and surrounded on all sides 
by 30,000 Austrians, he bravely maintain- 
ed the unequal contest for more than eight 
hours, and in order to resist the charges of 
the Austrian cavalry, he formed his infantry 
into squares, and thus, as long as strength 
prevailed, they disputed every inch of 
ground. At length, however, the brave, 
general's charger having received a shot, 
fell and overthrew his rider, who must 
have been cut to pieces by the enemy, had 
not his faithful yager rushed forward, and, 
shielding him with his own body, received 
the thrusts aimed at his master. The 
general was then recognised by an Austri- 
an officer, who, seeing his wounded state, 
took him under his own charge and saved 
him. The Prussian cavalry cut their way 
through, but the whole of the infantry, 
with the exception of four thousand prison- 
ers, were put to the sword. 

This was a severe blow to Frederick : 
Fouquet was his friend, and Silesia now lay 
open before the enemy. Nevertheless, he 
soon rallied, and with the view of oblitera- 
ting, by one bold act, the impression of this 
defeat, he deceived Field-marshal Daun by 
simulated marches, got considerably in ad- 
vance of him, and appeared suddenly be- 
fore the walls of Dresden, which he imme- 
diately bombarded. It would have been 
of great advantage to him, had he been able 
to make himself master of that place ; but 
its brave commandant, General Macquire, 
although a third portion of that handsome 
city was completely laid in ashes by the 
vigorous firing of the Prussians, would not 
for a moment think of a surrender, know- 
ing, as he did, that the grand Austrian ar- 
my was following close in the rear of the 
king, and must shortly relieve the place.. 
And, as he expected, Daun did come up 
just in time before the city was forced to 
surrender ; and had that tardy general on- 
ly been more prompt in his measures, he 
might have averted the whole of the inju- 
ries inflicted upon Dresden. The king 
abandoned the siege and hurried on, in 
hasty marches, to Silesia, where a fresh 
disaster had summoned his presence : Gen- 
eral Laudon, having, through the treachery 
and cowardice of the commandant, Oo, an 
Italian, made himself, in one day, master 
of Glatz — after Magdeburg, the most im- 
portant fortification of the Prussian states, 
and the key to the whole of Silesia. For- 



402 



BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ— SILESIA FREED. 



tunately, Laudon found in the governor of 
Breslaw (the capital) General Tauenzien, 
a most determined opponent, whom nothing 
could dismay, and who was soon relieved 
by Prince Henry. 

The king had now likewise arrived in 
Silesia, followed, or rather accompanied, by 
the Austrian army ; for, on one side of him 
marched Field-marshal Daun, and on the 
other, General Lasci ; and, at length, 
amidst constant fighting by day and night, 
being incessantly attacked by the lighter 
troops, his army took up its position at Lieg- 
nitz. Beyond this, Frederick was unable 
to proceed ; for Daun, who had now form- 
ed a junction with the army of Laudon, 
blocked up his passage towards Breslaw 
and Schweidnitz, which contained all his 
magazines; while, on the other side, Prince 
Henry was detained by the Russians on the 
Oder. The king had only enough provi- 
s'ons to serve his army for a few days, and 
the Austrians were as near to him as at 
Hochkirch, so that he was forced to change 
his quarters every night, in order to secure 
himself against a surprise. At length the 
Austrians thought they had found the fa- 
vorable moment for giving battle, and ac- 
cordingly, on the night preceding the 15th 
of August, Laudon marched in advance, in 
order to gain possession of the heights of 
Puffendorf, and thus take the Prussians in 
the rear. It was resolved to attack the king 
on every side, and, if possible, to completely 
annihilate him. But it happened that on 
this very night the king had ordered his 
army to remove their camp in the greatest 
order and silence, inasmuch as, on the pre- 
ceding day, the Austrians had caused his 
position to be too closely reconnoitred, and 
accordingly he encamped his troops on 
those very eminences of Puffendorf towards 
which Laudon was now advancing. The 
watch-fires, kept up by peasants, were still 
seen burning in the old forsaken camp, and 
patrols of Prussian hussars continued to cry 
out the challenge every quarter of an hour; 
but the king and his troops were already 
established in their new quarters. The 
soldiers lay with their arms in their hands ; 
while the king himself, wrapped in his mil- 
itary cloak and seated by the fire, with his 
brave and faithful Ziethen and a few others 
of his principal officers around him, had 
gradually fallen asleep. A solemn still- 
ness reigned throughout the whole army ; 
all noise, the slightest sound was interdict- 



ed, and either slumbering upon their arms, 
or softly whispering together as they lay in 
groups, the warriors awaited the approach 
of day. Towards two o'clock, however, 
the officer in command of the patrol of hus- 
sars arrived at the royal tent in full gallop, 
and awoke the king with the unexpected 
report that the foe was at hand, and within 
a hundred yards only of the camp ! This 
announcement acted like an electric shock; 
in a few moments, however, the generals 
were already mounted in their saddles, the 
troops under arms and drawn up in line of 
battle, and the cannon poured forth its de- 
struction. The astonished Laudon soon 
perceived, as the day dawned, that he had 
before him the greater part of the Prussian 
army, but far from being discouraged by 
that, he redoubled the ardor of his attack, 
in hopes that Daun might hear the thunder 
of the cannon and march to his aid ; but 
this was prevented by an adverse wind, 
which turned aside the echo, and that gene- 
ral heard nothing. After a conflict of three 
hours, the battle was decided. Laudon 
had lost four thousand killed, six thousand 
wounded, together with eighty-two pieces 
of artillery, and was forced to retreat in all 
haste across Katzbach. Daun, who ad- 
vanced on his side against the king's army, 
fell in with the right wing of the Prussians, 
commanded by General Ziethen, and was 
received by a heavy discharge of artillery, 
and having then found that Laudon had 
been defeated, he likewise made a retreat. 

This victory, with which the king was 
so opportunely favored by his good fortune, 
ameliorated his condition materially, and 
he proceeded at once to profit by it with 
his usual promptitude. Three hours after 
the termination of the battle, he was al- 
ready on his march, the prisoners in the 
centre, the wounded, both friends and foes, 
being conveyed in wagons, in the rear, and 
the captured cannon added to the train of 
artillery. The main body of the army 
marched that day more than fifteen miles, 
and the road to Breslaw was now.no longer 
obstructed, neither was there any fear of 
the supplies being cut off. 

Silesia was now in a great measure de- 
livered; but, meantime, sad reverses had 
taken place in the Marches and in Sax- 
ony. The Russians had retreated from 
Breslaw, in order to advance along the 
Oder, and they resolved to march on with 
20,000 men, in junction with 15,000 Aus- 



BATTLE OF TORGAU— DREADFUL CARNAGE. 



403 



trians under General Lasci, to Berlin it- 
self. This city was unable, with its feeble 
garrison, to make any stand against such 
a formidable force, and on the 4th of Octo- 
ber it surrendered to the Russian general, 
Totleben. Fortunately for Berlin, this 
general was of a mild and humane dispo- 
sition, and preserved the place from pil- 
lage, with the exception of the royal sum- 
mer residences in the vicinity, and several 
monuments of art, which were despoiled 
by the Saxons. The allies held possession 
of the city during the space of an entire 
week, and large sums of money were ex- 
tracted from the citizens ; however, it be- 
ing reported that the king was on his march 
to the relief of his capital, the enemy im- 
mediately abandoned their conquest, and 
retired into Saxony and across the Oder. 

Frederick came not merely on account 
of his captured city, but more especially 
on account of Saxony. While he was 
occupied in Silesia the imperial army had 
entered that territory, and, meeting with 
no resistance, had taken possession of the 
entire country. Daun had now arrived 
likewise with his army and encamped near 
Torgau, in a very strong position. It was 
now necessary for Frederick, if he did not 
wish to lose that beautiful country alto- 
gether, nor renounce the hope of fixing his 
winter quarters, for the first time, on his 
own soil, to reconquer it before the coming 
winter. No alternative was left him ; and, 
as had happened several times already at 
the end of a campaign, he was once more 
forced to stake a great loss against a great 
gain, and, in truth, this time his destruc- 
tion appeared inevitable should this peril- 
ous chance miscarry. Nevertheless, he 
appears in such case to have made up his 
mind to die — and as it proved, he was this 
time once again nearly on the point of 
losing the battle. 

The attack upon the strongly-intrenched 
lines of the enemy on the heights of Tor- 
gau, was to be made on the 3d of Novem- 
ber from two sides by two separate divi- 
sions of the army, one headed by the king 
in person, the other by Ziethen, who was 
to lead his men round towards the Siptit- 
zer heights, and thus fall upon the rear of 
the Austrians. A thick forest concealed 
the king's approach, but his troops became 
more and more bewildered in the wood as 
they advanced, and were obliged to halt 
several times, which produced considerable 



delay ; as soon, however, as the king with 
the advanced guard emerged therefrom, he 
heard a heavy firing proceed, as he thought, 
from Ziethen's division, and concluded that 
he was now fully engaged with the enemy. 
This, however, was not the case, as the 
firing only proceeded from the advanced 
posts, and Daun was enabled to turn his 
whole force against the king ; accordingly, 
when the latter in his impetuous haste, and 
without waiting for the rest of his infantry 
and cavalry, led on his grenadiers against 
the Austrian intrenchments, he was re- 
ceived with such a destructive cannonade 
from more than two hundred pieces of ar- 
tillery that whole lines of his men were 
swept away as if by a thunderbolt, and 
their bodies, thus stretched in rows upon 
the ground, prevented his cannoniers from 
bringing their guns to bear against the foe, 
and they themselves, with their horses, 
were laid prostrate by the murderous fire, 
which continued without ceasing. The 
king himself declared to those around him 
that he had never witnessed such a scene 
of carnage ; while the loud, thundering 
peals of the artillery instantaneously de- 
prived many of those who survived this 
dreadful day of their hearing. A grazing 
shot struck the king on his breast, but, 
happily, without producing any material 
effect. Fresh battalions of the Prussian 
infantry came up and gained some ground, 
but they were beaten back by the Aus- 
trian cavalry, who, however, were re- 
pulsed in their turn by the Prussian horse, 
which had at length arrived on the field of 
battle, and now the conflict was kept up 
with varying success until night. But 
the heart of the king was bowed down 
with grief and affliction ; the flower of his 
infantry lay before him on the field, and 
yet the Austrian bulwarks were not gained, 
while Field-marshal Daun had even dis- 
patched a courier to his empress with the 
announcement of victory. Fortune, how- 
ever, had ordained otherwise. 

While, on the king's side, the contest 
was still carried on in the darkness of the 
night, and often friend against friend, ow- 
ing to the number of troops who had lost 
their way ; and while", on account of the 
bitter coldness of the night, innumerable 
fires were kept burning on the heath of 
Torgau, to which both the unwounded as 
well as the wounded were glad to creep, 
including even enemies as well as friends, 



404 



CONCLUSION OF THE 



SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 



and again, just as the disheartened king, 
seated on the lowest step of the altar of 
the little church in the village of Elsnig, 
was occupied in writing his dispatches, his 
veteran general, Ziethen, had gained the 
summit of the Siptitzer heights, after hav- 
ing fought his way through until ten 
o'clock at night, and finally formed a 
junction with General Saldern. By this 
the position of the Austrians became bro- 
ken ; they were unable to resume the 
action next morning, and Daun, who had 
nimself received a wound in the heat of 
the battle, retreated during the night, in 
the greatest silence, through Torgau across 
the Elbe to Dresden. This retreat was 
effected so secretly that the Prussians were 
even preparing for a fresh action on the 
following morning, completely unconscious 
of the withdrawal of the enemy. When, 
however, Frederick rode out of the village 
at early dawn, he, to his no little surprise, 
found the field of battle abandoned by the 
Austrians, and he was hailed as victor by 
his troops. By this sanguinary battle he 
reconquered the greater part of Saxony, 
and he accordingly fixed the winter quar- 
ters of his army there, and established his 
own head-quarters in Leipsic itself. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Conclusion of the Seven Years' War, 1761-1762— The 
Austrian and Russian Armies — The Camp of Bun- 
zelwitz— Frederick's difficult Position— Jealousy be- 
tween Generals Butterlin and Laudon — Schweidnitz, 
Glatz, and Colberg — Saxony — Berlin threatened by 
the Russians— The Prussians rise en masse to expel 
them— Death of Elizabeth of Russia— Peter III.— 
Peace and Alliance between Russia and Prussia — 
Sweden— Battle of Reichenbach— Frederick victo- 
rious — Schweidnitz — Final Battle and Defeat of the 
Austrians at Freiberg— Peace between France and 
England, 1763— Peace between Prussia and Austria 
at Hubertsburg, 1763— Observations— The Age of 
Frederick the Great— His Army— Exerts himself to 
repair the Calamities of his Country— His indefatiga- 
ble Industry — His Labors and Recreations — Genius 
for Poetry and Music— His Early Years— His Father's 
Tyranny— Its sad effects eventually proved— His Pre- 
dilection for French Education and Literature- 
Voltaire— Helvetius, &c— His Anti-German Feel- 
ings and neglect of National Genius— Lessing— Klop- 
stock— Goethe— K ant— Fichte— J acobi , &c .—Joseph 
II., 1765-1790— Dismemberment of Poland, 1773— 
Prussia and Russia — Stanislaus Poniatowski — Bava- 
rian War of Succession, 1778— Death of Maria The- 
resa, 1780— Innovations and intolerant Measures of 
Joseph II.— Frederick and the Allied Princes of Ger- 
many against Joseph II.— Death of Frederick the 
Great, 1786— Death of Joseph II., 1790— Leopold II., 
1790-1792. 



The concluding years of the war are 
less distinguished for great and striking 



events. The exhaustion of the troops be- 
came more and more apparent, and Fred- 
erick, who had usually been the foremost 
in enterprising vigor and activity, was 
forced to act on the defensive, and to 
devote all his strength in protecting what 
he still possessed, which truly was no easy 
task. In 1761 he himself took the com- 
mand in Silesia, and employed every 
stratagem in order to prevent the junction 
of the Russian army under Butterlin with 
Laudon, who alone led on 72,000 Austri- 
ans ; and in this the king succeeded for a 
time, by which a great portion of the sum- 
mer passed away in inaction, an advantage 
Frederick was anxious to avail himself of. 
At length, however, the two armies united 
together on the 12th of August, in the en- 
virons of Strigau, and thus combined 
formed a force of 130,000 men, by which 
Frederick found himself forced with his 
50,000 men to retire to a strong position. 
Accordingly he fixed his quarters near 
Bunzelwitz, where, for the space of twen- 
ty days, he was kept completely shut in 
by the enemy, and was forced to employ 
so much vigilance that his men were kept 
under arms and formed in battle array 
during the night, being only able to take 
their rest in the day-time.* And his ad- 
versaries being, as they were, nearly three 
times his superior in number, by falling 
upon and overwhelming the weakest points 
of his intrenchments, might have com- 
pletely conquered the king, had they been 
under the guidance of a genius capable of 
acting with the energy so necessary ; but 
the two generals not being of accord, 
either in feeling or principle, and jealous 
of each other's claims to distinctions, they 

* In the intrenched camp near Bunzelwitz Frede- 
rick shared in all the fatigues and sufferings of his com- 
mon soldiers. Many nights he slept on one of the bat- 
teries, reposing on a bundle of straw among his men. 
One night he rose and thoughtfully proceeded with 
General Ziethen between the lines of watchnres, around 
which his worn-out men were lying asleep. One troop- 
er, however, was very busy baking a cake, made of 
bacon and flour. The fragrant smell reached the king's 
nose ; he halted, and addressing the busy soldier in a 
friendly tone, said : " That cake, comrade, smells very 
nice !" " Yes," returned the man, without looking up 
from his cake, " I believe you, but you won't catch any 
more than a smell of it— that I can tell you !" " Hush, 
for heaven's sake f" exclaimed one or two of his com- 
rades, who had started up at the king's voice. " What 
are you about ? Why, don't you see that is the king 
himself?" The soldier, believing they were only joking, 
and still attending to his cake without allowing him- 
self to be disturbed, exclaimed laughingly : " Ha ! ha ! 
Well, and suppose it really was old Fritz, why what 
would that matter ?" " Come along, Ziethen," said 
the king to his companion, " I see we shan't be invited 
to supper here to-night V—Muchler. 



THE AUSTRIANS IN SILESIA. 



405 



refused to co-operate either for the renown 
of the one or the other. Each imagined 
he was burdened with the most heavy por- 
tion of the common labor, and, as was 
usual in this war, the Russians not being 
able to act in unison with the Austrians, 
they again on this occasion separated with- 
out having effected any thing. Thus 
Frederick with his army was now left in 
greater freedom, and in order to secure 
himself against all pursuit from the Rus- 
sians — at least for this year — he caused all 
their magazines in Poland to be pillaged 
and destroyed by a bold expedition he 
placed under the orders of General Platen ; 
in the execution of which commission that 
brave commander so well succeeded, that 
the Russian army was completely para- 
lyzed for this campaign. 

Nevertheless, this year was not to pass 
away without some misfortune for the 
king. When he abandoned his camp of 
Bunzelwitz, in order to allure the Aus- 
trians down to the plains of Silesia, Lau- 
don suddenly descended the mountains, 
and instead of following the king, he di- 
rected his march at once to Schweidnitz, 
which he surprised, and it being but 
slightly garrisoned, he took it by assault in 
the night of the 1st of October. Thus, by 
the occupation of Schweidnitz and Glatz, 
the Austrians had now at command the 
entire moiety of Silesia, and were enabled 
to pass the winter there. In addition to 
this the Russians, on their part, took pos- 
session of Colberg on the 13th of Decem- 
ber, after a siege of four months, by which 
they were enabled to establish their winter 
quarters for once at least in Pomerania. 

The king had never before been so com- 
pletely hemmed in. Prince Henry, it is 
true, had, during the summer, succeeded 
against all the attacks of Daun's forces, in 
maintaining possession of the whole of that 
portion of Saxony still remaining in his 
brother's hands, but this only formed the 
moiety of that country, and thus the Rus- 
sians, in the course of the coming spring, 
would be enabled to advance within a few 
yards of Berlin itself. Reduced to such 
extremity, it might have been expected 
that the Prussian nation would have at 
length resigned all hope ; on the contrary, 
however, they did not abandon themselves 
to despair, but, showing themselves worthy 
of their king, they cheered and supported 
him in this adversity by one enthusiastic, 



ardent expression of that confidence with 
which he inspired all classes ; a cordiality 
of feeling which was echoed forth in 
strains of loyalty and patriotism by the 
youth of all ranks throughout the land, as 
they hastened to join the standard of their 
heroic leader. Thence it was clearly 
manifested that as long as they continued 
to be thus strengthened by the zealous co- 
operation of the inhabitants themselves, 
both the king and his army might still bid 
defiance to the invaders : for king, army, 
and people, being firmly united by one in- 
dissoluble bond, the ruin with which all 
were threatened, should it prove inevitable, 
must at least be gloriously shared by all. 

The new year, however, unexpectedly 
brought with it a bright ray of hope ; for 
on the 5th of January, 1762, the Russian 
empress, Elizabeth, died, and in her Fred- 
erick was relieved of one of his bitterest 
foes. Her nephew, Peter III., now as- 
cended the throne, and being an enthusias- 
tic admirer of Frederick the Great, he 
obeyed at once the impulse of his mind, and 
forthwith discharged all the Prussian prison- 
ers without any ransom, and not only signed 
on the 5th of May, at St. Petersburg, a 
treaty of so disinterested a character, that 
he relinquished the whole of Prussia with- 
out any indemnity whatever, but likewise 
immediately formed an alliance with Fred- 
erick, and caused his own general, Czer- 
nitschef, to march with 20,000 Russians 
to the aid of the Prussians in Silesia. 

Sweden followed the example of Russia; 
for, weary of a campaign producing so 
little honor and glory, she made peace 
likewise with Prussia, at Hamburg, on the 
22d of May. 

Frederick was now enabled to employ 
all his energies against the Austrians, and 
calculated upon speedily recovering Sile- 
sia from them. He resolved to commence 
with Schweidnitz itself ; and as Field- 
marshal Daun protected it from a very 
strong position he occupied near Burkers- 
dorf, Frederick decided accordingly to at- 
tack him at this point immediately after 
being joined by his Russian allies. He 
was already on his march, when suddenly 
the discouraging report reached him that 
the Russian emperor, Peter III., had been 
murdered, and his consort Catherine pro- 
claimed empress, news almost immediately 
confirmed by the commands received from 
St. Petersburg by Czernitschef, to return 



406 CATHERINE 



with his army to Poland forthwith. The 
young emperor, on coming to the throne, 
had imprudently and most prematurely 
commenced introducing many innovations 
into Russia, by which he produced great 
irritation and disgust among the clergy 
and nobility, in addition to which he had 
ill-used his wife, and by various ill-judged 
acts, evinced a striking partiality for the Ger- 
mans around him, whence he was deprived 
of his throne and life within six months after 
the commencement of his reign. 

Frederick beheld himself now again 
threatened with danger from a quarter 
whence he had vainly hoped to receive 
important aid in his war against Aus- 
tria ; for he could not but anticipate that 
Catherine would be similarly disposed to- 
wards him as had been her predecessor, 
Elizabeth. Nevertheless he took courage, 
and arranging his plans, resolved at any 
rate to derive all the advantage he could 
from the presence of the Russians. And 
so great was the influence of Frederick's 
genius over other men, that he soon pre- 
vailed upon General Czernitschef to with- 
hold from the knowledge of his army, at 
least for three days, the orders he had re- 
ceived for his return ; and marching with 
him against the Austrians on the day of 
attack, thus succeeded by his presence in 
holding a portion of the enemy's troops in 
check — a service which Czernitschef, al- 
though he could not resist the king's per- 
suasion, felt he yielded at the risk of his 
head. Frederick gave battle on the fol- 
lowing day and gained it. The Russian 
army next day separated from the king, 
and retired. Czernitschef, however, was 
not called to account for his conduct in this 
affair, inasmuch as the opinions and feel- 
ings of the empress towards Frederick had 
now undergone a favorable change. She 
had at first imagined that Frederick him- 
self had excited her husband to adopt the 
harsh measures he had pursued against 
her ; but when, after the death of Peter, 
she looked through his papers, and unex- 
pectedly found several letters addressed to 
him by Frederick, in which he exhorted 
him most earnestly to exercise prudence in 
all the measures he adopted, and more es- 
pecially to act with kind and gentle feelings 
towards his wife, the empress immediately 
changed the course of her policies against 
Frederick, and ratified the peace made be- 
tween her late husband and the king, yet 



OF RUSSIA. 



without committing herself by promising 
him her aid in the prosecution of the war 
against Austria. 

Frederick now commenced the siege of 
Schweidnitz, which, however, occupied the 
entire summer ; for badly as the Russians 
themselves had, on the one hand, on two pre- 
vious occasions defended this important place, 
it was now determined by the Austrians, on 
their part, to maintain its possession as long 
as they possibly could, and with which ob- 
ject, General Guasco, the commandant, and 
Gribauval, its engineer, exerted all their 
courage and skill. The siege lasted nine 
weeks, the king himself superintending the 
operations with unabated zeal to the last 
moment ; and it was not until they had lost 
all hopes of relief, and were left completely 
without provisions, that the Austrians at 
length, on the 9th of October, surrendered 
the place with its garrison of 10,000 men 
to Frederick. 

This year Prince Henry, with his usual 
measures of prudence, conducted the war 
in Saxony so successfully, that he retained 
possession of the whole country with the 
exception of Dresden, while he at the same 
time was equally fortunate in the expedi- 
tions he made into Bohemia and the impe- 
rial states, in which he was ably seconded 
by the brave generals under his orders, 
Seidlitz, Kleist, and Belling. When finally 
the Austrians, with the imperial auxiliaries, 
attempted by superiority of numbers to 
drive him from the advantageous position 
he held in Freiberg, he attacked them at 
once on the 29th of October, and com- 
pletely routed them. This was the last and 
concluding engagement in the Seven Years' 
War. The king, on the 24th of Novem- 
ber, signed an armistice with Austria, and 
distributed his troops in their winter quar- 
ters, extending through the country from 
Thuringia to Silesia ; General Kleist, how- 
ever, was left with 10,000 men to keep the 
field against the princes of the empire, and 
penetrating into Franconia, forced each 
prince, one after the other, to conclude a 
peace. 

Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, mean- 
time, during the last three years of the 
war, had well and gloriously maintained 
his reputation in defending Lower Saxony 
and Westphalia. France employed all 
her powers to reconquer these countries, 
and preserve the honor of her arms ; fresh 
commanders were continually appointed, 



END OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 



407 



and her army in 1761 was reinforced to the 
number of 150,000 men, but which, although 
only opposed by a force of 80,000 men, 
could effect nothing but the occupation of 
Hesse, which it was impossible for Ferdinand 
to defend, inasmuch as he was threatened 
from two quarters at once, viz., from the 
Lower Rhine and the Maine. On the 
other hand, neither stratagem nor menace 
could make him quit his position on the left 
bank of the Weser and on the Dimel, 
whence he protected Lower Saxony and 
Westphalia simultaneously. The gener- 
als under his command — the hereditary 
prince of Brunswick, Sporken, Kielmann- 
segge, and Luckner, distinguished them- 
selves in many separate engagements. At 
the close of the last campaign, a success- 
ful battle near Wilhelmsthal placed the 
duke in a position by which he was enabled 
to act on the offensive, and by a second 
engagement near Lutterberg, which ter- 
minated equally to his advantage, he suc- 
ceeded in driving the French from the vi- 
cinity of Cassel, and thus completed the 
campaign of the year 1762, as well as the 
entire war, by the conquest of this city, on 
the 1st of November. An armistice was 
now likewise concluded with the imperial 
powers in this quarter. 

The whole of the belligerent nations 
were now exhausted and longed for repose. 
England had made great and important 
conquests beyond the seas, but had at the 
same time increased her national debt' by 
at least one hundred and twenty millions 
sterling, and, since the demise of George 
II., and after the earl of Bute, the precep- 
tor of the new sovereign, had become 
prime-minister instead of Pitt, a desire for 
peace was more and more strongly felt, a 
feeling in which France likewise joined. 
Thus Frederick and Maria Theresa were 
now left to carry on the war alone ; but Aus- 
tria, although amply provided with troops, 
being, nevertheless, without money to fur- 
nish the necessary supplies, was not in a 
condition to continue hostilities unaided, and 
as Frederick's only object from the first 
was to retain possession of Silesia, he agreed 
accordingly, upon having that territory 
secured to him, to sign a treaty of peace. 
Austria having, therefore, yielded to him 
this point, he at once ratified the convention 
as framed by his own plenipotentiary and 
those of Austria and Saxony, in the castle 
of Hubertsburg in Saxony. A restitution 



of conquests was made — the prisoners ex- 
changed — and neither party claimed in- 
demnification for the expenses or losses in. 
curred. Frederick remained, therefore, in 
possession of Silesia, and he restored to 
the elector of Saxony his estates. Thus 
this severe and sanguinary war had in its 
results produced no change in the external 
state of things, although it had at least in- 
culcated certain great lessons, and to which 
it cannot be denied but that Europe was 
indebted for the happy state of tranquillity 
she enjoyed after the conclusion of this 
peace, during the space of nearly thirty 
years. Agitation in public affairs, suspi- 
cion and jealousy, productive of so much 
hostility among states, were now at an end, 
and all were sincere in the conviction that 
the actual condition of affairs would be 
lasting. Fate had pronounced its decree 
in favor of Prussia, that, viz., its power rest- 
ed upon a sure and solid basis as long as it 
was guided and governed by united thought 
and action, however limited might be its 
sphere. An earnest, industrious, and war- 
like feeling evinced both by king and peo- 
ple, justice and economy in the administra- 
tion of affairs, a progressive spirit of re- 
search for all that the age brings with it 
and yields of the really good and noble — 
such were the means which enabled Fred- 
erick and his nation to maintain single- 
handed the war against the moiety of Eu- 
rope, and such means must ever continue 
to operate for the preservation of Prussia, 
as long as she knows how to treasure up 
and avail herself of these resources. 

Austria indicated at this time, likewise, 
as on every former occasion when threat- 
ened with the danger of vicissitude, that 
her power was not so easily destroyed, that 
her rich and beautiful domains, the faithful 
adherence and co-operation of her inhabit- 
ants, their attachment to a mild and pater- 
nal government, nourished within them- 
selves a germ of life, unchangeable and 
unsurpassed. And equally on their parts 
the Hessians, Hanoverians, and the troops 
of Lower Saxony, when fighting against 
the French invaders, evinced enduring per- 
severance and courage to such a degree as 
to add greatly to the glory of the German 
name ; and, in fact, the fame of this war 
conduced especially to the honor of the Ger- 
mans generally. 

And when it was inquired who had shown 
a superiority of mind in the tumult of bat- 



408 



OBSERVATIONS— MERITS OF BOTH ARMIES. 



tie, and had given undeniable proofs of that 
rapidity of thought which knows how to 
seize the immediate moment for action, all 
mouths proclaimed and referred to the 
names of Frederick the Great and Duke 
Ferdinand of Brunswick. Nor was it for- 
gotten to include, as equally worthy of dis- 
tinction, that of Prince Henry, who, as the 
model of what a prudent and wary general 
should be, well knew how to keep an enemy 
of far superior force in constant exercise, 
while at the same time, by wisely-laid plans, 
he adroitly maintained his own ground with- 
out exposing his little band to that destruc- 
tion otherwise so inevitable. Finally, in 
the list of heroic names, those of Ziethen* 
and Seidlitz, who so especially distinguished 
themselves at the head of their cavalry, ap- 
peared conspicuous with the rest. On the 
other hand, all who wished to study the art 
of selecting good and masterly positions for 
an army, or of choosing the critical, well- 
timed moment for bringing the guns to work 
with fatal and unerring effect, were referred 
to the Austrians, and the names of Generals 
Brown, Laudon, Nadasti, Lacsi, and others, 
were justly registered on the side of the 
older celebrated generals of Austria. 

It is consoling to reflect that such great 
renown was calculated to mitigate at least 
the sorrow and pain arising from the state 
of embittered strife existing between the ri- 
val nations of a country with which all were 
equally allied as its children, and who, 
forgetting all distinctions, and considering 
themselves as one people, ought rather to 
have joined in the grasp of fraternal friend- 
ship and peace ; while these warlike 
achievements served in some measure to 
throw into the shade the bad system pur- 
sued by the internal government of the 

* Once Frederick marched at the head of the grena- 
diers of his guard until the depth of night. At length 
he made halt, dismounted, and said: "Grenadiers, it 
is cold to-night. Come, light a fire and let us warm 
ourselves."— Saying which, he wrapped his hlue man- 
tle around him and seated himself upon some bundles 
of wood, while some of his grenadiers laid themselves 
down around him. At length General Ziethen came 
up and sat himself down next to the king, and both, 
extremely tired and worn out, soon fell asleep. The 
king, however, was the first to awake, and observing 
that Ziethen in his sleep had slipped off from one of the 
bundles of wood, and that a grenadier was replacing it 
under him, he exclaimed softly : " Ah, the old man is 
indeed knocked up !" Just afterwards another grena- 
dier, only half awake, sprang up, and proceeding to 
light his pipe, happened to touch against the old war- 
rior's foot. Frederick rose up suddenly, and holding up 
his finger to the soldier, said, in a whisper, " Hush, 
grenadier! Take care, don't wake up our old Ziethen, 
he is tired enough. Let him sleep on ; he has watched 
long and often enough for us !" — Muchler. 



empire. The condition, in fact, of the de- 
liberative and influential portion of our con- 
stitution was so imperfect ; the forms es- 
tablished for the direction of affairs were so 
antiquated ; the course of proceedings so 
tedious and inefficient — that unless both 
heart and arm had done their duty so well, 
and thus shown to other lands that the mar- 
tial'spirit of ancient Germany had not yet 
vanished, the country must long ere this 
have become the spoil of the stranger. 

France gained but little honor in this 
war; her feeble, unsystematic government 
had clearly shown that its administration 
was in the hands of women and their favor- 
ites, and thence it languished in mortal 
throes. Nevertheless, that country did not 
lose so much by the peace of Paris, which 
was signed five days previous to that of 
Hubertsburg, as might have been expected 
after the success of the English at sea ; but 
this peace was brought about by the not 
over-sagacious statesman, the earl of Bute, 
while Pitt, on the contrary, when presiding 
at the head of the administration, had in the 
course of the war made manifest in the most 
brilliant manner what extraordinary energy 
dwelt in the English nation, and which only 
waited for the proper moment to be brought 
into full operation. 

During the period of repose, which con- 
tinued for nearly thirty years, consequent 
upon the peace of Hubertsburg, various 
new developments, the germs of which had 
been planted at an earlier date, now began 
to attain a degree of perfection. With the 
view of characterizing this era by one 
term, we have denominated it the Age of 
Frederick the Great, because in him was 
embodied the spirit of the age, and in him 
were seen on a grand scale both the good 
and the evil of his contemporaries. It re- 
mains for us, in order to become thoroughly 
acquainted with the man, to contemplate 
his character in peace as well as during 
the continuance of war. 

The first and most immediate object of 
Frederick's attention and anxiety was the 
re-establishment of his army, in order that 
no enemy might hope to reap advantage 
from a sudden renewal of hostilities. In 
order to bring the recently-levied troops 
upon a par with his veteran well-trained 
warriors — of whom, however, but a very 
small number still remained — military ex- 
ercise and drilling were enforced with the 
most rigorous exactness. But in this instance 



FREDERICK'S GREAT ECONOMY— IMPROVES HIS KINGDOM. 409 



it happened, as is too frequently the case in 
the generality of human affairs, when endeav- 
ors are made to preserve entire and perpetu- 
ate an institution which in the moment of its 
most glorious development appeared perfect, 
that the form which then belonged to it be- 
comes essential, while the spirit, which can 
never assume a second time the same mode, 
abandons that form, and gradually puts on 
another which is new and strange ; but 
men continue for a length of time to respect 
that which is merely the envelope, equally 
as much as if they possessed the reality it 
encloses. The illustrious monarch himself, 
when he beheld the whole of Europe adopt 
his military tactics, was deceived in the 
over-estimation of their value. The sys- 
tem of maintaining standing armies was 
carried to its highest point, and became the 
principal object in the administration of 
every state ; grave utility degenerated into 
mere display, until a grand convulsion of 
the world made its vanity and puerility but 
too apparent. 

The care taken by Frederick to effect 
the restoration of his overwhelmed country 
was a much more beneficent employment 
of his energies, and was productive of in- 
calculable good, while it formed the most 
imperishable leaf in his wreath of glory. 
The com which was already bought up 
for the next campaign he bestowed upon 
the most destitute of his people, as seed for 
sowing, together with all his superfluous 
horses. The taxes were remitted for six 
months in Silesia, and for two years in 
Pomerania and Neumark, which were com- 
pletely devastated. Nay, the king, in or- 
der to encourage agriculture and industry, 
appropriated large sums of money for that 
purpose in proportion to the greatness of 
the exigency, and these various sums 
amounted altogether during the four-and- 
twenty years of his reign after the peace of 
Hubertsburg, to no less than twenty-four 
millions of dollars. Such noble generosity 
redounds still more to the glory of Freder- 
ick, inasmuch as it was only practicable 
through the exercise of great economy, 
and to promote which, he subjected himself 
to every personal sacrifice. His maxim 
was that his treasure belonged not to him- 
self, but to the people who supplied it ; and 
while many other princes — not bearing in 
mind the heavy drops of sweat which ad- 
hered to each of the numerous gold pieces 
wrung from their subjects — only thought of 
'59. 



dissipating the entire mass in the most un- 
licensed prodigality and waste, he lived in 
a style so simple and frugal, that out of 
the sum appropriated to the maintenance 
of his court, he saved annually nearly a 
million of dollars. 

He explained on one occasion to M. de 
Launay, the assessor of indirect taxes, the 
principles by which he was actuated in 
this respect, in clear and distinct terms : 
" Louis XV. and I," he said, " are born 
more needy than the poorest of our sub- 
jects ; for there are but few among them 
who do not possess a small inheritance, or 
who cannot at least earn it by their labor 
and industry ; while he and I possess noth- 
ing, neither can we earn any thing but 
what must belong to the state. We are 
merely the stewards appointed for the ad- 
ministration of the general fund ; and if, as 
such, we were to apply to our own personal 
expenditure more than is reasonably neces- 
sary, we should, by such proceeding, not 
only bring down upon ourselves severe 
condemnation in the first place for extrava- 
gance, but likewise for having fraudulently 
taken possession of that which was confided 
to our charge for the public weal." 

The particular care and interest shown by 
the king in the cultivation of the soil, pro- 
duced its speedy improvement. Large tracts 
of land were rendered arable, fresh supplies 
of laborers were procured from other coun- 
tries, and where formerly marsh and moor 
were generally prevalent, fertile, flourish- 
ing corn-fields were substituted instead. 
These happy results, which greeted the eye 
of Frederick whenever he took his regularly- 
appointed journeys throughout his domin- 
ions, were highly grateful to his feelings ; 
while during these tours of survey nothing 
escaped his acutely-observing mind ; so 
much so, that few sovereigns could boast 
of such a thorough knowledge of their do- 
mains — even to the most trifling details — 
as the king of Prussia acquired of his own 
estates through continual and indefatigable 
application to this one object. Silesia, 
which had suffered so much, was especially 
dear to his feelings, and to that territory he 
devoted particular attention ; when, there- 
fore, upon a general census in the year 
1777, he found it contained 180,000 more 
inhabitants than in the year 1756, when 
the war commenced ; and when he perceiv- 
ed the losses sustained during that wai 
thus amply repaired, and the glorious re- 



410 



FREDERICK'S INDUSTRY AND RECREATIONS 



suits produced by agricultural labor and 
commercial enterprise, he, in the gladness 
of his heart, expressed, in a letter to his 
friend Jordan, the sensations he felt at be- 
holding the flourishing state of a province, 
the condition of which was but a short time 
before so sadly depressed and miserable. 

Industry is indispensable in a people 
who depend on their energy and activity 
for their rank among nations ; but this 
rank is not the only attendant advantage : 
a benefit far greater is the fresh, healthy 
vigor it imparts to the people. And in 
this respect Frederick the Great was a | 
striking example, truly worthy of imitation 
by all his subjects ; for even during the 
early period of his life, he already wrote 
to his friend Jordan thus: '-'You are quite 
right in believing that I work hard ; I do 
so to enable me to Jive, for nothing so near- 
ly approaches the likeness of death, as the 
half-slumbering, listless state of idleness." 
And, subsequently, when he had become 
old and feeble, this feeling still retained 
its power, and operated with all its original 
influence upon his mind, for in another let- 
ter to the same friend, he says : " I still feel 
as formerly the same anxiety for action ; as 
then, I now still long to work and be busy, 
and my mind and body are in continual 
contention. It is no longer requisite that 
I should live, unless I can live — and work. 5 ' 

And truly in making a profitable use of 
his time, King Frederick displayed a per- 
severance which left him without a rival, 
and even in his old age he never swerved 
from the original plan he had laid down 
and followed from his earliest manhood, 
for even on the very day before his death 
he was to be seen occupied with the busi- 
ness of his government. Each hour had 
its occupation, and the one grand principle 
which is the soul of all industry, viz., to 
leave over from to-day nothing for the mor- 
row, passed with Frederick as the inviola- 
ble law of his whole life. The entire day 
—commencing at the hour of four in the 
morning and continuing until midnight, 
accordingly five-sixths of the day — was 
devoted to some occupation of the mind or 
heart, for in order that even the hour of 
repast might not be wholly monopolized by 
the mere gratification of the stomach, Fred- 
erick assembled around him at mid-day 
and in the evening, a circle of intellectual 
men, and these conversaziones — in which 
the king himself took an important share — 



were of such an animated and enlivening 
nature, that they were not inaptly compar- 
ed to the entertainments of Socrates him- 
self. Unfortunately, however, according 
to the taste of that age, nothing but wit- 
ticisms and humorous sallies were made 
the subject of due appreciation and ap- 
| plause. Vivacity of idea promptly ex- 
| pressed, and strikingly apropos allusions, 
| were the order of the day, while profun- 
dity of thought, and subjects of more grave 
and serious discussion, were banished as 
ill-timed and uncalled-for : a necessary 
consequence, arising from the exclusive 
adoption of the French language which 
formed the medium of communication at 
these reunions of Frederick the Great. The 
rest of the day was passed in the perusal 
of official dispatches, private correspond- 
ence, and ministerial documents, to each 
of which he added his replies and observa- 
tions in the margin. After having gone 
through this all-important business-routine 
of the day, he directed his attention to the 
more recreative occupations of his pleas- 
ure-grounds and literary compositions — of 
which latter Frederick has left behind him 
a rich collection ; and finally, as a last re- 
source of amusement, he occasionally de- 
voted a few stolen moments to his flute, 
upon which he was an accomplished per- 
former.* This, his favorite instrument in- 
deed, like an intimate and faithful friend, 
served often to allay the violent excite- 
ments of his spirit, and while he strolled 

* In the course of a journey which Frederick ouce 
made into Holland, quite incognito, giving himself out 
as a musician, he arrived at a small tavern in Amster- 
dam, especially celebrated for the rich cakes produced 
there. Feeling a desire to taste one, he commanded 
his travelling companion and aide-de-camp, Colonel 
Yon Balby, to order one of the landlady. The colonel 
obeyed the command, but the landlady, rather suspi- 
cious of her plainly-dressed guests, measured the mes- 
senger from top to toe, and exclaimed, " Why, it is all 
very well for you to order it, but pray, sir, can you pay 
for it when it is made ? Do you know that such a cake 
as you order will cost more than six or seven guilders '?* ' 
To this the colonel replied by assuring her that the 
gentleman with whom he travelled was immensely 
rich, that he played the flute so beautifully, that when- 
ever he performed in public a considerable sum was 
collected in a very short time. "Indeed! Oh. then/' 
said the landlady, " I must certainly hear him directly. 
I am so very fond of music." Saying which, she hur- 
ried on before the colonel to the 'king's chamber, and 
said very politely : " I understand, sir, that you play a 
tune very well : oblige me by warbling something far 
me to hear !" Frederick could not, at first, imagine 
what she meant, but the colonel explaining to him in 
French the origin of this singular request, he laughed, 
and seizing his flute from the table, played in such a 
masterly style, that the listener was struck with admi- 
ration, and when, to her sorrow, he ceased, she ex- 
claimed, " Excellent ! You do, indeed, play sweetly, 
and I dare say can earn a few guilders. Well, you shall 
have your cake, at any rate \"—Muchler 



HIS YOUTH— EDUCATION— HIS DESPOTIC FATHER. 



411 



with it through his suite of rooms, often for 
hours together, his thoughts, as he himself 
relates, became more and more collected, 
and his mind better prepared for calm and 
serious meditation. Nevertheless, he never 
permitted affairs of state to be neglected 
for the sake of the enjoyments he sought 
both in music and in poetry, and in this 
point of view Frederick's character must 
ever command respect and admiration. 
Hence how glorious might have been the 
reign of this monarch, and overwhelming 

. every intervening obstacle, how nobly might 
he have exalted the age he lived in, and by 
his acts have identified himself with the 
elevated position to which his nation might 
have aspired, had his mind, when in its 
infancy, received from the cherishing hand 
of his parents that encouraging and uner- 
ring direction by which those noble, honest, 
and upright feelings implanted in him by 
nature must have become more and more 
developed and confirmed. 

Unhappily, however, the bad education 
Frederick received left many a noble germ 
within him neglected. His father, Fre- 
derick William I., was a man of a stern 
and forbidding character, for whom the 
muses had no charms, neither did he ever 
show the least affection for his son Fre- 
derick, who from his earliest age evinced 
a strong desire to cultivate habits of a more 
refined nature than those indulged in by 
his father, whence the latter subjected him 
to the most harsh and despotic treatment. 
He placed no confidence in him as his 
successor to the throne, and he even pro- 
jected substituting his second son, Augustus 

. William, instead ; and by this means the 
heart of Frederick became more and more 
estranged from trie paternal roof, until it 
was rendered cold and dead to all the ties 
of filial affection. At length this state of 
things operated with such influence upon 
his mind, that in the year 1730 the prince, 
when on a journey to Wesel with his father, 
made a desperate attempt to escape from 
the oppression he endured under the pa- 
ternal control ; but being discovered and 
retaken, it was with great difficulty that 
he escaped being made a sacrifice to the 
indignant, ungovernable rage of his ruth- 
less father, who would but too willingly 
have sentenced his persecuted, although 
perhaps imprudent, son to the guillotine. 
Thus Frederick grew up to manhood with- 
out experiencing the true warmth of affec- 



tion, which alone is capable of developing 
the tender feelings of youth, and this want 
he continued to evince unhappily through- 
out his entire after-life to the day of his 
death. In the fire of 3'outh his heart was 
open to impressions of the most enthusiastic 
friendship ; but this ardor of feeling, how- 
ever sincere and pure, gradually dissolved 
into icy indifference and misanthropy un- 
der the rigor of discipline to which he was 
subjected ; so that, finally, the great king 
saw himself abandoned and, anchorite-like, 
left to the solitary enjoyment of his own 
thoughts and feelings. 

The injurious and baneful custom of the 
age required that French preceptors and 
French books should furnish the means by 
which to direct the sphere of thought both 
of the boy and youth ; and already, in the 
earlier period of his youth, Frederick un- 
happily became acquainted with the wri- 
tings of a man, whose influence upon the 
age he lived in produced no little evil, and 
whose acute mind and satirical, cutting wit, 
left nothing sacred undefiled. This man — 
Voltaire — was to the youthful and suscep- 
tible mind of the prince, a model worthy of 
imitation. The productions of this writer 
were daily studied by him, and they so 
completely fascinated his mind, that he re- 
garded him as exalted above all other men, 
and impelled by his enthusiasm, he sought 
the friendship of that dangerous individual 
as a treasure far beyond appreciation. The 
vain and selfish Frenchman well knew how 
to profit by this feeling, so clearly expressed 
in the letters he received from the young 
prince. He flattered his royal friend in 
return, and in this game of reciprocal 
egotism, Frederick imagined he had suc- 
ceeded in forming the basis of a friendship 
which should prove to be not only sincere, 
but lasting. But as friendship can only 
subsist on a foundation of truth, and in con- 
nection with joint and zealous efforts for the 
attainment of virtue, the union of these two 
men, resting upon so unstable a basis, 
could not withstand the force of any severe 
test. In their subsequent intercourse, after 
Voltaire, in 1750, had taken up his resi- 
dence at the court of the king, the cold- 
ness, jealousy, and malignity of the favorite 
became more and more manifest ; the film 
of fascination dropped from before the king's 
eyes, the sentiments of friendship between 
the two declined with each day, and be- 
coming eventually estranged from, and in- 



412 



FREDERICK'S DESPOTIC GOVERNMENT. 



imically inclined towards each other, they 
parted as enemies. Voltaire, however, on his 
return to France, gave vent to his revengeful 
feelings by writing the most bitter satires 
against the king.* 

Such mortifying results closed the heart 
of Frederick more and more against all 
amicable impressions, and produced a mis- 
anthropy, which previously formed no part 
of his character, and the necessary effect 
of which is to overshadow the path of life 
with the clouds of gloom. 

The government of the king itself was 
impressed with this mark of the reserved 
and isolated state, of his soul ; for it was a 
despotic government in the most strict sense 
of the word ; every thing emanated from 
the king, and every thing reverted to him 
again. He never accorded any share in 
the administration to an assembly of states, 
nor even to the state council — which, 
composed of the most enlightened men, 
would have been able to have presented to 
their sovereign, in a clear and comprehen- 

* In 1752 an Englishman was received at court who 
possessed an extraordinary memory, so much so, that 
after some fifty, nay, a hundred pages of a work had 
been read to him, he could forthwith repeat the whole, 
word for word, from recollection. Frederick was much 
struck with this person's gift of memory, and putting 
it one evening to the proof, found by the result a confir- 
mation of the statement. Just as he was about to dis- 
miss the Englishman, Voltaire sent to inquire if his 
majesty had half an hour's leisure time to hear him 
read a poem he hadjust completed 1 Frederick, struck 
with the inquiry coming so apropos, determined upon 
passing a joke at that vain man's expense, and sent a 
reply in the affirmative. He ordered the Englishman 
to take his station behind a screen, and requested him 
to treasure up in his memory every line and word that 
Voltaire might recite. The great poet arrived and read 
through the whole of his verses with great declamation 
and evident self-satisfaction. The king listened with, 
apparent coolness and indifference, and then said, 
" Why, I must candidly confess, my dear Voltaire, that 
it strikes me you appropriate as your own the produc- 
tions of others! I have noticed it more than once be- 
fore ; this poem is again another instance." His indig- 
nation at being thought a plagiarist produced upon 
Voltaire's countenance — always a subject for the cari- 
caturist—an expression more than usually harsh and 
bitter. He expressed himself highly offended and 
mortified ; his majesty had been misled by his treacher- 
ous memory to commit a great error, and he had acted 
with still greater injustice. " But how if I prove to 
you that these verses are already well-known to an 
Englishman at my court here ?" " All that your majesty 
may bring forward in contradiction, all assurances are 
to me mere empty words, for I can disprove all and 
everything!" Upon this Frederick ordered the Eng- 
lishman (who had just before glided away from his 
screen into the next room) to be introduced. He was 
commanded by the king to recite the verses he had 
shortly before heard repeated, and accordingly gave the 
whole of Voltaire's poem word for word, without a 
single omission. Almost mad with rage, the poet rose 
and exclaimed : " Heaven ! destroy with thy thunder 
this robber of my verses ! Here is some magic in play 
which will drive me to desperation !" With these 
words he rushed from the king's presence in the great- 
est agitation. Frederick was, however, delighted with 
this mystification, a proof how little he esteemed Vol- 
taire at heart— Muchler. 



sive light, the bearings of the intricate ques- 
tions connected with government. Never- 
theless, however penetrating his eagle eye, 
that individual survey was not sufficiently 
comprehensive to command a knowledge of 
every thing, whence many essential cir- 
cumstances must have remained concealed 
from his view. 

Thence it is, that a government supported 
by the states of the kingdom is difficult to 
be overturned, while its power increases in 
proportion ; inasmuch as according to the 
form of such government, the voice of the 
most enlightened and well-intentioned of 
the public may be heard by the whole na- 
tion through legitimate means, and thus 
every active member of the state may, al- 
though he holds no office, aid his country 
with his opinions and advice. 

But such views and principles were alto- 
gether unknown at this period, which devi- 
ated from the simple course of nature, and 
only endeavored to elevate itself upon the 
basis of the subtlety of the mind ; the ob- 
ject then sought was to found the stability 
of a government upon the ground-work of 
mere external forms, while, on the contra- 
ry, its security rests upon the hearty co- 
operation of all for the common weal of the 
country, to the exclusion of all individual 
power. These magnanimous principles of 
government would, no doubt, have operated 
with happy results upon the naturally vig- 
orous and clear mind of Frederick, had 
they been at all brought forward during 
his time ; but they could not originate with 
him, inasmuch as he felt in himself the 
power to govern alone, seconded by the 
strongest desire of making his people happy 
and great. Thence it appeared to his mind, 
that the predominant strength of a state 
was based upon the means which are the 
readiest and most efficacious in the hands 
of one person, viz. : in his army, and in 
the treasury. His chief aim, therefore, 
was to manage that these two powerful im- 
plements of government should be placed 
in the most favorable condition possible ; 
and thus we find, that Frederick often 
sought the means to obtain this, his grand 
object, without sufficiently taking into con- 
sideration the effect they might subsequent- 
ly produce upon the disposition and moral- 
ity of the nation. In accordance with this 
principle, he, in the year 1764, invited a 
distinguished fermier-general of France, 
Helvetius, to Berlin, in order to consult him 



TRIUMPH OF NATIVE OVER FRENCH LITERATURE. 



413 



upon the means of augmenting the revenues 
of the state, and in consequence of his 
suggestions, measures were adopted which 
were extremely obnoxious to the public, and 
caused many to defraud, instead of co-ope- 
rating with, the government. At the same 
time, however, by these and other means 
resorted to by the king, the revenues of the 
kingdom were increased considerably. It 
must, however, be advanced in Frederick's 
vindication, firstly, that he adopted these 
measures, not for his own individual advan- 
tage, but for the benefit of all ; and, sec- 
ondly — we must again repeat it — that the 
great errors of the age completely obscured 
his own view. With what eagerness would 
not his clear mind have caught at the en- 
lightenment produced by reform, had he but 
lived in a time when freedom of thought 
was more appreciated, for to him this free- 
dom of thought was so dear, that he nev- 
er attacked the public expression of opin- 
ion. His subjects enjoyed under his reign, 
among other privileges, that of the liberty 
of the press ; and he himself gave free scope 
to the shafts of censure and ridicule aimed 
against his public and private character: 
for the consciousness of his own perseve- 
ring endeavors in the service of his coun- 
try, and of his sincere devotion to his duties, 
elevated him beyond all petty susceptibility. 
The chief object of the king's care was a 
search into truth and enlightenment, as it 
was then understood. But this enlighten- 
ment consisted in a desire to understand 
every thing : to analyze, dissect, and — de- 
molish. Whatever appeared inexplicable 
was at once rejected ; faith, love, hope, and 
filial respect — all those feelings which have 
their seat in the inmost recesses of the soul, 
were destroyed in their germination. 

But this annihilating agency was not con- 
fined to the state : it manifested itself also in 
science, in art, and even in religion. The 
French were the promoters of this pheno- 
menon, and in this they were eventually 
imitated throughout the world, but more 
especially in Germany. Superficial orna- 
ment passed for profound wisdom, and witty, 
sarcastic phraseology assumed the place 
of soundness and sincerity of expression. 
Nevertheless, even at this time, there were 
a few chosen men who were able to recog- 
nise that which was true and just, and rais- 
ed their voices accordingly; and, in the 
world of intellect, the names of Lessing, 
Klopstock, Goethe, &c, need alone be men- 



tioned, being, as they were, the founders of 
a more sterling age. They were joined by 
many others, and thus united, they consti- 
tuted an intellectual phalanx in opposition 
to the progress made by the sensual French 
school. These intellectual reformers were 
soon strengthened by such auxiliaries as 
Kant, Fichte, Jacobi, &c, who advanced 
firmly under the banner of science, and 
from such beginnings grew, by degrees, 
that powerful mental reaction, which has 
already achieved such mighty things, and 
led the way to greater results still. 

This awakening of the German mind was 
unnoticed by King Frederick ; he lived in 
the world of French refinement, separate 
and solitary, as on an island. The waves of 
the new rushing stream of life passed with- 
out approaching him, and struck against the 
barriers by which he was enclosed. His 
over-appreciation and patronage of foreign- 
ers, however, impelled the higher classes 
of society to share in his sentiments, equal- 
ly as much as his system of administration 
had served as a model for other rulers to 
imitate. Several among his contempora- 
ries resolved, like him, to reign indepen- 
dently, but without possessing the same com- 
manding genius, whence, however well- 
intentioned, they were wrecked in their 
career ; among whom, may be more es- 
pecially included, Peter III. of Russia, 
Gustavus III. of Sweden, and Joseph II. 
of Germany. 

In the year 1765, Joseph II. was ac- 
knowledged as successor to his father, 
Francis I., who died in the same year, but 
whose acts as emperor present little or no- 
thing worthy of record. His son, however, 
was, on this very account, the more anx- 
ious to effect great changes, to transform 
ancient into modern institutions, and to 
devote the great and predominating power 
with which he was endowed towards re- 
modelling the entire condition of his states. 
All his projects, however, were held in 
abeyance until the death of his mother, 
Maria Theresa, in 1780, who, ever wise 
and active, had, even to the last moments 
of her existence, exercised all her power 
and influence in the administration of af- 
fairs, and, accordingly, her maternal au- 
thority operated effectually upon his feel- 
ings as a son, and served for a time to sus- 
pend the accomplishment of his desires. 
Meantime, in the interval between the year 
1765 and 1780, various events took place, 



414 



DISMEMBERMENT OF POLAND. 



which exercised an important influence 
upon the last ten years of his reign. 
Among the rest may be more especially 
mentioned the dismemberment of Poland in 
1773, and the war of the Bavarian succes- 
sion in 1778. 

Augustus III., king of Poland, died in 
the year 1765, leaving behind him a grand- 
son, only as yet a minor ; consequently 
the house of Saxony, which had held pos- 
session of the throne of Poland during a 
space of sixty-six years, now lost it. Both 
Russia and Prussia stepped forward forth- 
with, and took upon themselves the ar- 
rangement of the affairs of Poland : an in- 
terference which that nation was now un- 
able to resist, for strong and redoubtable 
as it had been formerly, dissension had so 
much reduced its resources, that it was, at 
this moment, wholly incapable of main- 
taining, or even acting for itself. Both 
powers required that Poland should choose 
for her sovereign a native-born prince, and 
an army of 10,000 Russians which sud- 
denly advanced upon Warsaw, and an 
equal number of Prussian troops assem- 
bled upon the frontiers, produced the elec- 
tion of Stanislaus Poniatowski to the throne. 
Henceforth there was no longer an impe- 
rial diet held at which foreigners did not 
endeavor to bring into effect all their in- 
fluence. 

Shortly after this event, a war took 
place between Russia and Turkey, in 
which the former took possession of Mol- 
davia and Wallachia, which that power 
was extremely desirous of retaining. This, 
however, Austria opposed most strenuous- 
ly, lest Russia should become too power- 
ful, and Frederick the Great found himself 
in a dilemma how to maintain the balance 
between the two parties. The most expe- 
dient means of adjustment appeared in the 
end to be the spoliation of a country which 
was the least able to oppose it, viz., Po- 
land ; and, accordingly, a portion of its 
territory was seized and shared between 
the three powers — Russia, Prussia, and 
Austria. With whom this idea first ori- 
ginated has not been clearly ascertained, 
but it is easy to see that it was quite in ac- 
cordance with the character of the times. 
For as the wisdom of that age only based 
its calculations upon the standard of the 
senses, and estimated the power of states 
merely by their square miles, amount of 
population, soldiers, and revenue, the grand 



aim of the then state-policy was to devote 
every effort towards aggrandizement ; noth- 
ing was held more desirable than some 
fresh conquest, which might advantageous- 
ly round off a kingdom, while all consider- 
ation of equity and justice was forced to 
yield before this imperious principle. When 
one of the larger states effected such an 
acquisition, the others, alarmed, considered 
the balance of Europe compromised and 
endangered. 

In this case, however, the three king- 
doms bordering upon Poland, having shared 
between them the spoil, were each aug- 
mented in proportion, whence all fear of 
danger was removed. This system had 
become so superficial, so miserable and 
absurd, that they lost sight altogether of 
the principle that a just equilibrium and 
the permanent safety of all can only be 
secured by the inviolable preservation of 
the rights of nations. The partition of 
Poland was the formal renunciation itself 
of that system of equipoise, and served as 
the precursor of all those great revolutions, 
dismemberments, and transformations, to- 
gether with all those ambitious attempts at 
universal monarchy, which, during a space 
of five-and-twenty years, were the means 
of convulsing Europe to her very founda- 
tions. 

The people of Poland, menaced as they 
were in three quarters, were forced in the 
autumn of 1773 to submit to the dismem- 
berment of their country, of which, ac- 
cordingly, three thousand square miles 
were forthwith divided between Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria. 

Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria, 
having died in 1777 without issue, the in- 
heritance of his estates and electoral dig- 
nity came into the hands of the elector 
palatine. The emperor Joseph, however, 
with his usual rashness, resolved to avail 
himself of this inheritance in favor of Aus- 
tria ; he accordingly raked up old claims, 
and marched suddenly with his army into 
Bavaria, of which he took immediate pos- 
session. The pacific palatine, Charles 
Theodore, thus surprised and overawed, 
signed a treaty, by which he ceded two 
thirds of Bavaria to the house of Austria, 
in order to secure to himself possession of 
at least the other third portion. The con- 
duct of Austria on this occasion, together 
with the part she had previously taken in 
the dismemberment of ill-fated Poland, was 



DEATH OF MARIA THERESA. — JOSEPH II. 



415 



the more unexpected, inasmuch as she was 
the only one of all the superior states which 
had hitherto abstained from similar acts of 
aggression. But the mutability of the age 
had now destroyed likewise in Austria the 
uniform pacific bearing for which she had 
so long been distinguished. 

These proceedings gave rise to serious 
commotions in various parts of the empire, 
and Frederick the Great more especially 
felt he could not and ought not to remain 
an inactive observer of what was passing. 
Accordingly he entered the lists against 
Austria at once, and commenced opera- 
tions as protector of the heir of Charles 
Theodore, the duke of Deux-Ponts, who 
protested against the compact signed by 
the former with Austria, and claimed the 
assistance of the king of Prussia. The 
young and hot-headed emperor Joseph ac- 
cepted the challenge forthwith, and taking 
up a position in Bohemia, he there awaited 
the king; the latter, who had already 
crossed the mountains, finding him, how- 
ever, so strongly intrenched, was reluctant 
to hazard an attack under such difficult 
circumstances, and withdrew from Bohe- 
mia. After a few unimportant skirmishes 
between the light troops of both sides, 
peace was signed by the mediation of 
France and Russia, at Teschen, on the 
13th of May, 1779, even before the end of 
the first year of the war. The empress 
Maria Theresa, now advanced in years, 
by no means shared in her son's taste for 
war, but, on the contrary, earnestly de- 
sired peace ; while Frederick himself, who 
had nothing to gain personally by this cam- 
paign, was equally anxious for a recon- 
ciliation. Moreover, he was likewise far 
advanced in years, and possessed an eye 
sufficiently penetrating to perceive that the 
former original spirit and energy of the 
army, which had performed such prodigies 
of valor in the war of Seven Years, had 
now almost disappeared, although the dis- 
cipline under which it was still placed was 
equally severe and tyrannical as in former 
times. Under these and other circum- 
stances, therefore, peace was preferable to 
war. By the treaty now concluded, Aus- 
tria restored to the palatine house all the 
estates of Bavaria, except the circle of 
Burgau, and the succession was secured to 
the duke of Deux-Ponts. 

After the death of Maria Theresa, in 
1780, Joseph II. strove, with all the im- 



petuosity of his fiery and enterprising na- 
ture, to bring into immediate execution the 
great and ambitious plans he had formed, 
and to give to the various nations spread 
over the boundless surface of his vast pos- 
sessions, one unique and equal form of 
government, after a model such as he had 
himself formed within his own mind. In- 
deed, from the daring, reckless character 
he displayed, and the conduct he pursued, 
he might with justice have been regarded 
as one only anxious, by the changes he 
made, to pave the way for the most unpre- 
cedented revolution in the annals of Eu- 
rope. But this prince, together with others 
of the age he lived in and that which fol- 
lowed, beheld all their creations destroyed 
almost as suddenly as they had been 
formed, inasmuch as they had involved 
themselves in the error of believing that 
they could change, in the short space of a 
man's life, or perhaps of only a few years, 
that which the human race was only able 
to bring into operation in the slow growth 
of centuries. This arrogant presumption 
evinced by a man, who would thus pretend 
to realize the ideas he has conceived sole- 
ly because he deems their realization pos- 
sible — however opposed they may be to 
reason — was manifested in Joseph in the 
highest degree, and hence he was frus- 
trated and disappointed in all his expecta- 
tions and good intentions. He himself was 
influenced, it is true, by a mere desire for 
all that is just and good, for the prosperity of 
his dominions, for the progress of enlighten- 
ment and liberty of spirit ; but he neglect- 
ed to search strictly but calmly into human 
nature, and thus make himself thoroughly 
acquainted with the peculiar character of 
his variously-disposed subjects. What he 
undertook to effect was too often altogether 
unsuited to their actual condition, and what 
was acceptable to one was repugnant to 
another. In the feeling of his good inten- 
tions, Joseph adopted as his model the ab- 
solute principles of Frederick in his system 
of government ; but Frederick occupied 
himself more with external arrangements, 
with the administration of the state, the 
promotion of industry, and the increase of 
the revenue, interfering very little with the 
progress of intellectual culture, which fol- 
lowed its particular course, often altogeth- 
er without his knowledge ; while in this 
respect Joseph, by his new measures, often 
encroached upon the dearest privileges of 



416 INNOVATIONS— FREDERICK 



AND THE ALLIED PRINCES. 



his subjects. He insisted certainly upon 
liberty of conscience and freedom of 
thought ; but he did not bear in mind, at 
the same time, that the acknowledgment 
of this principle depended upon that close 
conviction which cannot be forced, and 
can only exist in reality when the light of 
truth has gradually penetrated to the depth 
of the heart. 

The greatest obstacles, however, thrown 
in the way of Joseph's innovations pro- 
ceeded from the church ; for his grand 
object was to confiscate numerous monas- 
teries and spiritual institutions, and to 
change at once the whole ecclesiastical 
constitution : that is, he contemplated ob- 
taining during the first year of his reign, 
what would of itself have occurred in the 
space of half a century. 

By this confiscation of ecclesiastical pos- 
sessions more than one neighboring prince 
of the empire, such as the bishop of Passau 
and the archbishop of Salzburg, found 
themselves attacked in their rights, and did 
not hesitate to complain loudly ; and in 
the same way in other matters, various 
other princes found too much reason to 
condemn the emperor for treating with 
contempt the constitution of the empire. 
Their apprehensions were more especially 
increased when the emperor, in the year 
1785, negotiated a treaty of exchange of 
territory with the electoral prince-palatine 
of Bavaria, according to which, the latter 
was to resign his country to Austria, for 
which he was to receive in return the Aus- 
trian Netherlands under the title of a new 
kingdom of Burgundy : an arrangement 
by which the entire south of Germany 
would have come into the exclusive pos- 
session of Austria. The prince-palatine 
was not at all indisposed to make the ex- 
change, and France, as well as Russia, at 
first favored it in its principle ; but Fred- 
erick II. once more stepped forward and 
disconcerted their plans, in which he suc- 
ceeded likewise in bringing Russia to co- 
operate with him. 

The commotions, however, produced by 
these efforts made by Joseph to bring his 
rash projects into immediate operation, 
caused the old king of Prussia to form the 
idea of establishing an alliance of the Ger- 
man princes for the preservation of the 
imperial constitution, similar in charac- 
ter to the unions formed in previous times 
for mutual defence. Such at least was to 



be the unique object of this alliance ac- 
cording to the king's own words ; and this 
league was accordingly effected in the 
year 1785, between Prussia, Saxony, Han- 
over, the dukes of Saxony, Brunswick, 
Mecklenburg, and Deux-Ponts, the land- 
grave of Hesse, and several other princes, 
who were soon joined by the elector of 
Mentz. This alliance was based upon 
principles in their nature less inimical 
than strictly surveillant ; nevertheless, it 
effected the object contemplated, by acting 
as a check upon the house of Austria in 
the various innovations threatened by the 
emperor, while it operated as a lesson in- 
dicating to that house that its real distinc- 
tion among the other nations of Europe 
was to preserve the present order of things, 
to protect all rights and privileges, to op- 
pose the spirit of conquest, and thus to con- 
stitute itself the bulwark of universal lib- 
erty ; but failing in all this, it must inevi- 
tably lose at once all public confidence. 
This alliance of princes, however, pro- 
duced little or no important results for the 
advantage of Germany, owing partly to 
the death of Frederick II., which took 
place in the following year, and partly to 
the circumstance of the successors of Jo- 
seph II. happily returning to the ancient 
hereditary principles of the house, both in 
its moderation and circumspection ; and 
finally, owing to the unheard-of events 
which transpired in Europe during the last 
ten years of this century, and which soon 
produced too much cause for forgetting all 
previous minor grievances. 

This alliance of the princes of the em- 
pire was the last public act of the great 
Frederick of any consequence ; and he 
died in the following year. He continued 
active and full of enterprise to the last, in 
spite of his advanced age, but his condition 
became gradually more isolated, inasmuch 
as all the companions of his former days 
had in turns disappeared and sunk into 
their last resting-place before himself, the 
last among them being the brave old war- 
rior, Ziethen, who died in the January 
previous of the same year as his royal 
master, at the age of eighty-seven ; and, 
on the other hand, heaven had not blessed 
him with any family, and thus he was de- 
barred from the endearing enjoyment ex- 
perienced by a father, when he sees him- 
self growing young again, and revivified 
in his posterity. At the same time, he 



DEATH OF FREDERICK— DEATH OF JOSEPH II. 



417 



was wanting in all those feelings condu- 
cive to this state of life — a state against 
which his whole nature recoiled. 

His mind, with scarcely any interrup- 
tion, retained all its power during the long 
space of seventy-four years, although his 
body had latterly become much reduced 
and enfeebled. Through the extravagant 
use he had always made of strong spices 
and French dishes, he dried up the springs 
of life, and after suffering severely from 
dropsy, he departed this life on the 17th of 
August, 1786, and was buried in Potsdam, 
under the pulpit of the church belonging 
to the garrison.* 

Although the news of Frederick's death 
at such an advanced age excited no very 
great astonishment, it nevertheless produ- 
ced a considerable sensation throughout 
the whole of Europe. He left to his suc- 
cessor a well-regulated state, containing a 
population of six millions of inhabitants ; a 
powerful, strictly-organized army, and a 
treasury well provided ; the greatest trea- 
sure however he left, was the recollection 
of his heroic and glorious acts, which in 
subsequent times has continued to operate 
upon his nation with all its awakening 
power and heart-stirring influence. 

The emperor Joseph, meantime, had en- 
gaged, in 1788, in a war with the Turks, 
which did not produce the results he had 
been led to anticipate. His army suffered 
very considerable losses, more especially 
through sickness, and, although he himself 
was present in person, his troops effected 
nothing, for he was wholly without those 
necessary qualifications — firmness and pres- 
ence of mind ; characteristics so highly 
requisite in a general, in order to ensure 
success. About this time also the Hun- 
garians began to show strong symptoms of 
discontent, caused by the unjust treatmem 
they received at the hands of him they had 
formerly saved when appealed to by his 
mother, Maria Theresa. In the Nether- 
lands, however, the whole population broke 

* In his last illness Frederick displayed great mild- 
ness and patience, and acknowledged with gratitude 
the trouble and pain he caused those around him. 
Dining one of his sleepless nights he called to the page 
who kept watch in the room, and asked him what 
o'clock it was 1 The man replied it had just struck 
two. "Ah, then it is still too soon!" exclaimed the 
king, "but I cannot sleep. See whether any of the 
other attendants are awake, but do not disturb them if 
they are still steeping, for, poor fellows, they are tired 
enough. But if you find Neuman (his favorite yager) 
stirring, say to him, you believe the king wishes soon 
to rise. But rnind, do not awaken any one !"— Muchler. 

53 



out into open rebellion at once ; the clergy, 
the nobility, the people, and the cities al- 
together, perceiving, by the reforms too pre- 
cipitately enforced upon them by the empe- 
ror, the attacks that were being made upon 
their ancient rights and privileges. They 
seized arms, and on the 22d of October, 
1789, the provinces of Brabant declared 
themselves independent in a grand meeting 
held at Breda. Nearly all the cities took 
part with the revolters, who had at their head 
a barrister, named Van der Noot, and the 
Austrian officials were forced to take their 
flight. This was, in fact, a kind of intro- 
ductory scene to that which was being pre- 
pared, about the same time, in France 
itself. During the period of these conten- 
tions Joseph died in his forty-ninth year, on 
the 20th of February, 1790, an event greatly 
hastened by the fatigues he had undergone 
in the Turkish war, and more especially 
promoted through bitter mortification at 
finding all his mad and ill-timed projects 
fall to the ground, and the pain he felt at 
the state of anarchy and revolt existing 
among his subjects. 

As he left no family behind him, his 
brother, Peter Leopold, hitherto grand- 
duke of Tuscany, succeeded him in his 
hereditary estates of Austria. The task 
undertaken by the new sovereign was by 
no means the most easy one, inasmuch as 
he found everywhere dissatisfaction, con- 
tention, and sedition. He perceived that in 
order to steer the vessel safely through 
the raging tempest he must employ mode- 
rate aiid reconciliatory measures, and, 
'happily, Peter Leopold possessed the ne- 
cessary disposition and ability to effect this 
object. The dangerous innovations intro- 
duced by his predecessor were at once 
1 abolished, Hungary pacified, and the Neth- 
erlands, partly by the necessary force of 
arms, and partly by the confirmation of 
their rights and constitutions, were restored 
to a state of tranquillity; and, finally, in 
the following year, a treaty of peace was 
concluded with the Turks. On the 20th 
of September, 1790, the hereditary prince 
of the house of Austria was chosen em; 
peror of Germany, under the title of Leo- 
pold II. He, however, died on the 1st of 
March, 1792, and thus his short reign of 
two years ended at the moment when a< 
new and eventful era commenced in the 
history of Europe, teeming with scenes of 
intrigue, anarchy, and atrocious- outrage^ 



418 



LEOPOLD II. — FRANCIS II. 



already but too well known in the annals 
of that disastrous period to require much 
farther comment or description in the 
present work. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Leopold II. and the State of France — France declares 
War against Austria, the Imperial States, Holland, 
Spain, &c, 1792 — Francis II., Emperor of Germany, 

1792- 1806— Prussia— Successes of the Allies— Gene- 
ral Dumouriez and the Republican Army— The Aus- 
trians defeated at Jemappes— The Netherlands Re- 
publicanized — Defeat of Dumouriez at Neerwinden, 

1793 — Joins the Allies— Continued Successes of the 
Allies under the Dukes of York and Coburg— Carnot 
— Generals Pichegru and Jourdan— Battles of Tour- 
nay and Fleurus — Jourdan's Aerial Reconnoitring 
Messenger, or the Adjutant in the Balloon— Defeat 
•of the Allies— Successes of the French— Conquests in 
Flanders, Holland, and the Rhine — Kaiserslautern— 
Peace of Basle, 1795— England and Austria— France 
— The Austrian Generals, Beaulieu, Wurmser, and 
Archduke Charles — Napoleon Bonaparte, 1796 — 
Appointed General in Italy— His Army— His Con- 
quests and rich Booty made in Italy — The French in 
Germany— Archduke Charles— Moreau— His famous 
Retreat — Mantua — Bonaparte in Germany — His 
rapid Marches — Vienna — Peace of Campo-Pormio, 
1797 — Shameful Conditions— State of Europe— Al- 
liance of England, Russia, Austria, and Turkey — 
Hostilities resumed, 1798 — Bonaparte in Egypt — 
Cairo — Aboukir — His Fleet destroyed by Nelson — It- 
aly — General Suwarotf— His Successes in Italy — Ge- 
noa— Switzerland— Suwaroff's Passage across the 
Alps — His desperate Appeal to his Soldiers — His recall 
— The Emperor Paul and En eland — Bonaparte First 
Consul, 1799— Genoa— Battle of Marengo, 1800— Gen- 
eral Desaix— Moreau in Germany— Peace of Lune- 
ville, 1801— Sad Results to, and Sacrifices made by 
Germany— Resignation of William Pitt— Peace of 
Amiens, 1802 — England declares v/ar against France, 
1803— Bonaparte takes possession of Hanover— The 
German Legion. 

The emperor Leopold II. remained 
faithful to his system of pacification, al- 
though he could not but feel serious ap- 
prehensions when he beheld the alarming 
state of affairs in France. Several of ihe 
princes of the empire had already ex. 
pressed a strong desire to take up arms 
against that revolutionary country, in 
favor of the emigrated princes and nobles, 
who, making the banks of the Rhine their 
place of refuge, collected together in nu- 
merous bodies at Coblentz, and finally 
prevailed upon the princes of the land to 
maintain their rights, and commence hos- 
tilities. The revolution had, in fact, af- 
fected and seriously injured a number of 
the German princes in the privileges they 
■enjoyed from the earliest times in France, 
and more especially in Alsace — and now, 
when they demanded an indemnification 
for these losses, they only met with the 
same arrogant and scornful reception in 



the language which it had been the prac- 
tice of France to express during the last 
five-and-twenty years. The imperialists, 
however, should have borne in mind that 
to a country in a state of revolution, a war 
with a foreign power is both desirable and 
beneficial, inasmuch as it acts as a check 
upon internal divisions, and by promoting 
a more united feeling, furnishes it with 
still greater power against the common 
enemy. 

The new emperor, Francis II., formed 
now an alliance with Frederick- William 
II. of Prussia, against France, but which 
the latter government anticipated by de- 
claring war against Austria in 1792. 
The attack of the Prussians took the 
young republic — which still retained the 
king, although powerless, at its head — 
completely by surprise. The country 
was not as yet prepared for war, and the 
first invasion was accordingly attended 
with successful results. The armies of 
the imperialists continued to march in 
advance, and took possession of all the 
towns along their route. Valenciennes, 
Longwy, and Verdun, were conquered, 
all the passes of the forest of Ardennes 
occupied, together with the plains of 
Champagne ; and even Paris itself began 
to tremble. But the people now aroused 
themselves, and this was promoted, in fact, 
by their enemy himself. For, misled no 
doubt by the presumption and mad hopes 
cherished by the emigrants, the duke of 
Brunswick, who commanded the Prussian 
army, issued a manifesto, which was dis- 
tributed everywhere throughout the entire 
kingdom, and which was so insultingly 
and cruelly worded, as to make the heart 
of every Frenchman recoil and tremble 
within him, and of those more especially 
who refused to acknowledge the ancient 
rights of royalty ; for, among the other 
threats it contained, the document declared 
that Paris should be burned to the ground, 
and the inhabitants put to the sword, and 
not a single stone of the metropolis should 
be left standing. These dreadful words 
acted upon the people with all the power 
of an electric shock, and forthwith, from 
every part of the country, were to be seen 
both young and old hastening in shoals 
with all possible speed to join voluntarily 
the standard of General Dumouriez, and 
under which they burned to conquer or 
die in the defence of their country's free- 



ENGLAND AND ALLIES AGAINST FRANCE— SUCCESSES. 



419 



dom. The army was soon in a condition 
to face the invaders, and it marched forth 
and took up an advantageous position on 
the high-road near Sainte-Menehould ; 
but, as the Prussians now began to suffer 
greatly from the want of supplies in that 
impoverished part of the country, as also 
from the sickness and disease produced 
through the continual heavy rains which, 
badly clothed as the troops were, thinned 
their ranks sadly, they were forced, after 
a slight cannonade at Valmy, to make a 
retreat ; this they were happy enough to 
succeed in effecting in good time, and they 
gained the banks of the Rhine, which they 
lost no time in crossing. 

At Jemappes, however, Dumouriez came 
up with the Austrians, and giving them 
battle at once, on the 5th of November, 
1792 — the first under the republican gov- 
ernment — gained a decisive victory. His 
force was greatly superior in numbers to 
the Austrian army, while he was likewise 
in possession of an overwhelming train of 
heavy artillery, which at each discharge 
mowed down whole ranks of the enemy, 
and made the very earth tremble. The 
Austrians, nevertheless, fought with a 
courage truly heroic for two entire days 
against their formidable adversaries, but 
were eventually forced to yield the field 
of battle. By this single battle, the house 
of Austria lost the whole of the Nether- 
lands, for the victorious army, like a rush- 
ing torrent, carried all before them, and 
the inhabitants, already dissatisfied with 
the dominion of Austria ever since the 
reign of Joseph II., and seduced by the 
thoughts of liberty, threw off the imperial 
yoke and received the French with open 
arms. They planted everywhere the tree 
of liberty, established a national conven- 
tion, and adopted all the republican prin- 
ciples and institutions of their conquerors. 

At the same time General Custine had 
marched against the Rhenish provinces, 
and through treachery made himself mas- 
ter of the important imperial city of Mentz. 
The mania for liberty now held its sway 
in that place, and the republican institu- 
tions of Paris were likewise introduced 
there. Frankfort, however, its neighbor- 
ing city, maintained itself firmly against 
all the influence of these insinuating and 
destructive principles, and when invited to 
follow the example set by those around, 
the citizens replied, that they were con- 



tented with the liberty they had thus far 
enjoyed all along. 

The sanguinary proceedings — but more 
especially the dreadful and revolting fate 
of Louis XVI., on the 21st of January, 
1793, excited universal indignation and 
horror ; and England and Spain, together 
with Holland, armed at once against the 
French republic, which had declared war 
against them. Germany was not long in 
joining these powers, and as Naples, Rome, 
Tuscany, and Portugal, came forward 
likewise, a coalition of the governments of 
the moiety of Europe was brought to bear 
against that of France. 

The commencement of the campaign of 
1793 was distinguished by a series of bril- 
liant victories gained by the allies in the 
Netherlands. Dumouriez was defeated at 
Aldenhoven, and he was again overthrown 
on the 18th of March in a grand battle 
near Neerwinden ; and, dreading lest he 
might be summoned to Paris and thus fall 
into the hands of the Jacobins, of whom he 
was no friend, and who, he knew too well, 
were the last to treat misfortune with mercy, 
he passed over to the ranks of the allies. 
The latter now pressed forward in rapid 
marches ; their united army comprised the 
Austrians, the Prussians, the English, the 
Hanoverians, and the Dutch, commanded 
by the duke of Coburg and the duke of 
York. Dumouriez's successor, General 
Dampierre, was again defeated on the 8th 
of May on the plains of Famars, being 
himself killed in the action ; and the allies 
having now made themselves masters of 
Valenciennes and Conde, the road to Paris 
lay open before them. 

Meantime the Prussians and Austrians, 
on the Rhine, reconquered Mentz, and 
having forced the lines of the hill of Weis- 
senberg, they commenced the siege of 
Landau under the command of the crown 
prince of Prussia. 

In the Pyrenees a Spanish army crossed 
the Alps and marched into France, where 
the progress made was attended with con- 
siderable success ; in conjunction with the 
English they took possession of the import- 
ant seaport of Toulon, which, having de- 
clared itself opposed to the convention of 
Paris, they defended against the republi- 
can forces. 

Towards the end of the year, however, 
the republican forces were more successful 
along the frontiers of the kingdom. On 



420 THE ALLIES 



the Upper Rhine, Landau and the whole 
of Alsace, after continued and most san- 
guinary fighting, fell again into their hands, 
and the republican flag was everywhere 
planted along that portion of the banks 
of the Rhine ; while, in the Netherlands, 
Dunkirk was delivered, and many severe 
actions gained by the French. In this 
quarter the forces were commanded by 
Houchard and Jourdan ; while on the 
Rhine the troops were headed by Piche- 
gru and Hoche — names elevated from their 
original obscurity by the rushing tide of 
the revolution. On the 30th of September 
a grand fete was held in Paris, on which 
occasion fourteen different armies were re- 
presented in a triumphal procession, in 
honor of the victories they had gained. 

At the commencement of the year 1794 
the allies united all their forces in the 
Netherlands, under the orders of the duke 
of Coburg, and the emperor Francis him- 
self joined the camp, in order by his pres- 
ence to encourage the troops. On the 7th 
of April they gained a complete victory 
near Cateau-Cambresis, and on the 30th of 
the same month they made themselves 
masters of the town of Landrecies. For- 
tune, however, now changed. Carnot, 
who properly understood how to employ 
the system of war by which a nation in 
arms might obtain victory, issued his or- 
ders forthwith to the grand armies, com- 
manded by Pichegru and Jourdan, to at- 
tack the allied army with the most daring 
impetuosity and without ceasing, so that 
not a single day might pass without constant 
hard fighting. With respect to the num- 
ber of French troops that were slain, that 
was a matter of no consideration ; fresh 
battalions were marched up to replace 
those that had fallen, and thus the allied 
generals, finding themsel ves so h ard pressed , 
looked in vain for an opportunity where 
and how to form their principal point of 
defence. All their ordinary tactics of war 
were perfectly useless ; for when whole 
battalions, on being repulsed, fell back 
upon each other, and instead of taking to 
flight rallied again and renewed the attack, 
and fought on without yielding an inch as 
long as life gave them the power, and when 
neither the fear of death nor any thing else, 
however formidable its nature, could make 
them quit the field of battle, then neces- 
sarily at the end of the action victory re- 
mained with the greatest number. Thence 



DEFEATED. 



the Austrians and their allies, the English, 
Dutch, and Hanoverians, harassed and 
overcome with fatigue, were ultimately 
defeated on the 22d of May near Tournay 
by Pichegru, and on the 26th of June at 
Fleurus, by Jourdan, in two sanguinary 
battles. At Fleurus the French general 
turned the course of the contest, which was 
going against him, eventually in his favor 
by adopting an expedient completely novel 
and hitherto unknown in war ; he caused, 
namely, one of his aides-de-camp to get 
into a balloon in which he ascended, and 
this enabled him to observe exactly the po- 
sition of the allied army, and on this offi- 
cer's return from his aerial expedition he 
gave his report accordingly to the general, 
who renewed the action, and, guided by the 
instructions he had received, gained the 
battle. 

After this victory the success of the 
French arms continued without interrup- 
tion ; nothing could check their progress 
either in Holland or on the Rhine. All 
the places taken from them in France — 
Landrecies, Le Quesnoy, Valenciennes, 
and Conde, were reconquered one after 
the other ; besides which, the republicans 
took possession of Brussels on the 9th of June, 
and in the autumn they commanded the 
rivers Meuse and Vahal. These successes, 
however, appeared to have now reached 
the term of their duration, and more espe- 
cially as the sluices of all the canals 
throughout Holland had been opened, in 
order, by a general inundation, to rescue 
that country from the French arms. But 
nature herself came to the aid of the in- 
vaders, by converting these very waters 
into a secure passage for their troops, in- 
asmuch as the winter of this year, 1794, 
becoming extremely severe, they were all 
completely frozen, and to such a depth 
was the ice, that, by means of these natu- 
ral, seasonable bridges, soldiers, artillery, 
and baggage-trains, were enabled to ad- 
vance, and penetrate into the very heart 
of Holland ; thus, on the 17th of January, 
1795, they were in possession of Utrecht, 
and on the 19th they took Amsterdam. 
The stadtholder was forced to seek refuge 
with his family in England, and Holland 
was forthwith converted into a republic. 

Meantime Jourdan, in the autumn of 
1794, had driven the Austrians out of 
Brabant towards the Lower Rhine, and 
completely defeated them in several en- 



PEACE BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND FRANCE. 



421 



counters ; and eventually he forced them 
to cross the Rhine to Cologne. Liege, 
Aix-la-Chapelle, Juliers, Cologne, Bonn, 
and Coblentz, fell into the hands of the 
French ; Luxemburg alone holding out by 
a brave and determined defence until the 
month of June, 1795. 

In the circle of the Upper Rhine the 
campaign of 1794 took almost the same 
direction as in the northern provinces. At 
the commencement, on the 22d of May, 
a great victory was obtained by the Aus- 
trians and Prussians at Kaiserslautern ; 
this was succeeded by continuous attacks 
made upon the allies by the republican 
army, now considerably reinforced by 
levies en masse produced through the na- 
tional summons, and finally, on the 15th 
of June, by another battle fought at Kai- 
serslautern, in which the French, although 
repulsed eight times with great loss, re- 
turned to the attack for the ninth time, 
and gained the victory. After a short 
cessation of hostilities, the allies retired at 
this point, to the right bank of the Rhine. 

The success of the French arms had 
now become so great, and produced so 
much alarm, that whoever attentively con- 
sidered the condition of Europe, and espe- 
cially Germany, could easily perceive that 
it could not do otherwise but unite all its 
forces, in order to carry on the war for its 
own preservation. The French already 
made no mystery of their intention to re- 
tain possession of the whole of Germany 
situated along the left bank of the Rhine, 
to the extent of the entire course of that 
river. Were we then, through the unfa- 
vorable results of one campaign, to allow 
our dangerous neighbor to remain master 
over those territories, which to gain he had 
been striving in vain for centuries ? No ; 
Germany ought never to have permitted 
such a disgrace ; but where in such times 
was to be found that ancient, hereditary, 
and noble feeling of independence, coupled 
with that inborn magnanimity to uphold 
and defend the honor of our common fa- 
therland ? Jealousy and envy among the 
commanders-in-chief and the first ministers 
of the empire had paralyzed the powers 
of the army, and obstructed the success 
ol every operation ; and now the entire 
confederation allowed itself to be dissolved 
by its crafty enemy. On the 5th of April, 
Prussia concluded at Basle a separate 
treaty of peace with the French republic, 



and Hanover, as well as Hesse Cassel, 
concurred therein likewise. A line of de- 
marcation was drawn for the north of Ger- 
many, which exempted the Prussian terri- 
tories in Westphalia, including Hesse and 
Lower Saxony. 

Shortly afterwards Spain, through want 
of means wherewith to pay her troops, as 
well as of that firm, determined will so 
necessary under the circumstances, like- 
wise separated herself from the coalition 
against France ; whence, of the higher 
powers, Austria and England alone re- 
mained in the grand arena, and thus it has 
always happened with Austria ever since 
the time of Maximilian I., whenever that 
power formed an alliance to maintain a war 
in conjunction with several other states. 

During the conferences of peace with 
Prussia, and even afterwards, in the sum- 
mer of 1795, as Austria and the Germanic 
empire appeared equally desirous for a 
pacification, both parties agreed to a cessa- 
tion of arms, and the two armies retained 
their position in front of each other on the 
opposite banks of the Rhine, separated only 
by the waters of that noble river. This 
short repose was of great benefit to France, 
for the general scarcity of provisions which 
prevailed throughout this year — producing 
almost a state of famine — would otherwise 
have completely prevented the army from 
accomplishing any extraordinary opera- 
tions. But as the harvest was now safely 
gathered in, Jourdan, on the night of the 
6th of September, crossed the Rhine be- 
tween Duesburg and Dtisseldorf, which 
latter town he forthwith invested, and pur- 
suing his impetuous course of victory, 
drove the Austrians from the banks of the 
rivers Wupper — the commencement of the 
Prussian line of demarcation — the Sieg, 
and the Lahn, over the Maine. Field- 
marshal Clairfait, however, had reassem- 
bled his troops behind the latter river, and 
he now attacked the French at Hochst, 
near Frankfort, completely routed them, 
and sent them back over the Rhine with 
the same expedition that they had used in 
advancing across it ; thus Mentz was de- 
livered from its state of siege, and Mann- 
heim retaken. The summer armistice had 
reduced the strength and spirit of the re- 
publican armies, and their zeal had be- 
come considerably diminished. A war 
conducted on the opposite bank of the 
Rhine w r as no longer regarded as a war in 



422 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE — HIS CHARACTER— HIS ARMY. 



the cause of liberty, and many volunteers 
of the higher classes had now returned to 
their homes. 

When, in 1798, the new order of things 
had become gradually consolidated in 
France, the directory resolved to force Aus- 
tria and the Germanic empire to conclude 
a treaty of peace by one general overwhelm- 
ing invasion. It was determined that the 
armies should, in the ensuing spring, cross 
to the other side of the Rhine and the 
Alps, and penetrate from every point into 
the heart of Germany. Moreau was to 
march through Swabia, Jourdan through 
Franconia, and a third army was to over- 
run Italy. In the latter country, the Aus- 
trian troops were commanded by the old 
general, Beaulieu ; in the Upper Rhine, 
the old veteran, Wurmser, held the chief 
command ; and in the Lower Rhine, the 
general-in-chief was the Arch-duke Charles 
of Austria ; to the two latter armies were 
united the troops of the imperial states. 
The war commenced in Italy. But there 
the old and experienced general found him- 
self confronted with a young daring leader, 
filled with the most gigantic projects, and 
who now on this occasion first came forth 
to develop his marvellous powers and indo- 
mitable perseverance before the eyes of 
astonished Europe. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, born at Ajaccio in 
Corsica — where his father was an advocate, 
and subsequently promoted to the French 
procuratorship of Corsica — educated in the 
military schools of France, and inured to 
the most extraordinary scenes and enter- 
prises by all the horrors of the revolution, 
in which he had been a participator, was 
only six-and-twenty years of age when he 
received his appointment as general of the 
Italian army. Barras, one of the five di- 
rectors of the executive power, and who had 
taken him into his especial favor, concert- 
ed a marriage between him and the widowed 
Princess Josephine de Beauharnais, and had 
now caused his promotion to the rank before- 
mentioned. The post he held was one of 
great difficulty and danger; the army over 
which he was placed, was in such a dis- 
organized state, being without supplies of 
provisions and clothing, and even without 
ammunition, that its condition could only 
be improved when under the direction of a 
resolute and daring general, and who, by 
judicious management, might perhaps suc- 
ceed in making even that very unfavorable 



condition itself serve as a means to lead to 
victories all the more glorious, for, in their 
present desperate state, the soldiers had no 
other choice but conquest or death. 

And truly the newly-appointed leader 
soon succeeded in gaining the most extra- 
ordinary influence and sway over his troops, 
and in infusing among them no small share 
of his own daring and undaunted spirit. 
This indeed formed the spirit of his military 
tactics, and the means by which he was 
led on to adopt the most ambitious plans, 
and sought to make himself the conqueror 
of the entire world. By his bulletins, 
couched in the most concise and forcible 
language, in the style of the ancient Romans, 
thoroughly adapted to the French character ; 
by the distribution of marks of honor and 
distinction, of colors and eagles, to those 
regiments which he at the same moment 
was about to place in the most dangerous 
part of the battle, together with other simi- 
lar incentives to honor and glory, Bona- 
parte well understood how to generate the 
highest enthusiasm at the decisive moment. 
He even had the temerity to announce in 
advance the result of the battles, and for- 
tune verified his words ; people speedily 
believed what he had predicted, and this 
very faith produced the accomplishment of 
the event. He more especially confounded 
his enemies by never doing what might 
have been anticipated and calculated upon, 
but by performing exactly what was com- 
pletely opposed to these expectations, and 
was the most bold and perilous in its na- 
ture. All experience and practice, there- 
fore, in the science of war, were nugatory 
against him; a defensive war with him 
must be unsuccessfully carried on, for the 
blow always came before it could be pre- 
ceived, or even anticipated, and he never 
allowed his adversary to commence the at- 
tack, because no one was so prompt in his 
measures and resolves as himself. 

The opening of this campaign was fol- 
lowed by the most brilliant success. By 
the promptitude of his manoeuvres and sud- 
denness of his attacks, he completely over- 
came and separated the army of the Sar- 
dinians from that of the Austrians, and 
forced the king of Sardinia to sign a treaty 
of peace ; and this he followed up by turn- 
ing his arms against the Austrians, and 
pursuing them to the north of the river Po. 
Thus the whole of central Italy lay now 
open before him, and all the princes of that 



GENERAL WURMSER— ARCHDUKE CHARLES— MOREAU. 



423 



country trembled at his vengeance. They 
alternately demanded peace and obtained it, 
but at the sacrifice of millions in money, 
numerous invaluable paintings, together 
with other treasures of art and precious 
manuscripts. It was with these spoils that 
he intended to decorate Paris, in order sub- 
sequently to make it the metropolis of the 
entire world. The duke of Parma was the 
first who bound himself by a treaty of the 
9th of May, to furnish in payment for peace, 
a large collection of the most rare paint- 
ings ; and from this moment the example 
of ancient Rome towards Greece was emu- 
lated in every part where the French armies 
got a footing. Vanity, combined with the 
eager desire to collect together and concen- 
trate in their capital, and thereby render 
it the counterpart of ancient Rome and the 
central point of nations, urged the invaders 
to pillage the sanctuaries and monuments 
of art and science of every country they 
marched through. The pope was obliged 
to purchase neutrality by the payment of 
21,000,000, francs, and by giving up to 
them 100 costly pictures, and 200 rare 
manuscripts. Naples obtained peace with- 
out any sacrifice ; because it lay at too great 
a distance, and because, likewise, its hour, 
according to Bonaparte's calculation, had 
not yet arrived. 

Meantime great events had likewise 
transpired in Germany. The forces there 
had scarcely commenced operations, when 
already the principal blow was struck in 
Italy, and the brave old warrior. Wurmser, 
was summoned from Germany with 30,000 
men to the relief of Mantua, the last strong- 
hold of the Austrians in Italy. The French 
armies, according to the plan of the cam- 
paign drawn up by the French directory, 
were now enabled to penetrate into the 
heart of the Germanic empire. About the 
middle of August, Jourdan was only within 
a few days march of Ratisbon, and Moreau 
was close to Munich, with the army of the 
Rhine and Moselle ; the latter general de- 
clared openly that his object was to give 
his right hand to the army under Bona- 
parte in Italy, and his left to that of Jour- 
dan. This junction of such overwhelming 
masses of troops brought with it the most 
alarming appearances, and this was one of 
the most critical and dangerous moments 
for Austria. Nevertheless, the peril thus 
threatened was once more diverted by the 
youthful hero of that imperial house. The 



nearer the war approached the Austrian 
frontiers, so much the more did the danger 
thus menacing their native soil spur on the 
imperial troops ; while at the same time 
their numbers were augmented more and 
more by fresh reinforcements from the in- 
terior. The Archduke Charles now came 
forth, and suddenly marching with his 
troops against Jourdan, attacking him at 
Neumark on the 22d of August, and at 
Amberg on the 24th, beat him so complete- 
ly that the whole army of the Sambre and 
Meuse took to flight, and never halted till 
it gained the Lower Rhine. Jourdan ral- 
lied them at Muhlheim on the Rhine, 
marched thence to Dusseldorf, and shortly 
afterwards resigned the command. By this 
disaster of the other army, Moreau was 
forced likewise to make a retreat to the 
Upper Rhine ; and this he effected in such 
masterly style, that after marching over the 
most perilous roads through Swabia and the 
Black Forest, and being continually pur- 
sued and hemmed in by the enemy, as well 
as exposed to the attacks of the enraged 
mountaineers, he gained the banks of the 
Rhine well provided with booty, and bring- 
ing with him even a number of prisoners 
taken on his march. By this admirable 
retreat, the fame of Moreau as a general 
was permanently established. The leaders 
on both sides now agreed upon an armistice 
being concluded on the Rhine during the 
winter. 

The Archduke Charles, on whom the 
eyes of all were now turned with admira- 
tion, received a hasty summons to repair to 
Italy, in order to reorganize the Austrian 
army. Wurmser, although successful in 
several attacks, was only able to throw 
himself, with a subsidy of 10.000 men, into 
Mantua ; but Bonaparte had now arrived, 
and renewing the siege, forced them, on 
the 6th of February. 1797, to surrender. 

The Archduke Charles, with a broken- 
down and dispirited army, was not in a 
condition to check the progress made by 
Bonaparte. The latter, after the fall of 
Mantua, penetrated more and more north- 
ward, crossed the Alps which separate 
Italv from Carinthia, and, marching into 
Styria, took possession of Clagenfurth, and 
advanced as far as Judenburg, on the river 
Mur, whence he threatened Vienna itself. 
But his course, this time, had been pursued 
with too much impetuosity, and the situa- 
tion in which he now found himself wa* 



424 



PEACE OF CAMPO-FORMIO. 



extremely critical. In his front he had the 
imperial army, which, at every retrogres- 
sive step became more and more formida- 
ble, as Vienna had already armed itself, 
and Hungary was now rising en masse; 
on his left flank, the imperial general, Lau- 
don, was marching in advance against him 
from the Tyrol ; and, in his rear, in the 
vicinity of Trieste, another numerous body 
of troops, together with the whole of the in- 
habitants of the Venetian territory were un- 
der arms ; while, in order to gain the first 
and nearest garrisoned town, Mantua, he 
would have to march a distance of more 
than two hundred miles, over rugged hills, 
and an impoverished and naked country : 
in addition to all which evils, his army had 
scarcely sufficient supplies for ten days 
longer. In this state of things, it is almost 
certain, that if Austria had been willing to 
stake the chances, she might have succeed- 
ed in annihilating her dangerous adversary 
at once, and with one blow. But this, it 
appears, was not at all contemplated, for 
when, with his usual cunning, Bonaparte, 
with the arrogance of a conqueror, now of- 
fered peace, she accepted it, and concluded 
the principal conditions on the 18th of 
April, at Leoben, and the definitive treaty 
was signed on the 17th of October, 1797, 
at Campo-Formio, a nobleman's castle in 
the neighborhood of Udine. Thus Bona- 
parte, in two campaigns, subjugated Italy; 
gained fourteen battles ; wrested the arms 
from the grasp of all the states in that 
quarter; and, finally, brought over Aus- 
tria to sign a peace. 

The emperor, by this treaty, ceded the 
Austrian Netherlands to France, and re- 
nounced his Italian possessions, including 
the capital city of Milan, together with 
several other Italian provinces, which were 
to form a Cisalpine republic, under the pro- 
tectorship of France. In return for this, 
Austria received Venice, the Venetian 
Isles, Istria, and Dalmatia, and engaged to 
deliver up Breisgau to the duke of Modena, 
and to summon, forthwith, a congress at 
Rastadt, in order to treat more fully the 
several conditions of the peace concluded 
between the republic and the Germanic 
empire. 

But this peace of Rastadt was in every 
respect humiliating and disgraceful to Ger- 
many. The empire was wholly abandoned 
and sacrificed by the emperor, as it had 
previously been by Prussia. Austria hav- 



ing, in a secret article, consented to sur- 
render the whole of the left bank of the 
Rhine, as the limits of the Germanic em- 
pire, who had we now left as its shield, , 
when its most powerful protectors had thus 
deserted it ? And yet no one individual 
state can be condemned, inasmuch as all 
committed themselves ; and, having with- 
drawn from the general co-operation as soon 
as they found the danger approaching them 
closely, it could not be required of Austria 
that she alone should make herself the sac- 
rifice. It is only with painful feelings that 
we can dwell upon these sad results, and 
we willingly hurry over the close of the 
eighteenth and the opening of the nine- 
teenth century, when Germany lay in its 
deepest humiliation ; nevertheless, these 
times ought not to be passed over in si- 
lence, for it is necessary that we should 
know the sad condition to which the dis- 
cord, schism, and egotism of individuals, as 
well as the total want of patriotic feeling, 
could bring the German nation. 

The congress of peace was accordingly 
convened at Rastadt, and Bonaparte ap- 
peared there himself as negotiator. But in 
what style of insult and contempt was not 
the empire treated in these negotiations ? 
With what arrogance were our princes met 
by the French envoys, who exercised the 
authority of masters over them ? Never- 
theless, ill-used and imposed upon as they 
were, the states were forced to submit and 
agree to every thing, viz. : to the cession 
of the left bank of the Rhine, to the secula- 
rization of the right bank, as an indemnity 
for what had been lost on the left, and to 
the destruction of the fortress of Ehrenbreit- 
stein, together with various other equally 
humiliating demands. These negotiations 
had continued until the end of the year 
1798, when they were brought to a termi- 
nation ; but, in the mean time, Europe it- 
self had undergone a material change. 

The members of the French directory, in 
their arrogance, had undertaken to revolu- 
tionize and overturn the governments of 
other countries, and the measures they 
adopted made it very soon manifest that 
the French republic was even .more dan- 
gerous in a time of peace than during a 
war. In the beginning of 1798, they, in 
scornful defiance of the pope, remodelled 
the states of the church into a Roman re- 
public, and shortly afterwards, they trans- 
formed the government of Switzerland, after 



BONAPARTE IN EGYPT—] 



-HIS FLEET DESTROYED. 



425 



several sanguinary contests, into an Hel- 
vetic republic ; and under the pretext of 
securing these new advantages, they left 
their armies in possession of the countries 
which they drained by unheard-of exac- 
tions. Austria, who still considered her- 
self called upon to watch over the safety 
of Europe, could not sanction such proceed- 
ings, and she found in the emperor Paul 
of Russia, who had succeeded to the impe- 
rial throne on the death of his mother Cath- 
erine, in 1796, a co-operative spirit. He 
was a decided enemy to all the principles 
professed and followed out by the French ; 
and his mother had already denounced and 
threatened those "regicides" and "athe- 
ists.'' Paul at this moment was more es- 
pecially excited against France, because 
the knights of the order of St. John had 
elected him their grand-master, after the 
French had taken possession of the island 
of Malta. This circumstance was well 
adapted to act as a spur to his ambition. 
Accordingly, a coalition of powers was now 
formed against France, such as had never 
before been brought into operation : being 
a union of Russia, England, Austria, and 
even Turkey, which, until now, had always 
cherished the greatest enmity towards two 
of these powers ; France herself, however, 
had forced Turkey, hitherto her old ally, 
to a war, by the formidable expedition she 
sent against Egypt in May, 1798. 

The republic of France had never con- 
ceived a more grand and stupendous design, 
of which they contemplated the realization 
by this enterprise. At the moment when 
the negotiations with the Germanic empire 
had as yet made but little progress, and 
consequently, the peace of continental Eu- 
rope was not yet secured, and when Eng- 
land was maintaining a gloriously victori- 
ous struggle on the seas, the flower of the 
French army, headed by Bonaparte and 
their best and most successful leaders, sud- 
denly embarked, and set sail towards a dis- 
tant land, " in order," as stated in the 
French manifesto, " to deliver Egypt from 
the tyranny of the Mamelukes, and to 
avenge the Porte upon those overbearing 
and insolent vassals." A plan more strange 
and unexpected could not have been thought 
of, only that behind these words was con- 
cealed a deep-laid scheme, which events 
very soon made clearly manifest, but which 
likewise fell to the ground. 

Bonaparte, after a prosperous voyage, 
54 



and after having made himself master of 
the island of Malta, landed in the bay of 
Aboukir, on the 2d of July, 1798, and hav- 
ing taken Alexandria by storm, continued 
his march, and took up his position near 
Cairo, the capital of that country. Here, 
at the foot of the great pyramids, he found 
himself opposed by twenty-three Mameluke 
Beys at the head of their cavalry, drawn 
up in battle array. Having made his pre- 
parations for the attack, Bonaparte turned 
to his troops, and exclaimed, as he pointed 
with his sword to the pyramids : " Behold, 
and remember, that four thousand years are 
looking down upon you from those monu- 
ments !" After this short address, so well 
adapted to the French national character, 
the troops attacked the enemy, and com- 
pletely overthrowing their whole army, 
advanced against the capital, which they 
captured, and now looked upon Egypt as a 
conquered country. But this success was 
very speedily changed into disaster. France 
had imagined that the Turks, who were 
rather in name than in fact the masters of 
Egypt, would view her successes with in- 
difference — not so, however ; for on the con- 
trary, they regarded the matter more seri- 
ously, and renouncing their alliance of 
three hundred years with that country, 
united with the other states against that 
power. England now clearly perceiving 
the great importance arising from this ex- 
pedition, strained every nerve to defeat and 
destroy it ; Admiral Nelson, the great na- 
val hero, after a long search, came up with 
the French fleet on the 1st of August, in 
the bay of Aboukir, and although the sun 
had already set, he nevertheless, with his 
usual undaunted valor, formed his plan of 
battle and commenced the action, broke 
through the enemy's line of battle, and ' 
gained a glorious victory ; having com- 
pletely annihilated the French fleet, of 
which the admiral's ship itself, L'Orient, 
was blown up with more than one thousand 
of her crew. By this victory, Bonaparte 
found himself completely separated from 
Europe, and cut off from all succor ; while, 
in the mean time, the most formidable pre- 
parations were being made by the coalesced 
powers for the war against France. 

The emperor of Austria now, at the 
commencement of the year 1799, recalled 
his ambassador from the congress at Ras- 
tadt, and the meeting of plenipotentiaries 
was dissolved. On the Gth of March, the 



426 



THE FRENCH IN ITALY- 



— MARSHAL SUWAROFF. 



French republic, according to its system 
of always anticipating the measures of its 
enemies, declared war once more against 
the emperor of Austria, for having allowed 
the Russian army to enter the Austrian 
territory. 

In Italy the war had commenced a few 
months sooner ; for the queen of Naples, 
a violent enemy of the French, would not 
wait for the moment of general attack, but 
caused the Neapolitan troops, in Novem- 
ber, 1798, to advance against the Roman 
territories ; an impatience, however, which 
produced very bad results. The French, 
with their usual celerity, directed their 
whole operations against that quarter, and 
driving the king of Naples with his family 
out of Sicily, they took possession of Lower 
Italy, as far as Calabria. The kingdom 
of Naples was now changed into a Parthe- 
nopian republic, and in order to transform 
the whole of Italy into one entire republic, 
the states of Genoa and Tuscany were de- 
clared free states. 

This time, however, these new creations 
had but a short existence, for the armies 
of the allies now marched forth from every 
side to open the campaign, led on by able 
and well-tried generals. The French di- 
rectory had lost much of its former influ- 
ence and power even in France itself : La 
Vendee had again taken up arms, the 
French armies were for the greater part 
badly conducted, and in the government of 
the state, as well as in the administration 
of war, the greatest lethargy and disorder 
prevailed. Added to this, Archduke Charles 
completely overthrew General Jourdan at 
Stockach, as well as in several other en- 
counters, and drove him out of Germany ; 
while from General Massena he reconquer- 
ed the whole of the western portion of 
Switzerland beyond Zurich itself, and then 
awaited on the banks of the Rhine the re- 
sults of the war in Italy. 

There the French army was under the 
orders of General Scherer, a man of a li- 
centious character and addicted to drink. 
Defeated by the Austrian general, Kray, 
at Verona and at Magnano, he resigned 
the command into the hands of Moreau, 
when the latter found the army reduced to 
a state of the greatest disorganization and 
confusion. At this moment Marshal Su- 
waroff, an old but active, daring warrior, 
with his Russians, formed a junction with 
the Austrian army in Italy. Against such 



an adversary Moreau found it impossible 
to make head with the ill-conditioned troops 
under his command. Accordingly Suwa- 
rofT completely defeated him on the 27th 
of April, near Cassano, and on the day fol- 
lowing entered Milan in triumph. By this 
victory the whole of Lombardy was re- 
conquered, the Cisalpine republic destroy- 
ed, and the north of Italy restored to the 
house of Austria. After this the Russian 
general marched against Macdonald, who 
had returned with the French army from 
Naples, and beat him, in the month of 
June, in several sanguinary actions on the 
banks of the Trebia, nearly on the same 
spot where Hannibal vanquished the Ro- 
mans. The whole of Italy as far as the 
states of Genoa was retaken from the 
French, all the fortresses were besieged 
and captured, the republican governments 
disappeared one after the other, and the 
ancient duchies were restored. 

Meantime General Joubert had collected 
another army ; but he met with the same 
fate as his predecessors. On the 15th of 
August the hard-fought battle of Novi, 
which continued for twenty hours, was 
fought, in which Joubert himself fell mor- 
tally wounded. Genoa was now the only 
city that remained in the hands of the 
French. Leaving the siege of this place 
to be conducted by the Austrians alone, 
Suwaroff directed his march towards the 
Alps, in order to penetrate into Switzerland 
and to make himself master of that gigan- 
tic fortress of nature — the bulwark of 
France. When he arrived at the foot of 
those vast mountains, the summits of which, 
towering to the very heavens above, be- 
came lost in the mist of the clouds, his 
warriors were struck with awe and dread 
at a scene of such majestic grandeur, by 
them wholly unknown amidst their own 
vast plains, and they hesitated for a mo- 
ment before they ventured to ascend the 
rocky, precipitous heights. Beholding this, 
the veteran general, who commanded the 
entire devotion of his soldiers, threw him- 
self upon the ground before them, and ex- 
claimed : " Behold, comrades ! rather than 
return, my body shall be buried here at 
the foot of these mountains, so that the 
world may know that you have abandoned 
your leader, Suwaroff, on this spot !" The 
soldiers, struck with shame and confusion 
at these words, delayed no longer, but 
marching forth with reanimated vigor and 



RUSSIA AND ENGLAND— BONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL. 



427 



courage, they commenced the ascent of 
St. Gothard, and passing onward through 
its intricate defiles amidst constant fight- 
ing, gained the Devil's bridge, and thence 
descended into the valley of Luzern. 

During this interval, however, Massena 
having by a successful manoeuvre taken 
the Russian general, Korsakow, by sur- 
prise, completely overthrew him ; while 
General Soult defeated the Austrians un- 
der Hotze in the neighborhood of Zurich. 
Suwaroff's object was to join the Aus- 
trians ; but after their defeat it became 
impossible to save Switzerland, and the 
war could not be protracted in a country 
so poor that no supplies were to be obtain- 
ed for the troops. Accordingly, Suwaroff 
retreated to Feldkireh in Swabia, directing 
his march through Graubiindten, across 
such narrow passes that his soldiers were 
only able to march in single file : a retreat 
accomplished in such a masterly style that 
he lost not a single man. Shortly after- 
wards he was recalled with his whole army, 
and he returned to Russia. The Russians 
had only shared in this one campaign with 
the Austrians ; but it was a campaign al- 
most unparalleled in the annals of war, 
both in respect to the deeds accomplished, 
and the profitable results produced. For, 
besides the several battles gained, eight 
strong fortresses, and no less than five thou- 
sand pieces of artillery, had been taken. 

The restless and false character of the 
emperor Paul, who pretended that he was 
neglected and insulted by his allies, was 
the cause of the sudden termination of the 
alliance. An attempt had been made in 
the .autumn of this year to invade Holland 
with a combined force of English and Rus- 
sian troops; but through various blunders 
which occurred in the expedition, it turned 
out unsuccessful, and this result produced 
more especially the discontent of the em- 
peror of Russia. Thence France, through 
this ill success of her adversaries in Hol- 
land, and by her repossession of Switzer- 
land, was delivered from the great and 
more immediate danger with which she had 
been threatened. Nevertheless, she was 
not yet altogether free from difficulty ; for 
the victorious troops of Austria, after having 
reconquered Italy, maintained their position 
on the banks of the Rhine, which they made 
preparations for crossing in conjunction 
with the rest of the imperial forces, which 
had at length resolved to join in the war ; 



while, in addition to this, the government of 
France itself was in a state of disunion, and 
had lost public confidence. Bonaparte, 
however, now arrived to extricate the na- 
tion from its embarrassed condition. 

When this general, who had during this 
interval been actively engaged in Egypt 
and Syria, learned the dangers that threat- 
ened France, the unsuccessful battles fought, 
and the loss of Italy, he quitted his then scene 
of action in the east, without waiting to be 
recalled, and, with only a few followers, 
hoisted sail homeward. Having, with daring 
courage, miraculously escaped the vigilance 
of the British fleet, he landed on the 9th of 
October at Frejus, and appeared suddenly, 
and to the wonderment of all, in Paris itself. 
His presence, thus unexpectedly, produced 
considerable alarm among those to whom his 
arrival was any thing but welcome, and to 
whom his ambition was well known ; oth- 
ers again, who had already witnessed and 
appreciated the victories he had gained, and 
by which he had been the means of pro- 
ducing peace, hailed his reappearance as 
the harbinger of a beneficial change in the 
state of affairs ; while the majority congrat- 
ulated themselves with the sanguine hope 
that by his means their personal interests 
would be promoted. And truly he did very 
soon succeed in reforming the government 
of the country, which at once placed in his 
hands the predominating power, and he was 
chosen consul. 

His first word was peace ; and at this 
moment this was his principal object in or- 
der to fix himself more securely in the new 
power he commanded ; but all the other 
nations, doubtful of his faith, refused to re- 
ceive his offers of peace. " Well then !" 
he exclaimed, " we must conquer peace 
ourselves." And these striking words were 
soon re-echoed throughout the country, op- 
erating with such powerful influence, that 
a numerous and well-appointed army was 
already assembled for action in the spring 
of the year 1800, at Dijon. 

The Austrian army closely besieged Ge- 
noa on every side, and however bravely de- 
fended by Massena, still, owing to the want 
of provisions, disease and misery prevailed 
to such a dreadful extent throughout that 
populous city, that great numbers of the 
wretched inhabitants perished daily. The 
idea of any aid being furnished across the 
Alps, did not for a moment enter the minds 
of the members of the war-council in Yien- 



428 



BATTLE OF MARENGO— MOREAU. 



na, and so far were they from entertaining 
such a suspicion, that General Melas re- 
ceived instructions to march across Nizza, 
and from this point enter the south of France. 
But at this moment the first consul suddenly 
marched from Dijon with the army of re- 
serve, and leading his troops, with all his 
cavalry and heavy artillery, in spite of ev- 
ery obstacle, over the great mountains of 
St. Bernard, the Simplon, and St. Gothard, 
he descended to the other side, and arrived 
in safety on the plains of Lombardy before 
even Melas had been informed of his expe- 
dition ; for had he known it, it would have 
been extremely easy for him to have anni- 
hilated the troops, corps after corps, as they 
descended the mountains. On the 2d of 
June Bonaparte made his public entry into 
Milan ; and on the same day Massena sur- 
rendered to the imperialists the city of Ge- 
noa, in which both garrison and inhabitants 
were suffering all the horrors of famine. 
The Austrians allowed him and such of his 
troops as were fit for active service to march 
out with flying colors. 

Shortly after this, on the 14th of June, a 
grand battle was fought near the village of 
Marengo, on the vast plains between Alex- 
andria and Tortona ; a battle the most ob- 
stinate and sanguinary of all those hitherto 
fought in the war of the revolution, and in 
which all the destructive powers at man's 
command were employed to hurl forth their 
murderous effects during a space of thirteen 
hours. Both armies fought with great spirit 
and determination, and victory was already 
inclining towards the Austrian side — their 
valorous battalions having beat back the 
French in four different attacks, until their 
retreat was becoming more and more gen- 
eral — when, most opportunely for Bona- 
parte, Desaix, one of the bravest of all the 
French generals, and especially esteemed 
as a man by all, arrived at this moment on 
the field of battle with the corps-de-reserve. 
The battle was forthwith resumed by De- 
saix, and he was followed by the rest of the 
army, who rallied around him. He him- 
self was mortally wounded by a cannon- 
ball ; but his soldiers, rendered more furi- 
ous by this, fought with such desperation, 
that they eventually gained the victory, 
which, after such great efforts, had now be- 
come decisive. 

Thus was lost in one day the fruits of all 
the successes gained by the Austrians dur- 
ing the campaign ; while the French ac- 



quired possession of the whole of Italy. 
Melas, who by this defeat lost all self-com- 
mand, as all retreat into Austria was now 
completely cut off, abandoned all the Ital- 
ian fortresses he held, except Mantua and 
Ferrara, on condition of being allowed to 
retire without molestation. 

General Moreau pursued hostilities in 
Germany during the interval between the 
months of April and December, 1800, with 
a boldness and good fortune almost unexam- 
pled. On the 25th of April he crossed the 
Rhine, and already a fortnight afterwards 
he gained the banks of the Iller, having 
made himself master of the entire country 
between that river, the Rhine, the Danube, 
and the lake of Constance, and fought two 
successful battles at Stockach and Mos- 
kirch ; thence he penetrated farther into 
Bavaria, and conquered the whole line ot 
territory as far as Munich. The Austrian 
general, Kray, having now proposed a sus- 
pension of arms, Moreau consented, and 
negotiations were commenced ; as, how- 
ever, Austria would not treat without the 
co-operation of England, and as France re- 
fused to receive the English envoys at the 
conference, hostilities were resumed on the 
1st of December. At the commencement 
the Austrians appeared to have the advan- 
tage, but on the 3d of December they met 
with a complete defeat at Hohenlinden. 
Moreau, after this great victory, advanced 
with hasty marches, and crossing the Inn 
to Salzburg, he proceeded by Linz and ar- 
rived to within twenty leagues of Vienna 
itself. Another proposal for a suspension 
of arms was agreed to, and the negotiations 
for peace were now resumed with greater 
determination at Luneville. This subse- 
quent treaty of peace concluded at Lune- 
ville, owed its origin entirely to the exploits 
of Moreau in this campaign ; for, in the 
short space of eight months, of which four 
had been devoted to a suspension of arms, 
he had crossed the Rhine, the Danube, the 
Lech, the Iller, the Inn, the Salza, and the 
Ens ; he had been conqueror in six grand 
battles, and had enriched the treasury of 
the republic with 40,000,000 francs. 

After the losses of the year 1800, Eng- 
land absolved the emperor of Germany 
from all his obligations previously entered 
into not to make a separate peace ; whence 
the negotiations between the Austrian en- 
voy, Count Cobenzl, and Joseph Bonaparte, 
the eldest brother of the first consul, were 



SACRIFICES OF GERMANY— FRENCH ARROGANCE. 



429 



carried on with such dispatch, that the 
treaty of peace was signed on the 9th of 
February, 1801 ; which treaty confirmed 
that of Campo-Formio in all its points, and 
Austria acknowledged therein the Bata- 
vian, Helvetic, Ligurian, and Cisalpine re- 
publics. A fresh condition which had not 
been included in the treaty of Campo-For- 
mio was now added, inasmuch as it was 
agreed that the duke of Parma, a near re- 
lation of the king of Spain, should be ele- 
vated to the rank of a king, with the title 
of king of Etruria, such being the name 
into which that of Tuscany had now be- 
come changed ; the grand-duke, on the 
other hand, in return for his duchy, re- 
ceived in Germany the archbishopric of 
Salzburg as a temporal principality, to- 
gether with other frontier territories, and 
the title of elector. The duke of Modena 
likewise received, as had been already 
agreed upon at Campo-Formio, the mar- 
graviate of Breisgau as an indemnity for 
the losses he had suffered in Italy. 

Besides these concessions made by Ger- 
many to the princes of Italy, who were 
thus transplanted among us, great changes 
were effected within the empire itself ; for 
Germany ceded to France the whole of 
the left bank of the Rhine, consisting of 
twelve hundred square miles of territory, 
and four millions of inhabitants ; while all 
those princes, who were losers on that side 
of the river, were to be indemnified with 
the ecclesiastical possessions and the impe- 
rial cities, situated on the right bank. A 
diet, appointed for the regulation and ad- 
justment of the rights of all interested, was 
assembled under the mediation of France 
and Russia. Its sittings were opened on 
the 24th of August, 1802, and terminated 
on the 10th of May, 1803. In these con- 
ferences, France dictated the law with even 
still greater authority and arrogant arbi- 
trariness than formerly at the peace of 
Westphalia. She granted or refused her 
favor according to her caprice, and thus 
established her influence over dependent 
Germany more firmly than ever. 

The peace of Luneville deprived the 
ecclesiastics of all their domains in Ger- 
many, even to the very last in the list ; of 
forty-eight imperial cities only six now 
remained : Liibeck, Hamburg, Bremen, 
Frankfort, Augsburg, and Nuremberg ; 
the counts and knights were made only 
mediately dependent on the empire, and of 



all the lay princes, four only received the 
electoral power, a power which, a few 
years later, lost all its ancient and vener- 
ating signification ; for these newly-created 
princes were not allowed even the time to 
exercise their noble privileges. This was 
regarded as the prognostication of the ap- 
proaching downfall of every thing ; for, 
comparatively speaking, the changes intro- 
duced in consequence of the Westphalian 
treaty, in the administrative forms of the 
empire, were nothing. What had then been 
cautiously brought into operation, merely 
for a trial, the peace of Luneville accom- 
plished at once, without any fear or dread 
of the ruinous results entailed upon institu- 
tions existing for more than a thousand 
years. Such acts of spoliation could not 
but fill the hearts of all patriots with pro- 
found grief ; for who could contemplate, 
without bitter feelings, the scattered heaps 
of ruins into which the raging storm had 
converted the once-beloved home ? But, 
although the columns of the ancient edifice 
were torn asunder, and razed to their very 
foundation, still, on the walls were to be 
traced the symbols of its ancient majestic 
grandeur, and the remains of a powerful 
and prosperous nation, such as are record- 
ed of few other nations. 

A short period of tranquillity now re- 
appeared once more on the continent, after 
the long war ; but. the maritime war still 
continued : for the great statesman who 
was at the helm of the British government, 
and who penetrated into the very depths oi 
Bonaparte's designs and motives, knew 
full well that peace could never exist be- 
tween the latter and England. The po- 
sition of France and England towards each 
other, at this period, has been compared to 
Rome and Carthage in ancient times : a 
comparison equally just and happy. For, 
between these two powers existed a mor- 
tal hatred, and thence Pitt was resolved, 
similar to Hannibal, to fight a war of life 
and death. At the same time, however, 
many voices in England were in favor of 
peace, inasmuch as commerce was in a 
very depressed state ; the embargo laid by 
France on the exportation of corn had pro- 
duced a considerable augmentation in its 
price in England; and, finally, the national 
debt had increased to the enormous amount 
of five hundred and fifty-eight millions 
sterling. Consequently, Pitt gave in his 
resignation, in order not to throw any ob- 



430 PEACE OF 



stacle in the way of the said peace, although 
he could not, conscientiously, sign the treaty 
himself. 

The peace of Amiens was concluded on 
the 27th of March, 1802, by the terms of 
which England restored all she had con- 
quered from France, Spain^ and Holland, 
except Trinidad and Ceylon, resigning even 
Malta, and her conquests in Egypt under 
General Abercromby ; the former being 
restored to the knights, and the latter to 
the Turks. Such a peace, however, the 
terms of which, after the great victories 
gained at sea, were held to be both unfavor- 
able and highly disadvantageous, could not 
last long, and in less than a year it termi- 
nated. England very soon perceived that 
Bonaparte's object, in desiring peace, had 
only been to increase his naval power, and, 
if possible, to raise it to a level with that 
of Great Britain, and make himself master 
of the Mediterranean. He formed alli- 
ances with the Porte, the bey of Egypt, 
and with the piratical states ; and, soon 
afterwards, he prohibited all introduction 
of English produce into France and Hol- 
land. Thus England found she had no 
less cause to dread a state of peace than 
she had that of war ; for, assuredly, she 
was as little inclined to submit to a rival on 
the seas, as France was to endure one on 
the continent. Other causes, however, 
soon operated to add to this discontent. It 
became more and more evident, that the 
new regulations and institutions, already 
brought to bear in Europe by Bonaparte, 
formed merely the introduction to those 
other grand plans of usurpation he had 
still in contemplation. The Cisalpine re- 
public was made to acknowledge the first 
consul of France as its president ; while 
Holland remained in the occupation of the 
French army, and was placed completely 
under the control of the French govern- 
ment. Switzerland, which could not be 
brought to agree unanimously to the new 
constitution forced upon her, was at once 
disarmed, and changed into a federative 
republic, it being declared, " that she was 
left to the free administration of her in- 
ternal affairs, but, in all external mat- 
ters, she was henceforth dependent upon 
France." 

England, after these events, preferring 
open war to an insecure peace, determined 
upon the course she should take, and de- 
manded from Bonaparte the evacuation of 



AMIENS. 



Holland and Switzerland, which being 
refused, she declared war against him, in 
May, 1803. Bonaparte had only waited 
for this opportunity, in order to take imme- 
diate possession of the territory belonging 
to the English crown on the continent, and 
already, in the following month of June, 
the French armies marched into Hanover, 
and made themselves masters of the entire 
country, wholly indifferent to the fact, and 
slighting, altogether, the consideration that 
it formed a portion of the Germanic em- 
pire, and, as such, could not be held or 
bound to take any share with England 
in the war. The moment was deemed 
too opportune not to be made available, 
and thus a new source was presented for 
visiting us with fresh exactions, for main- 
taining a strict watch over the maritime 
commerce of the neighboring cities, and 
restricting their trade with England. All 
the Hanoverian troops were disarmed ; but 
thousands of them successively passed over 
to the British shores, and, forming them- 
selves into a select battalion, fought, under 
the title of the " King's German Legion," 
against the enemy with the greatest cour- 
age, and sustained the ancient glory of 
the Hanoverian arms in many subsequent 
battles, sieges, and expeditions, in Portu- 
gal, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany 
itself; while at Salamanca, especially, the 
brilliant services of this corps obtained for 
the officers a permanent rank in the Eng- 
lish army, as was afterwards confirmed by 
act of parliament, in 1812. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Napoleon's Consulship— Gains the Nation's Confidence 
— Restores internal Tranquillity and improves the In- 
stitutions—Napoleon Emperor of the French, 1804— 
His Usurpations — Alliance of Austria, Russia, and 
England — War declared — Napoleon in Germany, 

1805— Defeats the Austrians — Ulm— General Mack — 
Battle of Austerlitz — The Allies defeated — Peace of 
Presburg — Dismemberment of the States of Germany 
— Naples — Joseph Bonaparte— Holland — Louis Bona- 
parte — Rhenish Confederation, or League of the Ger- 
man Princes — Their Degeneration — The Emperor of 
Austria lays down his title of Emperor of Germany, 

1806— Prussia— Declares War against France— The 
Prussian Army — Battle of Saalfeld— Death of Prince 
Lewis Ferdinand of Prussia— Battles of Jena and 
Auerstadt — Defeat of the Prussians— Napoleon enters 
Berlin — The Russian and Prussian Alliance — Battles 
of Eylau and Friedland— Defeat of the Allies— Peace 
of Tilsit between Russia and France, 1807— Prussia's 
Dismemberment— Westphalia — Hesse — Jerome Bo- 
n aparte — Prussia — Lieutenant Schill — Napoleon's 
Triumphant Return to Paris. 



NAPOLEON'S CONSULSHIP— NAPOLEON EMPEROR. 



431 



The first years of the consulship were 
for France a period of repose, and marked 
by order, industry, and prosperity through- 
out the country ; the most turbulent, as 
well as the most timid, were now tranquil- 
lized and breathed more freely, while the 
name of the first consul was repeated 
everywhere with praises and blessings. 
And even beyond France many looked 
towards him with sanguine hopes and ex- 
pectations, as the only one who, after the 
recent period of savage and inhuman crime, 
could re-establish order upon a solid basis : 
nor did he want the ability and energy ne- 
cessary to effect this desirable object. The 
power with which he made every thing 
yield to his will was truly astounding, 
whether we regard the promptitude dis- 
played in his measures of administration, 
or the indefatigable zeal with which he 
undertook to condense into a single code 
the results of multiplied experience in 
public life. All that was held most valu- 
able in the civil institutions of his period — 
the recognition of the rights of man in every 
thing ; equality of the citizen in the eye 
of the law ; abrogation of all feudal rights ; 
liberty of conscience in all invisible mat- 
ters ; and a government which, in an 
eminent degree, combined the force of 
union in the execution of laws, with the 
advantages of variety of counsel in their 
formation — all these, and many other in- 
stitutions, under the fostering care of that 
extraordinary man, were seen to grow, in 
the now genial soil of France, and to 
ripen into maturity, as a striking and 
praiseworthy example for other nations. 

What might not this man have been to 
Europe, how different his history in the 
annals of the world, had he made real and 
complete this beautiful and noble picture, 
of which his zeal, thus far pure, in the 
cause of truth and justice, already pre- 
sented, before the eyes of all, a glorious 
sketch ! How might he not have been 
enabled, for centuries to come, to have led 
on the way to enlightenment, and having 
carried all with him, have merited the 
blessings, instead of the curses of all man- 
kind ! 

Napoleon Bonaparte was now elected 
emperor of France, and thus, in the 11th 
year of the republic, his imperial throne 
was erected upon the ruins of the royal 
and legitimate dynasty ; nevertheless, his 
ambition was not yet satisfied. Immediately 



afterwards, he changed the Cisalpine re- 
public into a kingdom, and created himself 
king of Italy, together with all his descend- 
ants ; and as a proof of his moderation, as 
he said, he appointed his son-in-law, Eu- 
gene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy. 
Parma, Piacenza, and Guastella, were now 
altogether united with France, as also the 
Ligurian republic. All these changes 
were contrary to the treaty of peace con- 
cluded at Luneville, and gave great of- 
fence to Austria, who found sympathy in 
the emperor Alexander of Russia, now so 
much exasperated by the execution of the 
duke d'Enghien — shortly before effected 
by the cruelty of Bonaparte — and who al- 
ready felt himself called upon to aid in the 
protection of Europe. Accordingly these 
two powers now came forward and made 
known to William Pitt, the prime minister, 
their wish — by him long desired — to renew 
their alliance with England against France. 
A coalition was immediately formed be- 
tween these three governments, to which 
Sweden was added ; and, according to their 
plan of war, the French power was to be 
attacked at every point, in Italy, Switzer- 
land, Holland, and in France itself. Na- 
poleon, however, overthrew this design, in 
his usual way, and by the celerity of his 
movements he was enabled to anticipate 
the allies in all their operations, and was 
already in advance of them when and where 
least expected. Since 1803 he had station- 
ed nearly the whole of his army along the 
northern coasts of France, in order to ope- 
rate as a check upon England, and where, 
indeed, he contemplated making a landing ; 
now, however, the troops received march- 
ing orders, and suddenly abandoning their 
present quarters, they proceeded by hasty 
marches to the Rhine, which they speedily 
crossed, and forced the princes of South 
Germany to form an alliance with France ; 
while the Austrian army, now under the 
command of general Mack, remained com- 
pletely inactive in its quarters near Ulm. 

General Mack, otherwise an efficient 
leader, was on this occasion entirely desert- 
ed by his good fortune, and evinced a total 
want of resolution and judgment; for, ima- 
gining the enemy would advance upon him 
direct from the side of Swabia, he quietly 
awaited his coming. On his right flank he 
had at command the Franconian territories 
belonging to the king of Prussia, who took 
no share in the war, and he accordingly 



432 



ULM— BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ. 



considered himself completely covered in 
that quarter. But such a bulwark furnish- 
ed but a poor means of defence in front of 
an army led on by Napoleon. Bernadotte, 
Marmont, and the Bavarians, disregarding 
the neutrality of Prussia, very soon ad- 
vanced direct through Franconia towards 
the Danube, and attacking the Austrian 
general in the rear, cut him off from all 
communication with Austria. Surprised 
and stupified, he, after a sanguinary battle, 
threw himself into Ulm, where, instead of 
forcing for himself a passage with his 
sword through the very centre of his ene- 
mies, as any other brave and determined 
spirit would have done — and which indeed 
had been previously accomplished by Duke 
Ferdinand in Bohemia, at the head of only 
a few squadrons of cavalry — he surren- 
dered himself prisoner, together with the 
whole of his army, on the 17th of October, 
1805. Napoleon, after this first part of 
the campaign, during which he had almost 
annihilated 80,000 men, sent to the senate 
in Paris forty standards he had taken, say- 
ing, " They were a present from the chil- 
dren to their fathers." 

The French army marched on without 
any obstacle to the capital of Austria, and 
took possession of it on the 11th of Novem- 
ber, 1805. The Russians and Austrians 
had retreated to Moravia, and on the 2d 
of December the allied and French armies 
stood front to front near Austerlitz, re- 
solved to hazard a decisive engagement. 
The battle — called by Napoleon the three 
emperors' battle — commenced on a beauti- 
fully sunbright, frosty morning. The al- 
lies, however, were not well supplied with 
leaders, and their movements, therefore, 
were not made in the best order ; in addi- 
tion to which, they were unacquainted with 
the strength and position of the French 
army, whence the Russian line of battle 
was very soon broken through ; and, in 
spite of all their bravery, the troops were 
put to rout. The left wing sought to save 
themselves by crossing a frozen lake, but 
Napoleon ordered the artillery to play upon 
the ice, which speedily dissolved and im- 
mersed the whole of the fugitives within 
its deep waters, where they perished. Never- 
theless this victory was not so easily gain- 
ed, nor would its results have been so de- 
cisive, had not the emperor Francis, in 
his anxiety for his subjects, hastened to 
conclude a peace, and demanded, for this 



purpose, a rather premature conference 
with Napoleon in the mill of Saroschitz, 
for on the following day a body of 12,000 
Russians arrived to reinforce the army, 
which had now rallied. In addition to this, 
too, the Archduke Ferdinand had collected 
an army of 20,000 men in Bohemia, and 
completely routed the Bavarians, taking 
possession of the whole country ; Hungary 
was arming every where; Archduke Charles 
was now in full march from Italy with his 
victorious army to the aid of his country, 
and would arrive in a few days to deliver 
Vienna and harass the enemy's rear ; while 
the Russians and English had now landed 
at Naples, and the Russian, Swedish, and 
English troops had already entered Han- 
over ; finally, however, what was more 
important than all this, the Prussian troops 
were now assembling in order to revenge 
themselves for the violation of their terri- 
tory of Anspach. Nevertheless the em- 
peror of Austria, very anxious for peace, 
signed a treaty for a suspension of arms. 
The misfortunes of his country were a 
source of great pain to him, and he flat- 
tered himself with the hope that a peace, 
purchased as it must be from such an ene- 
my at such heavy sacrifices, might still be 
rendered permanent ; as if sacrifices, how- 
ever great, could ever satiate the latter's 
inordinate love of conquest ! 

The Prussian ambassador, Count von 
Haugwitz, who had been deputed by his 
government to prescribe either the terms of 
peace or to declare war, found himself 
placed in a very embarrassing position af- 
ter the resolution expressed by Austria, 
and, under the circumstances, he deemed 
it most prudent, instead of giving vent to 
the menaces as instructed by his sovereign, 
to adopt a more moderate and pacific style 
of language. The French, when they 
found this, expressed themselves thus : 
" That they could not but praise the wis- 
dom shown by the Prussian government, 
which had never possessed a more faithful 
and disinterested friend than France ; al- 
though, at the same time, the French na- 
tion was wholly independent of every 
other, and that 150,000 enemies more in 
the war would only have tended to prolong 
it a little longer." The Prussian ambas- 
sador ought to have given the right inter- 
pretation to this language, and feeling the 
dignity of his country wounded thereby, 
he was bound forthwith and on the spot to 



PEACE OF 



have made known the resolution he con- 
veyed from his government — especially as 
Austria had not yet signed the treaty — a 
resolution which, nevertheless, six months 
afterwards, his king was forced to carry 
into execution. And Austria, had she seen 
that Prussia was really in earnest, would, 
without doubt, have preferred even a con- 
tinuation of the war to a disgraceful peace. 
Instead of this, however, Haugwitz, with- 
out even possessing the necessary power, 
signed the treaty of Vienna, by which 
Prussia gave up the province of Anspach to 
Bavaria, Cleves and Neufchatel to France, 
receiving in exchange Hanover, to which 
England by no means renounced her claim. 
Thus Napoleon strewed the seeds of divi- 
sion between Prussia and England, well 
knowing that if united those two powers 
must be too formidable for him. 

Five days after, the treaty being drawn 
up, it was signed by Austria, at Presburg, 
on the 25th of December, 1805 ; and by 
this peace, the terms of which were more 
severe than any hitherto made, Austria 
lost one thousand square miles of territory, 
and three millions of subjects— constituting 
its most valuable possessions. The Tyrol 
— ever faithful, and which had shown its 
attachment to the house of Austria, more 
especially in the last war — Burgau, Eich- 
stiidt, a portion of Passau, Voralberg, to- 
gether with other lands in eastern Austria, 
were ceded to Bavaria ; what Austria pos- 
sessed in Swabia was given up to Wiirtem- 
berg and Baden, and the Venetian states 
were yielded to Italy. In compensation 
for all this Austria received but a trifling 
indemnification, viz., Salzburg ; the elec- 
toral prince of Salzburg being forced to 
leave that territory, which he had only re- 
cently received, and accept of Wurzburg, 
which Bavaria renounced. All these coun- 
tries with their inhabitants were treated 
like so much merchandise, passing from 
the hands of one into those of another, ac- 
cording to the state of the market. Such 
were the principles of the despotic con- 
queror, by which he sought to eradicate 
all love and attachment towards the ancient 
hereditary princes of the empire, and thus, 
by destroying all national patriotic feeling, 
his object was to reduce the subject to a 
complete state of submission, alive only to 
the mortifying conviction of the service he 
had to render to whatever master he was 
placed under — whether native or foreign, 
55 



PRESBURG. 433 



of to-day or yesterday — and whom he was 
born only to obey. 

In order to complete the ruin of the Ger- 
manic empire, the electors of Bavaria and 
Wurtemberg were created kings, and they, 
as well as the elector of Baden, were grant- 
ed the uncontrolled government, or rather 
— to use the more favorite expression of 
that period — the sovereignty of their lands. 
The emperor himself renounced all claim 
to the exercise of supreme power over their 
states, and thus the empire by this act 
paved the way for its eventual dissolution, 
and the storm gathered more and more 
fiercely, until it finally burst forth in all 
its fury, producing those sad effects which 
sealed the doom of our country. 

The first word pronounced by Bonaparte 
after the peace of Presburg, was, as usual 
with him, the sentence of confiscation. 
The king of Naples having received into 
his territories an allied body of English 
and Russian troops, the French emperor 
immediately ordered his brother Joseph 
and Massena, with 60,000 men, to march 
into and take possession of the whole of 
Italy ; adding, in the manifesto he sent 
with them, " That the Bourbon dynasty 
had ceased to reign in Naples." This 
dreadful word produced so much alarm in 
the royal family of that house, that the 
king abandoned his capital and fled to 
Sicily, while Napoleon declared his brother 
Joseph king of Naples. This new throne, 
nevertheless, was not gained without the 
sacrifice of much blood, for the inhabitants 
of Lower Italy rose up en masse against 
the invaders, and defended themselves with 
great courage ; but they were at length 
forced to submit to the French, who poured 
large bodies of troops into the country, and 
both Calabria and Abrazza were conquered 
and completely devastated. 

Holland was next on the list, being like- 
wise changed into a kingdom, and given to 
another brother, Louis Bonaparte, as his 
portion. That country, however, did not 
suffer by the change, as the new sovereign 
anxiously promoted its prosperity, feeling 
it his duty rather to reign for the good of 
his people than be controlled by the will of 
his brother. Immediately afterwards, the 
brother-in-law of the emperor, Joachim 
Murat, received the duchies of Cleves and 
Berg, on the Rhine, the former having 
been ceded by Prussia, and the latter by 
Bavaria for Anspach ; and, finally, to 



434 



THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION. 



Alexander Berthier, who was the emperor's 
confidential adviser, was allotted the prin- 
cipality of Westphalia. 

It was in the middle of this eventful year 
that the last blow was inflicted upon the 
constitution of the Germanic empire ; its dis- 
solution, which already existed in the act, 
was now clearly and definitively confirmed. 
On the 12th of July a Rhenish league was 
formed, by which the kings of Bavaria and 
Wiirtemberg, the electoral arch-chancel- 
lor, the elector of Baden, the landgrave of 
Hesse Darmstadt, and the duke of Berg, 
(the last four as grand-dukes,) together with 
the princes of Nassau and Hohenzollern, 
and other petty princes and nobles, separ- 
ated themselves from the imperial alliance, 
and acknowledged the emperor of France 
as the protector of their confederation. He 
commanded the right of naming the prince- 
primate of the league, who presided at the 
assembly ; of deciding upon the question of 
war and peace, and fixing the contingent 
to be furnished ; so that each war of France 
must become a war of the Rhenish confed- 
eration, and thus forcing its members to 
take up arms in her cause, even against 
their compatriots of Germany. By such 
sacrifices the princes obtained unlimited 
authority, without being dependent upon 
any tribunal to which their subjects in case 
of necessity might appeal, and without be- 
ing bound to adopt any ameliorated meas- 
ures of government. On all these points, 
the resolutions of the league were clear and 
precise ; but in all the rest, every thing 
was obscure and equivocal, in order that 
the protector's will might operate with all 
the effect of a law. It is unnecessary to 
pronounce an opinion upon this confedera- 
tion ; its fate was very soon decided, and pos- 
terity will no doubt seek to obliterate all 
traces of its existence from our history. 

The emperor of Germany, deposing the 
degraded crown of the ancient empire more 
than a thousand years after Charlemagne 
had placed it upon his own head, declared 
himself, on the 6th of August, 1806, hered- 
itary emperor of Austria. 

What protection, however, Germany had 
to expect from her new self-made guardian, 
when compared with that afforded her by 
the house of Austria, was immediately 
shown. For, at the very moment itself, 
when the French envoy, Bacher, renewed 
the assurance that France would never ex- 
tend her frontiers beyond the Rhine, the 



fortress of Wesel was arbitrarily taken 
possession of by the French, and chosen as 
the head-quarters of the seventy-fifth divi- 
sion of their army. 

The hostile designs contemplated by the 
formation of the Rhenish confederation were 
directed against Prussia as well as Austria ; 
for both powers beheld those who had remain- 
ed their natural allies during the existence 
of the imperial government, now changed 
into enemies, ready to declare their hostility 
towards them at the first outbreak with 
France. Napoleon had up to this moment 
tantalized the king of Prussia with the pros- 
pect of being able to form, under his protec- 
tion, an alliance in the north, embracing 
the whole of that portion of Germany, after 
the model of that of the Rhine ; now, how- 
ever, such alliance was completely repudi- 
ated, and even the restoration of Hanover 
to England was not withheld by France. 
Every thing, indeed, was done to mortify 
Prussia, and make it evident that the French 
emperor was resolved not to endure the ex- 
istence of any independent nation beside his 
own. At length the indignant king felt 
himself called upon to protect his country 
against farther insult and humiliation from 
the hands of the insolent invader, and in 
this determination he was supported by the 
voice of his army and the nation throughout. 
Accordingly he demanded that France 
should withdraw her troops from Germany, 
that she should no longer oppose the forma- 
tion of a northern alliance, and that Wesel 
should be at once evacuated by the French 
troops. Compliance with these demands 
having been refused, Prussia forthwith de- 
clared war. 

When he received this declaration Na- 
poleon said : " His heart grieved to see that 
the genius of evil swayed continually, and 
ever frustrated his plans for the promotion 
of the peace of Europe and the happiness 
of his contemporaries." He now assem- 
bled his armies, which were all ready for 
action, in France and Swabia, and he ad- 
vanced with rapid marches towards the 
Thuringian forest. On the north side of 
this forest was posted the grand Prussian 
army under the orders of the duke of Bruns- 
wick, an intrepid but old soldier of seventy- 
two years of age, and whose principal offi- 
cers were in a state of disunion. Only a 
very small portion of the Prussian army 
had taken any share in the war of the Revo- 
lution, and thus been enabled to make 



BATTLES OF JENA 



AND AUERSTADT. 



435 



themselves acquainted with the lightning- 
like celerity of movement now practised by 
the French armies in all their operations ; 
the majority had abandoned themselves to 
ease and indifference during the long peace 
of three-and-forty years, and it was because 
the outward form of the institutions of Fred- 
erick the Great still existed, that their con- 
tinued reliance upon themselves became the 
more dangerous. Not that either courage 
or capacity was wanting in many individu- 
als, but they were altogether without that 
energetic genius so necessary to unite the 
whole. Thence they were forced to expe- 
rience — what indeed the most pusillanimous 
among them could never have thought pos- 
sible — that, as in the wars of the ancient 
world, one unlucky day decided the fate of 
an entire kingdom. 

On the 10th of October, Prince Lewis of 
Prussia, the king's cousin, in his impetuous 
warlike ardor, imprudently engaged the 
enemy in an equal contest near Saalfeld, 
and was mortally wounded on the spot. 
This unfortunate affair laid open for the 
French the entire route of the Saale, and 
advancing now with a superior force, they 
surrounded the left flank of the Prussian 
army, and cut off all communication with 
Saxony ; hence, on the 13th of October, 
Davoust was already in possession of Naum- 
burg. The supplies of the Prussians were 
lost, which reduced the whole army to a 
state of the greatest want, unavoidably pro- 
ducing depression and disorganization, and 
in this condition the troops were called upon 
to fight, having the Saale and the Elbe in 
front of them instead of in their rear : thus 
the army was vanquished already before 
the battle. 

A portion of the Prussian army was at 
Auerstadt, under the command of the duke 
of Brunswick ; and the other, under the 
orders of the prince of Hohenlohe, was 
stationed at Jena and Vierzehnheiligen, 
but both without at all acting in combina- 
tion with each other ; and they were ac- 
cordingly attacked and defeated on the 
same day. Marshal Davoust fought at 
Auerstadt, and Napoleon at Jena. The 
duke of Brunswick at the very commence- 
ment of the battle was killed by a cannon- 
ball ; his death disarranged the plan of 
the battle and threw the army into confu- 
sion. The desperate courage of a few 
scattered regiments could neither compen- 
sate for the want of the co-operation of the 



whole army, nor effect a general restora- 
tion of confidence. Surrounded on every 
side, the Prussians retreated in the direc- 
tion of Weimar, where they hoped to find 
themselves reinforced by the corps under 
the command of the prince of Hohenlohe, 
not being aware that his army had experi- 
enced a similar fate at the same moment. 
They were, however, very soon unde- 
ceived ; for the disorder was so general in 
both armies, that in the course of the night, 
w T hile the one army was retreating in all 
haste from Auerstadt to Weimar, it met a 
portion of the other which was in full 
flight from Weimar to Auerstadt. 

Ten days after the battle of Jena, Na- 
poleon marched into Berlin itself ; and in 
less than six weeks from the commence- 
ment of the war, he had already advanced 
as far as the Vistula and made himself 
master of nearly the entire kingdom, con- 
taining nearly nine millions of inhabitants 
and numerous fortified towns — the fruits 
of a single battle, in which an army, which 
had hitherto maintained its character as 
the most distinguished body of troops in 
Europe, was completely annihilated. 

This speedy conquest of the Prussian 
states — a conquest far beyond the expecta- 
tions even of the emperor himself — had 
completely banished from the heart of the 
conqueror every feeling of moderation, 
and only served to excite within his ambi- 
tious soul a greater desire for unlimited 
dominion. Encouraged by his success, he 
declared in Berlin, that he would never 
give up that city until he had conquered a 
general peace ; and it was from the same 
city that he issued the decree of the 21st 
of November, 1806, against the English, 
by which the British islands were declared 
in a state of blockade, British manufac- 
tures excluded from all the continental 
ports, all British property on the continent, 
and vessels that had only even touched on 
the shores of Albion, were to be seized. 
This unheard-of system might have crush- 
ed the commercial prosperity of England ; 
but the results, as it turned out, were more 
injurious to the continent. For England, 
now taking possession of all the colonies 
of Europe, cultivated their soil with great 
care and industry, and instead of import- 
ing the timber for the construction of her 
ships from the north of Europe, supplied 
herself therewith from Canada and Ire- 
land ; while Europe itself found its com- 



436 



BATTLES OF EYLAU AND FRIEDLAND. 



merce languish and sink, and although its 
industry furnished many articles which it 
would otherwise have imported from Eng- 
land, it could not compensate for the loss 
of its commerce on the seas. 

The remains of the Prussian army under 
Kalkreuth and Lestocq, now made more 
wise by the bitter experience of the few 
last months, and rendered a more select 
and organized body of troops, formed a 
junction with the Russians, who now en- 
tered once more the field of battle. After 
several skirmishes in Poland, all without 
any important results, the two armies, 
amounting to nearly 200,000 men, again 
met in Prussia, and on the 7th and 8th of 
February, 1807, during the most severe 
frost and amidst a continuous fall of snow, 
they fought another sanguinary battle at 
Eylau, near Konigsberg. The ilite of the 
French guard were here completely anni- 
hilated, and the battle still remained unde- 
cided. The Russians fought with the most 
determined and unshaken courage, and the 
Prussians under the orders of Lestocq, ar- 
riving just in time to the aid of the right 
wing, which was hard pressed, bravely 
repulsed the final attack of the French 
with complete success. Both armies main- 
tained the field, each claiming the victory ; 
the advantage, however, was on the side 
of the allies, and it was generally believed 
that a fresh attack on the third day must 
force the French to make a retreat. But 
Beningsen, the Russian general, did not 
hold himself bound to exact from his army, 
already so much fatigued, such superhu- 
man efforts, and he therefore retired to 
Konigsberg. The French likewise with- 
drew to their old position on the Passarge, 
and an uninterrupted cessation of hostili- 
ties was preserved for the space of four 
months, during which the two armies 
strengthened their forces as much as pos- 
sible ; while, meantime, this overwhelming 
burden of several hundred thousand for- 
eign troops dispersed all over her kingdom, 
inflicted upon ill-fated Prussia incalculable 
suffering and distress. 

Napoleon, during this interval, hastened, 
with all possible activity, to lay siege to 
Dantzic ; this strong fortification was com- 
manded by General Kalkreuth, and was 
bravely defended by him, until, finding all 
communication with the sea cut off, by 
which he was deprived of all hopes of re- 
lief, he was forced to a surrender on the 



24th of May, although upon honorable 
terms of capitulation. The Russians and 
Prussians, after having neglected to avail 
themselves of the former favorable and 
decisive moment, now advanced and at- 
tacked the French intrenchments on the 
Passarge. They fought with the greatest 
bravery, but the enemy having been rein- 
forced by the 30,000 men who had just 
returned from the siege of Dantzic, and 
being likewise well protected by their 
strong intrenchments, they repulsed the 
allies, and were now, in their turn, ena- 
bled to act upon the offensive. A succes- 
sion of severe and obstinate fighting took 
place from the 5th to the 12th of June, on 
which day the decisive battle of Friedland 
was fought. This hard-contested action 
lasted from the dawn of day to the middle 
of night. The Russians fought with great 
bravery, and the victory was decidedly on 
their side ; but in their elated feelings, 
they neglected to exercise that caution 
which should always be observed, even by 
a conqueror. Thus, towards the after- 
noon, the divisions under Ney and Victor, 
together with Bonaparte's guard, marched 
into the field, and the fate of this sangui- 
nary day was at once decided ; the Rus- 
sians were overthrown on all sides, and 
retreating across the river Alle, they fell 
back upon their own frontiers, and gained 
the river Niemen. On the 19th of June, 
Napoleon took and entered Tilsit, the last 
of the Prussian towns, and on the 16th of 
the same month, his army took possession 
of Konigsberg. 

A conference now took place between 
the emperors of France and Russia, on a 
raft erected on the river Niemen, at which 
a peace was speedily agreed upon, the dis- 
memberment of Prussia was decided, and 
a compact for mutual support in the rela- 
tions of Europe concluded for a fixed pe- 
riod. Napoleon, always so happy in the 
employment of cunning and specious lan- 
guage, of which he was a perfect master, 
succeeded this time, likewise, in persuading 
the emperor Alexander, that his sole ob- 
ject was the pacification of the continent ; 
while all his plans were uniquely direct- 
ed towards protecting the coasts against 
the insolent arrogance of the English na- 
tion, and to secure eventually the free do- 
minion of the seas. He then pretended 
that his chief desire was to form a bond of 
lasting friendship with Russia, in order 



JEROME BONAPARTE— LIEUTENANT SCHILL. 



437 



that, both united, they might be enabled to 
establish the prosperity and happiness of 
Europe, inasmuch as then, without their 
concurrence, no war could arise to inter- 
rupt the union of nations. 

Accordingly, in this peace, Cattaro, Ra- 
gusa, and the seven isles (of the Ionian 
seas) were given up to France by Russia, 
who received in return, as compensation, 
large tracts of land, together with 400,000 
subjects belonging to Prussian Poland ; 
while Frederick William, who was scarce- 
ly able to call any part of his kingdom his 
own, was forced to submit to the most de- 
grading and painful sacrifices, and ceded 
eventually the moiety of his possessions 
with 5.000,000 of subjects, including, among 
the rest, the city of Dantzic, which was 
now declared a free city, and the Polish 
territory, which was changed into a grand- 
duchy of Warsaw, of which the king of 
Saxony was chosen grand-duke. Thus, 
Frederick Augustus, who had declared 
himself a neutral power three days after 
the battle of Jena, and soon afterwards 
joined in alliance with France, was now 
king of Saxony and a member of the Rhe- 
nish Confederation. 

In addition to all this, Prussia lost the 
whole of her territories between the Elbe 
and the Rhine, the greater part of which 
Bonaparte converted into a new kingdom — 
Westphalia — which he gave to his youngest 
brother, Jerome ; to which he added a por- 
tion of Hanover, the duchy of Brunswick — 
because its duke had been leader of the 
Prussian army — and the principality of 
Hesse-Cassel. Thus the terrible ban was 
now at once pronounced and executed 
against the house of Hesse, viz. : " That it 
should cease to reign, for having," as he 
said, '•' always shown itself inimical to 
France, and for having farther, in this war 
with Prussia, maintained so equivocal a 
position."' Such was termed the neutrality 
which Hesse had so strictly observed of 
her own accord throughout the war. The 
entire country was forthwith invaded and 
conquered, and the elector driven from his 
capital and made a fugitive ; while the 
new king, a complete stranger, entered its 
gates in triumph, followed by a train of 
French officials, and, to the shame of Ger- 
many, mounted the throne of this ancient 
princely family, the descendants of the 
Saxons and Chatti. 



| King Frederick William was now left 
| with only a small portion of his states and 
! subjects, yet in the latter he found himself 
surrounded by a firm and devoted body of 
; men ; while he had the additional gratifi- 
1 cation of knowing that at least three of his 
fortified cities in Prussia — Colberg, Grau- 
denz, and Pillau, bravely refused to accept 
terms of surrender from the enemy, and 
that two others in Silesia — Kosel and Glatz 
— likewise maintained a successful de- 
fence. Graudenz was commanded by a 
veteran, General Courbiere, who, when 
summoned by the French to surrender, 
and who represented to him that the king 
| had now lost his kingdom and had crossed 
the Niemen, replied : " Well then, I will 
I be king in Graudenz." 

The king had placed Colberg under the 
command of Colonel Gneisenau, well as- 
sured beforehand that in him he sent a pil- 
lar of strength to that city, and one who 
! would never yield. In addition to this, a 
free corps of light hussars had been formed 
in the neighborhood, under the sanction of 
! the king, by a young heroic officer, Lieu- 
I tenant Schill, assisted by others of equally 
daring character, which continually har- 
j assed and fell upon the enemy's troops 
everywhere around. 

Meantime Napoleon returned to Paris, 
and brought with him, as tokens of triumph, 
the car of victory which he had removed 
from one of the gates of Berlin, together 
with the sword of Frederick the Great ; 
while he caused two bridges to be erected 
in the capital, bearing the names of the 
two great battles of Jena and Austerlitz. 
His domination, indeed, was by this new 
peace raised to such a pinnacle of glory, 
and appeared in the eyes of all men to be 
so firmly established, that whoever would 
have predicted that ere the elapse of a few 
more years those very Prussians, then trod- 
den under foot, would march into Paris it- 
self, and, arms in hand, retake possession 
of their car of victory, would only have 
been laughed at and treated as a maniac. 
But those who could penetrate into Napo- 
leon's character, might have easily fore- 
seen that his restless ambition must soon 
hurry him on to contend for fresh con- 
quests ; but which, although acquired, only 
produced his eventual overthrow. 



438 



AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Austria declares War against France, 1809— Battles of 
Gross-Aspern and Esslingen — Archduke Charles — 
The Austrians Victorious — Lieutenant Schill killed — 
Execution of Palm, the Bookseller— The Tyrolese— 
Battle of Wagram — Defeat of the Austrians — Peace , , 
of Vienna— The French in the Tyrol— The Mounfl 
taineers overpowered — Execution of Hofer, the Ty- 
rolese Patriot — The Duke of Brunswick — His territory 
seized— His bold March— Embarks for England— His 
Heroic Death — Napoleon at the Height of his Power 
— Marriage with t he Archduchess Maria Louisa of 
Austria, 1810— His continued Usurpations in Ger- 
many — His Campaign in Russia in 1812 — Conflagra- 
tion of Moscow — The French Army destroyed — Na- 

¥oleon's Flight and Return to Paris— The King of 
'russia's Declaration and General Arming of his 
Nation against the Invaders, 1813 — Napoleon's Prepa- 
rations—The French in Germany. 

Austria was once more roused, and 
actuated by the same motives of honor as 
influenced Prussia in the year 1806, she 
determined at any sacrifice to revenge her- 
self for the insolent arrogance and menaces 
of her detested enemy ; accordingly she 
took up arms again, and recommenced war 
in 1809. Her own immediate territory, it 
is true, had not undergone the same treat- 
ment as that of her neighbor, but it was 
this very state of suffering and degradation 
in which she beheld those around her, that 
induced her to take this step. In addition 
to this, Napoleon had in the preceding 
summer held a meeting with the emperor 
Alexander at Erfurt, and there had renew- 
ed more firmly his alliance with that mon- 
arch, by which it appeared as if Russia 
and France had resolved to arrogate to 
themselves the right of assuming the cha- 
racter of arbitrators of Europe, and thus 
treat Austria, which for so many centuries 
had been the central point of the European 
powers, as no longer worthy of considera- 
tion. This conduct could no longer be 
tolerated with patience, for beyond a cer- 
tain degree, patience itself degenerates 
into pusillanimity. Thence Austria's de- 
claration of war was in all respects honor- 
able, noble, and generous, for she came 
forth and entered the field of battle unsup- 
ported by any other power, trusting alone 
to her own resources. 

At the same time, however, Austria, 
well knowing that on the present occasion 
she must not depend upon her regular ar- 
my alone for her safety, resolved upon 
carrying on the war in all its extent and 
making it national. She issued proclama- 
tions for a general rising of the people to 
rally under her banners as volunteers ; 
formed numerous bodies of them into regu- 



lar regiments of Landwehr or patriotic 
defenders, appealed to the nation in the 
most eloquent and heart-stirring language, 
placed the princes of her own royal house 
at the head of the troops, and finally avail- 
ed herself of, and brought at once into 
operation, all the powers and resources of 
her rich and beautiful possessions, to an 
extent never before effected : productive 
altogether of such determined co-operation 
throughout the entire nation, that if ever 
its immediate deliverance and permanent 
liberty might be looked upon as secured 
through its own united strength, such glo. 
rious results might be justly anticipated on 
the present occasion. 

But now in 1809, as previously in 1806, 
Europe was not yet ripe for her deliver- 
ance ; it was still necessary that the fire 
of purification should penetrate in all parts, 
and that the misery, already so general, 
should be rendered infinitely greater, in 
order that every feeling of egotism should 
be renounced, and the history of the entire 
world present the grand and unusual spec- 
tacle of a holy war, in which all nations of 
the east and west, north and south, should 
rise up as one single individual, animated 
by one spirit only, and, united by one com- 
mon bond, fight for liberty, honor, and 
virtue. 

What German patriot, to whom his na- 
tive country is more dear and precious 
than all other possessions, can ever forget 
the fluctuating feelings of hope and fear 
by which he was agitated during this war 
of 1809, or the indignation aroused within 
him when he beheld the enemy he so hated 
and loathed advancing M 7 ith his army, the 
flower of which was composed of his fel- 
low-countrymen, the federalists of the 
Rhine ? Who can ever forget how with 
this brave body of Germans he forced the 
Austrians by furious and incessant attacks 
to retreat from Bavaria, into which terri- 
tory they had only just penetrated, and 
how in his arrogance he declared, that ere 
the lapse of another month he would march 
into Vienna itself? Truly, this was a dis- 
astrous period for Austria, and the actions 
fought at Pfaffenhofen, Tann, Abensberg, 
Landshut, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbon, from 
the 19th to the 23d of April, although 
maintained with the greatest bravery and 
determination, ended in the complete dis- 
comfiture of the Austrian army ; these sad 
results, however, were more especially 



BATTLES OF ASPERN AND ESSLINGEN. 



439 



produced through the fault committed by 
the Austrians in extending their line of 
forces to too great a length, and thus Na- 
poleon, with his usual celerity of move- 
ment, brought his entire force against one 
single point. He was then enabled to ad- 
vance with the €lite of his army, and espe- 
cially his cavalry, and by throwing him- 
self now against one division, then against 
another, he succeeded by these overwhelm- 
ing attacks in throwing the Austrian line 
into complete disorder. And it must cer- 
tainly be admitted that on this occasion 
especially, he gave remarkable proofs of 
his military genius and talents. He ap- 
peared everywhere, and in the thickest of 
every danger at the moment he was re- 
quired, his presence and example inspiring 
his soldiers with the greatest enthusiasm. 
Indeed, it appeared as if he had determined 
to devote ail his strength and power this 
time towards the total annihilation of the 
Austrian army, for he followed up his vic- 
tory without a moment's loss of time, rest- 
ing neither night nor day. 

The Archduke Charles retreated with 
his troops, which, in spite of the sanguinary 
days of April, still formed a powerful ar- 
my, to the left bank of the Danube, to- 
wards Bohemia ; while Napoleon advanced 
along the right bank to Vienna. The 
Archduke Maximilian defended this city for 
a few days successfully ; but owing to its 
great extent, and the want of necessary 
means of defence, it was impossible to hold 
out a siege, and the place according^ sur- 
rendered to Bonaparte, who entered it on 
the 12th of May ; immediately after which 
conquest the French army resumed its 
march, and crossing the Danube, pursued 
the Archduke Charles, in order to inflict 
the last annihilating blow upon Austria. 
On the 21st and 22d of May, a severe bat- 
tle was fought on the immense plains of 
Aspern and Esslingen, close to the spot 
where in former times Rudolphus of Haps- 
burg overthrew Ottacar, king of Bohemia. 
Napoleon, however, found that the Aus- 
trian army was more difficult to contend 
with now than previously, and he found it 
animated with a far more active and ener- 
getic spirit than when last he met it at 
Ratisbon. The heroic Charles, during 
the short interval that had elapsed since 
the reverses of April, had applied him- 
self more especially to perfect his in- 
fantry in the improved system of forming j 



themselves into squares, and thus present 
an invulnerable wall against all attacks 
from the enemy's cavalry ; and in this ob- 
ject he succeeded completely, as was 
evinced on the present occasion- Every 
attempt made by the French cuirassiers to 
penetrate these masses was in vain ; firm 
as rocks, they maintained their ground in 
the most cool and undaunted manner, and 
the furious horsemen were repulsed at 
each renewed attack, until at length, re- 
ceiving the reserved fire of the Austrians, 
they were completely overthrown, and tak- 
ing to flight, were pursued in all directions 
by the Austrian cavalry. 

This firm and unshaken courage dis- 
played by the Austrian infantry, the per- 
sonal bravery for which the Lichtenstein 
cavalry were so much distinguished, to- 
gether with the excellent generalship and 
heroism shown by Prince Charles himself, 
who was in every part where danger 
threatened, most combined on this great 
day, the 21st day of May, to paralyze all 
efforts made by the French, who were 
fairly beaten. The village of Aspern, of 
which the enemy had taken possession as 
the central point of operations, was now 
retaken by the Austrians. And now the 
archduke, availing himself of every re- 
source, brought to his aid another powerful 
ally, by which still more to incapacitate 
the enemy. Thus turning to advantage 
the present swollen state of the waters of 
the mighty Danube, he caused heavy 
barges and other loaded craft to be launch- 
ed down its course against the bridge of 
boats, recently constructed by Bonaparte. 
And in this he likewise completely suc- 
ceeded. The bridge was torn asunder, 
and thus the French leader found himself 
on the left bank of the river, cut off from 
Vienna and the rest of his army ; being 
now forced in that position to renew the 
battle on the following day, the 22d. All 
his efforts and tactics were, however, on 
this occasion futile ; neither his cavalry, 
infantry, nor artillery could hold out against 
the Austrian forces. The battle was lost, 
and if Massena had not succeeded in cap- 
turing the small town of Esslingen, the 
walls of which served as a rampart to 
cover and secure their retreat, the entire 
French army would have been annihilated. 
Nay — as it has subsequently been asserted 
— independently of this, it must have still 
been destroyed had the archduke followed 



440 



DEATH OF LIEUTENANT SCHILL— EXECUTION OF PALM. 



up his victory, and immediately attacked 
the island of Lobau, where Napoleon had 
taken refuge, and awaited in the greatest 
anxiety, until the bridge was repaired on 
the other arm of the Danube ; but being 
left unmolested, he recrossed the river, by 
which means he was enabled to return to 
Vienna. The field of battle, however, 
was covered with his slaughtered troops, 
of which the Austrians counted three thou- 
sand cuirassiers alone. 

This decisive battle excited fresh hope 
in all hearts. Already, in various dis- 
tricts throughout the land, the people now 
emulated each other in evincing their 
hatred and fury towards the invaders, and 
shaking off their yoke. In the north, the 
bold patriot Schill again came forth at 
the head of his hussars and a numerous 
body of brave volunteers, and directed all 
his energies against the common enemy ; 
while in Hesse another daring leader, 
Dornberg, united with several others for 
the purpose of driving from the throne of 
their legitimate prince, the foreign usurper 
who had fixed his seat of government in 
Cassel, and thus the work of deliverance 
commenced in that quarter. Nevertheless, 
owing to the universal respect in which 
the law and spirit of public order were 
held by the people, there was a want of 
that co-operation so necessary, and the at- 
tempts thus made turned out unsuccessful. 
Schill, who had unfortunately found him- 
self less supported than the cause he fought 
for merited, was forced eventually to throw 
himself into Stralsund. Thence he hoped 
to be enabled to set sail for England, in 
order subsequently to return at a more 
favorable moment to Germany, and re- 
commence operations upon a more effective 
plan. Stralsund, however, was besieged 
and taken by the united forces of France, 
Holland, and Denmark, and Schill, with 
his little band of heroes, was unhappily 
cut to pieces. From this moment, terror 
and dismay produced their disheartening 
effects in every part of Germany, and de- 
terred all from attempting to free them- 
selves from the despotic sway of the ruling 
powers. They were, indeed, not only 
fettered in their liberty of action, but also 
in that of speech, inasmuch as Napoleon 
condemned an innocent bookseller — Palm 
of Erlangen — to be shot for having pub- 
lished a pamphlet containing remarks upon 
the humiliating state of German v, and re- 



fusing to give up the name of its author. 
This tyrannical act produced such revolt- 
ing effects upon the minds of all through- 
out Germany, that the feeling of bitter 
hatred, already excited so universally 
against him, became more and more con- 
firmed and deep-rooted, and the cry of 
vengeance for the innocent blood thus 
shed did not long remain unsatisfied. 

An event of a more serious character 
than those alluded to in the north of Ger. 
many, was the revolt of the faithful Tyro- 
lese under Hofer, Straub, and Speck- 
bacher. These bold and hardy men of 
the mountain had already driven away the 

I French invaders twice from their land, 
adopting the same system of warfare for- 
merly pursued with such overwhelming 

I effect by the Swiss, and by which the 
latter so completely succeeded in humbling 
the pride of their Austrian rulers, and the 
flower of their nobility and cavaliers. All 
Germany rejoiced when it beheld on the 
summit of these majestic mountains that 
liberty still maintained her sway in the 
bosom of that home where all spoke the 
national tongue, and fervent was the hope 
that victory would crown those efforts de- 
voted to so noble and sacred a cause. 
Other hopes were now likewise excited, 
by encouraging events in another quarter, 
inasmuch as the English had, at this time, 
sent a numerous fleet to the island of 
Walcheren, on the coast of Holland, and 
thence it was expected a grand blow 
would be inflicted upon the power of 
France — all these hopes and anticipations, 
however, only proved once more illusive. 

Bonaparte, after the battle of Aspern, 
collected reinforcements from Bavaria, 
Wtirtemberg, Saxony, Italy, and Illyria, 
so that he was now enabled to recross the 
Danube, and advance against the Arch- 
duke Charles with a very superior force. 
The passage across the river was effected 
during a most tempestuous night, and 
amidst the continual roaring of cannon ; 
and on the 5th and 6th of July, was fought 
the grand and decisive battle of Wagram. 
From the towers of Vienna the inhabitants 
beheld the two armies drawn up in battle, 
and w T ere enabled to observe clearly the 
movements of the right wing of the Aus- 
trians ; when they saw these troops gain- 
ing upon the enemy and in full pursuit, 
one universal shout of joy was echoed 
forth from every quarter. But this wel- 



THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK— NAPOLEON'S POWER. 



441 



come, grateful feeling of elation had but 
a brief existence ; for, in the mean time, 
the left wing of the Austrian army had 
been completely surrounded — the auxiliary 
troops from Hungary not having marched 
up in time — and the Archduke Charles 
was forced to retreat. Thence, only six 
days after the battle, an armistice was 
concluded, and negotiations for peace were 
commenced. 

The news of this unexpected reverse 
was very disheartening to the Tyrolese. 
Nevertheless, they once more united all 
their efforts, and expelled the French 
under Marshal Lefevre from their country, 
in the hope that, stimulated by such pa- 
triotic devotion, the Austrians would re- 
commence war. But the misfortunes and 
deprivations endured by his subjects ope- 
rated too strongly upon the feelings of the 
emperor Francis ; while, in addition to 
his own depressed condition, the news 
arrived of the disastrous results of the 
English expedition to Holland. Accord- 
ingly, the negotiations were continued, 
and a peace was finally concluded. Mean- 
time, the Tyrolese were again assailed by 
the French, now united with the Bava- 
rians, and this time the invaders were 
triumphant. The entire country was sur- 
rounded on every side, and, in spite of the 
desperate resistance made by the brave 
mountaineers, and the consequent losses 
sustained by their foes, pass after pass, 
mountain after mountain, were conquered, 
and the whole land devastated with fire 
and sword — the brave defenders being 
either killed or made prisoners. Their 
heroic and devoted chief, Hofer, was seized, 
and dragged to the other side of the Alps, 
in Italy, and cruelly shot, as a traitor, in 
the citadel of Mantua. 

Another hero, the duke of Brunswick, 
likewise made a brave attempt to recon- 
quer his own possessions : but his efforts 
were in vain. However, by a bold and 
successful march he made with his devo- 
ted corps of twelve hundred men — the 
black hussars — commencing at the fron- 
tiers of Bohemia, and continuing his 
course over a space of nearly four hun- 
dred miles, and in the midst of the enemy's 
troops — he crossed the territories of Leip- 
sie, Halle. Halberstadt. his own hereditary 
duchy — whence the usurpers had driven 
him— and Hanover, and paved his way to 
the mouth of the Weser at Elsfleth ; 
56 



there, with his brave legion, he embarked 
and set sail for England, where he safely 
landed, and was received with that hospi- 
tality and admiration due to him as an 
exile and a hero.* 

Austria, by the peace of Vienna, was 
forced to yield Salzburg and several other 
territories to Bavaria ; the major part of 
her possessions in Poland she gave up to 
the grand-duke of Warsaw and to Russia ; 
and she was likewise deprived of her re- 
maining provinces in Italy, together with 
the whole of Illyria ; and thus she was 
forced to sacrifice, on the one side, all her 
possessions annexed to the sea ; and, on 
the other, all her frontier line of fortified 
places, together with the mighty bulwarks 
of her mountains. These latter sacrifices 
were even more severely felt than the loss 
she now again sustained of two thousand 
square miles of territory, and more than 
three millions of her subjects. 

The emperor Napoleon, by the peace of 
Vienna, had now raised himself to such 
an eminence, that all hope of reducing his 
power was nearly extinguished. In order 
to fix himself more securely in the posi- 
tion he commanded, and to exalt himself 
in the eyes of the world by an alliance 
with the most ancient of all the princely 
houses of Europe, he compelled his wife, 
the empress Josephine, to sign a divorce, 
and offered his hand to the Archduchess 
Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor 
Francis. The latter consented to make 
this great sacrifice : " It was in order 
to promote," as was stated in a subse- 
quent declaration of Austria, "the most 
sacred interests of the monarchy and of 
humanity itself, and as a bulwark against 
evils the extent of which could not be seen, 
and as a pledge for the maintenance of 
order, that his majesty resigned one of the 
most precious objects of his affections : 
and thus he formed an alliance, the object 
of which was to console and relieve his 
oppressed and unhappy subjects ; to re- 
store and make permanent the long-desired 
feelino; of securitv after the sufferings and 
calamities produced in a struggle so une- 
qual ; to incline the powerful and over- 
bearing to act with moderation and justice, 



* The subsequent history of this heroic man may be 
summed up in a few words. He died as lie had lived, 
the bravest of the brave, in the desperate action of 
Quatre Bras, on the evening before the never-to-be- 
forgotten day of Waterloo, at the head of his Black 
Hussars. 



442 



MARRIAGE WITH MARIA LOUISA OF AUSTRIA. 



and thus establish an equilibrium, without, 
which the community of states could only 
form a community of misery." The em- 
peror Napoleon had now attained that point 
in his career, when the object of his desire 
should be rather to confirm, than with in- 
satiable ambition to extend the conquests 
already obtained. By his alliance with 
this, the most ancient imperial house in 
Christendom, the edifice of his grandeur 
would acquire in the eyes of the French 
nation and the whole world such solidity, 
that farther attempts to augment it, espe- 
cially by wars, would only have the effect 
of impairing it, and ultimately, perhaps, 
bringing about its total destruction. After 
so many years of futile efforts and incal- 
culable sacrifices made by Germany for 
the establishment of peace, it was hoped 
that now the confidence and good faith 
thus shown and proved on the part of Aus- 
tria towards France, must produce prosper- 
ous and happy results. 

But how much was the noble-minded 
Francis deceived in the confidence he thus 
so generously and naturally expressed ! 
In the same year that the new alliance 
was formed — the marriage having taken 
place on the 2d of April, 1810 — the vice- 
roy of Italy was elected successor to the 
prince-primate, now grand-duke of Frank- 
fort ; Holland, after Lewis had resigned 
the crown because he would not allow his 
brother to make him his agent in the de- 
struction of the people, was now annexed 
as a province to the kingdom of France, 
" that country being," as was pretended, 
c< nothing else but an alluvion of the Rhine, 
the Meuse, and the Scheldt, the principal 
arteries of France." And, finally, in 
order to show the power he possessed of 
doing as he pleased, and that no considera- 
tion should operate as a check upon his 
designs, Napoleon suddenly determined to 
unite with France the whole of the north- 
west of Germany, situated at the mouth of 
the Weser, the Ems, and the Elbe, together 
with the ancient free cities of Hamburg, 
Bremen, and Liibeck. His pretext for this 
was, "that a system of contraband trading 
with England was pursued along these 
coasts, and by those cities." Thus Ger- 
many found herself wholly deprived of her 
coasts and maritime commerce ; the great 
river which had hitherto formed the natu- 
ral division of territory between France 
and Germany, was now wholly under 



French dominion. In fact, an arbitrary 
line of demarcation was marked out across 
countries and rivers, as it suited the con- 
queror's caprice, so that it was easy to 
perceive that this was only the intro- 
duction to that which was to follow 
upon a much more extensive scale, and 
that the whole of Germany must grad- 
ually, and part by part, be drawn into 
and ingulfed in the one universal, final 
abyss. 

Meantime, Napoleon was far from com- 
prehending the legitimate means by which 
he w T ould have been enabled to secure 
to his power, so newly established, and 
originally produced by the violation of 
all sacred and human rights, that fixed 
duration extending beyond the existence 
even of the founder himself; he was igno- 
rant of the method by which to inculcate 
in the minds of his people the necessary 
faith in this lasting power, and all that he 
did only tended to produce the opposite of 
this impression. Already, in 1809, while in 
Vienna, he caused the pope, the venerable 
father of the Catholic community, to be 
made a prisoner like a criminal in his own 
ancient capital ; and now he followed up 
this act of tyranny by annexing Rome it- 
self to his own vast empire, and decided 
that his son, newly born, as well as all 
eldest sons of future emperors, should re- 
ceive the title of king of Rome. Such acts 
called forth the most bitter hatred against 
him in the hearts of millions of men in all 
countries, and his name was pronounced 
with curses ; but upon his iron-hearted 
nature neither curses nor blessings left 
any impression. His empire appeared to 
him immoveably fixed, and based, as it 
was, upon the strength of 500,000 soldiers, 
and an auxiliary force of innumerable 
spies, he felt secure in all his power. 
Nevertheless, scarcely had two years 
passed over his head, before the colossus 
of this mighty power was overturned, and 
the emperor of France forced to sign his 
abdication. 

Napoleon now turned upon the emperor 
Alexander, and accusing him of maintain- 
ing a secret understanding with England, 
and encouraging the people of Germany 
to revolt against him, he forthwith declared 
war against Russia ; he accordingly com- 
menced preparations for this campaign, 
the results of which produced his ruin, and 
enabled the Germanic empire to throw off 



HIS CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA— MOSCOW BURNED— HIS FLIGHT. 



443 



the yoke imposed upon it by the ruthless I misery. Disorder and insubordination 
invader. spread throughout the ranks, and the light 

In the summer of the year 1812, Napo- 1 cavalry of the Russians now harassing 
leon commenced his march for the inva- j them in every direction, night and day; 
sion of the gigantic empire of Russia, with j their numbers diminished more and more, 
an army of 400,000 infantry and 60,000 ' Nevertheless the common danger held to- 
horse, together with a train of twelve hun- gether great numbers of the retreating 
dred pieces of artillery. The preparations | army, and out of such an immense body 
for this great expedition had occupied him ' hundreds of thousands might still have 
full two years ; having collected together j escaped had it not been for their more 
the most choice troops from all parts of j destructive and mighty enemy — the dread - 
Europe, and supplied and equipped them ful winter — which sealed their inevitable 
with every necessary materiel for the j doom. But the pen refuses longer to dwell 
campaign. The first and immediate ob- j upon the horrors resulting from this cam- 
ject in view was the destruction of the paign, which, in truth, were beyond all 
Russian empire; but there is no doubt that j description. Suffice it, that out of half a 
it was the intention of Napoleon, if he sue- 1 million of human beings, who were led into 
ceeded in forcing the Russians to conclude this war by their arrogant chief, scarcely 
a peace, to extend his progress even to 1 30.000 returned capable of bearing arms. 
Asia itself, in order, if possible, to expel Germany now saw the favorable moment 
his greatest enemies, the English, from arrive of which she must avail herself at 
their vast possessions in the East Indies. [ once in order to throw off the tyrant's yoke, 
He crossed the Niemen. and directed his and reconquer her liberty. Prussia was 
march towards Moscow, where he arrived, the first to set the example. Her army, 
and made his triumphal entry on the 14th which had been compelled to follow in the 
of September, taking up his residence in ranks of the French in the Russian expe- 
the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the dition, was, fortunately, in good condition 
czars. Here, however, Providence fixed to fight for the liberty of its country, inas- 
the term of his victorious career, for, much as the position it had occupied in 
scarcely had he established himself in his the invader's forces having been the ex- 
quarters before the entire city was a mass treme left, it had scarcely suffered at all. 
of flames, having been set on fire in more General York, the Prussian commander, 
than a hundred different parts, and very who was equally well acquainted with the 
soon this place, so shortly before the mag- : sentiments of the king as he was with the 
nificent metropolis of the country, was j feelings of the people, had no sooner gained 
completely reduced to a heap of ruins and ; the frontiers of Prussia than he abandoned 
ashes, and all the supplies upon which \ the French, and hastened to demand of his 
Napoleon had calculated, so necessary for j king whether he should form a junction 
his troops during the rive months of win- with the Russians. Frederick William, 
ter, became likewise a prey to the flames, who was still in Berlin, which was garrison- 
He had now only sufficient provisions to ed by the French, decided in the affirma- 
last for a few weeks, and as the emperor tive, and repaired immediately to Breslaw, 
Alexander refused to come to any terms I whence, on the 3d of February, 1813, he 
of peace, he was forced, at the end of Oc- 1 called .upon the youth of his dominions to 
tober, to make a retreat; instead, however, j come forth and assemble around him in de- 
of taking the route across Caluga, as the j fence of their fatherland. His appeal pene- 
most wise and prudent course, inasmuch 1 trated the hearts of all, and thousands of 
as the war had not touched that territory, j young men poured in and ranged themselves 
he returned by the road of Smolensko, | under his banner ; Berlin itself contributing 
along the whole of which all the magazines a force of 10.000 men. 
had been sacked, and every thing laid j In addition to this, the king summoned 
waste by both the French and the Rus- j together the Landwehr or militia of the 
sians themselves. Thence the fugitives, country, and on the 17th of March, 1813, 
amid the rigors of this particularly bitter | he declared war against France. This 
winter, very soon experienced all the hor- j bold and determined step, however, was not 
rors of famine ; which, added to the want j unattended with danger, for the French 
of clothing and shelter, completed their | still possessed in Prussia and Poland eight 



444 



NAPOLEON MARCHES INTO GERMANY. 



strong fortifications, and more than 65,000 
of their troops were in occupation of the 
Prussian dominions ; nevertheless, Prussia 
was soon enabled to develop her entire 
strength. For the king, in conjunction 
with those around him, had not allowed the 
short interval to pass away idly, and the 
most prudent measures were adopted in se- 
cret in order to be ready at the desired mo- 
ment. The youth had been kept in the 
continual practice of arms, mustering alter- 
nately in small bodies, at the appointed 
places, and thus the country was supplied 
with its brave defenders, uniting the power 
with the will to exterminate their hated in- 
vaders. 

Napoleon, in the mean time, having de- 
termined to provide for his own personal 
security, had abandoned the remnant of his 
army in Russia and fled to Paris, travelling 
night and day, and arrived there on the 
18th of December. 

He immediately ordered a fresh levy of 
350,000 men to be made, in order to replace, 
as he said, the loss, mentioned in his twenty- 
ninth bulletin, of 30,000 men and great 
part of his artillery and baggage ; and 
when the king of Prussia's declaration of 
war was published, he ordered an additional 
levy of 180,000 men. The French nation, 
accordingly, accustomed as it was to obey 
the emperor's commands without a murmur, 
did not hesitate a moment to pour forth its 
youth, and to the astonishment of the whole 
of Europe, a numerically superior and 
well-appointed army was collected, which 
forthwith marched to and crossed the Rhine 
and advanced into Germany to fight for 
and maintain the glory of the French em- 
peror. 

At the same time, in order to secure him- 
self a guarantee for the tranquillity of his 
empire, he appointed a guard of honor, 
consisting of young men of the most dis- 
tinguished families, who served as volun- 
teers, armed and equipped at their own ex- 
pense. And as he had lost the whole of 
his cavalry in Russia, he collected together 
all the gendarmerie throughout France, out 
of which he formed a body of 16,000 cav- 
alry ; while to serve as artillerymen he 
collected together 30,000 of his marines. 
In addition to these troops, he received 
50,000 auxiliaries from Italy, and the 
Rhenish confederation furnished him with a 
considerable contingent of soldiers. Thence 
he was enabled, in the month of April, to 



march into Saxony with several hundred 
thousand men, and as his army was con- 
tinually augmented, he eventually entered 
the field with the gigantic force of 500,000 
men. Completely blinded by his success 
in raising such an army, in which he placed 
his entire reliance, he would not listen for 
a moment to any proposal for peace. Aus- 
tria took great pains in endeavoring to pro- 
mote this object, and if his proud and ob- 
stinate mind had only partially yielded to 
the dictates of reason, he might have suc- 
ceeded in retaining possession at least of 
all the territories along the Rhine. On 
the 31st of March, shortly after he had re- 
ceived the king of Prussia's declaration of 
war, he caused to be inserted in the gov- 
ernment journal of that day, his determina- 
tion, viz. : " that if even the enemy were 
to march into Paris, and take up his position 
on Montmartre itself, still he would not 
give up a single village out of all the con- 
quered territories in his possession !" and 
on the following day, the 1st of April, he 
published a counter-declaration of war 
against the king of Prussia, and resolved in 
his heart this time to completely annihilate 
the kingdom as well as the very name of 
Prussia. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Successes of the Prussians— The Duke of Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz — His Daughter, the Queen of Prussia — Er- 
furt—Russia unites with Prussia— Battle of Lutzen— 
Napoleon in Dresden — The King of Saxony — Battle 
of Bautzen— Hamburg taken by Marshal Davoust— 
Heavy Contributions— The Armistice— Prussia— The 
Liitzow Free Corps — Theodore Korner — Austria en- 
deavors to negotiate a Peace between France and the 
Allies— The Congress at Prague — Napoleon refuses 
all Concession— The Emperor of Austria declares 
War, and joins Russia and Prussia— Dresden- 
Renewal of Hostilities — Strength and Position of 
the Allied Forces — Bernadotte — Blucher— Prince 
Schwartzenberg— Marshal Oudinot— Battle of Gross- 
Beeren— Defeat of the French. 

The Viceroy Eugene was encamped 
with the remnant of the French army 
which had escaped from Russia, and a few 
additional troops, under the walls of Mag- 
deburg, and found himself forced to leave 
the river Elbe completely open. The 
French were, nevertheless, anxious to 
maintain, at least, possession of its mouth, 
together with the important city of Ham- 
burg, and General Morand advanced ac- 
cordingly with the four thousand men who 



THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA — MAGDEBURG. 



445 



had held possession of the coasts of Meck- 
lenburg and Pomerania; but he was pur- 
sued by the light troops under the command 
of three brave leaders, Tettenborn, Czer- 
nitschef, and Doernberg, who prevented him 
completely from gaining any footing on the 
right bank of the Elbe, and thus forced him 
to recross the river and retire to Bremen. 
The people throughout the whole north of 
Germany greeted their deliverers with the 
greatest joy and delight. The duke of 
Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the first to follow 
the example of the king of Prussia, and 
shake off the French yoke, exclaiming that 
" with the help of God, he would at any 
rate show himself worthy of the honor of 
being a German prince."* The citizens 
of Liibeck and Hamburg were not a little 

* This noble-minded prince was the father-in-law of 
the king of Prussia, who married his amiable daughter 
Louisa. The sad reverses and heavy afflictions it was 
the fate of this virtuous woman to undergo, on the inva- 
sion of the French, may be too visibly traced in the fol- 
lowing pathetic letter she wrote to her affectionate 
father. Overwhelmed with the misfortunes inflicted 
upon her, her delicate constitution gradually sunk un- 
der their effects, and she died on the 19th of July. 1810, 
aged 34, to the great grief of her beloved husband, and 
the universal regret of the whole country : 

" Memel, June 17, 1807. 

" My dearest Father, — I have perused your letter of 
April last with the deepest emotion, and amid tears of 
the most grateful sensations. How shall I thank you, 
dearest, kindest of fathers, for the many proofs you 
have shown me of your paternal love, your gracious fa- 
vor, and indescribable benevolence ! What secret 
consolation is not this for me in my sufferings — how 
strengthening to my spirits ! When one is thus beloved, 
to be completely unhappy is impossible. 

" We are again threatened with another dire calam- 
ity, and are about to abandon the kingdom. Imagine 
my state of mind at this juncture ; but I solemnly be- 
seech you not to mistake the feelings of your daughter. 
There are two grand principles by which I feel myself 
strengthened and elevated above every thing : first, the 
recollection that we are not led blindly onward by 
chance, but are guided by the hand of God ; and sec- 
ondly, that if we must sink, we, at all events, will do 
so with honor. The king has shown, and to the whole 
world he has proved it, that he prefers honor to disgrace ', 
Prussia would never voluntarily wear the chains of 
slavery. The king, therefore, could not deviate one 
step without becoming unfaithful to his character and 
a traitor to his people. But to the point. By the unfor- 
tunate battle of Friedland, Konigsberg has fallen into 
the hands of the French. We are surrounded on every 
side by the enemy, and as the danger advances I shall 
be forced to fly with my infants from Memel, and then 
endeavor to reach Riga, trusting to Heaven to assist me 
in the dreaded moment when I have to pass the fron- 
tiers of the empire. And truly my strength and cour- 
age will then be required ; but I will look towards God 
with hope and confidence ; for, according to my firm 
persuasion, we are not suffered to endure more than 
we can. Once more, then, be assured, my dear father, 
that we yield only with honor, and respected as we 
shall be, we caniiot be without friends, inasmuch as 
we have merited them. The consolation I experience 
by this conviction I cannot express to you ; and e conse- 
quently, I endure all my trials with that tranquillity and 
resignation of mind which can only be produced by a 
good conscience and a firm faith. "Therefore, my dear 
father, be convinced that we can never be completely 
unhappy, while many, perhaps, whose brows are op- 
pressed with the weight of crowns and wreaths are as 
unhappy as ourselves ; for as long as we are blessed by 



rejoiced at the change, and united together 
in order to promote the general cause of 
liberty. Doernberg, at the head of four 
thousand men, advanced against General 
Morand, who was now quartered in Liine- 
burg, and scaling the walls of that town, 
took it by assault, and mortally wounding 
their leader, either slew or made prisoners 
of the whole garrison. With this brilliant 
feat of arms General Doernberg opened the 
second campaign. 

About the same time, the Viceroy Eu- 
gene suddenly attempted to advance from 
Magdeburg with his 30,000 men upon Ber- 
lin, imagining that on his march he should 
only have to contend against an insignifi- 
cant force ; but Generals Wittgenstein. 
Bulow, and York, having forthwith mus- 
tered together all the troops at hand, at- 
tacked him with a far inferior force on the 
5th of April near Moeckern with so much 
fury, that he was compelled to renounce 
his design of marching to Berlin, and re- 
treated to Magdeburg with heavy loss. In 
this, their first encounter with the French, 
the young Prussian foot-soldiers, after 
firing a few volleys, cast aside their fire- 
locks altogether, and rushed upon the ene- 
my, club in hand, deeming that the most 
expeditious mode of warfare. 

As soon as the new forces of France had 
assembled on our side of the Rhine, Na- 
poleon himself set out from Paris, and on 
the evening of the 25th of April he arrived 
at Erfurt. Thence he proceeded towards 
the Saale, and forced the allied cavalry to 
retreat behind this river. Both armies now 
approached each other and prepared for a 
grand and decisive battle. 

When, on the 29th of April, Napoleon 
reached the shores of the Saale, he beheld 
the allied army immediately facing him, in 
the vicinity of Pegau. The Russians were 
commanded by General Count Wittgen- 
stein, and the Prussians by Generals 
Blucher, York, and Kleist ; while both the 
emperor Alexander and King Frederick 
William cheered on their warriors by sha- 
ring in the campaign. The French army, 
after a few skirmishes, advanced by different 
routes towards the plains of Leipsic, which 
Bonaparte had fixed upon as the spot to 
give the grand battle. On the 1st of May, 

Heaven with peace in our hearts, we must ever find 
cause to rejoice. I remain, forever, your faithfully duti- 
ful and loving daughter, and, God be praised that youi 
gracious favor permits me to add— friend, Louisa." 



446 



BATTLE OF LUTZEN— COURAGE OF NAPOLEON. 



after having proceeded towards Weissen- 
fels, he was met, near Poserna, by the ar- 
tillery and cavalry of the Russians, who 
resolved to dispute his passage. This corps 
was under the command of General Win- 
zingerode, who had been sent forward for 
the purpose of attacking the French, and 
ascertaining whether the entire army was 
en route. Marshal Bessiere, commander 
of the emperor's guards, having advanced 
to meet the attack, was killed by a cannon- 
ball. The position was carried, and Na- 
poleon continued his march on to Liitzen, 
the same field of battle on which, two hun- 
dred years previously, Gustavus Adolphus 
met his death when fighting against Wal- 
lenstein. Here the French halted for the 
night ; but when in the morning Napoleon 
was about to resume his march for Leipsic, 
he suddenly heard heavy discharges of ar- 
tillery in his rear and on his left flank. 

The Prussians and Russians had already 
well perceived that it was Napoleon's in- 
tention to gain possession of Leipsic in 
order to cut them off from the Elbe ; and 
as they resolved not to leave him the 
liberty of forming as usual his own dispo- 
sitions, and choosing the field of battle 
himself, they anticipated his movements this 
time and attacked him, on the 2d of May, 
when he least expected it, and imagined 
they could not possibly be prepared to give 
battle before the following day. Towards 
mid-day they pressed onward with all their 
strength through the villages of Gross- 
Gorschen and Klein-Gorschen, Rhano and 
Kaja, of which Marshal Ney still held pos- 
session. The emperor Alexander and the 
king of Prussia ascended an eminence in 
the rear of Gross-Gorschen whence they 
commanded a full view of the scene of en- 
gagement, while their presence, now so 
visible to all, inspired the troops with the 
greatest courage. The brave and dauntless 
Blucher with his Prussians commenced by 
carrying the village of Gross-Gorschen by 
assault, and immediately afterwards a most 
obstinate and sanguinary contest took place 
around the other villages, terminating in 
favor of the allies, who remained masters 
of the ground, and forced the French to fall 
back in the rear. It was just at this moment 
that Napoleon arrived on the field of battle 
with his guards and the rest of the troops 
he brought with him ; and he lost not a 
moment in pushing thern forward to rein- 
force Ney's corps, while he himself rode 



through their ranks and cheered them on, 
regardless of his own danger ; for he knew 
too well that the loss of this battle must 
necessarily produce discouragement among 
his troops, and deprive him of his hold in 
Germany. The action was accordingly 
renewed on both sides with still greater 
fury around the villages, which were taken 
and retaken several times. For the fourth 
time the allies united all their strength and 
made a final attack, and were successful ; 
they retook the whole of the villages and 
completely defeated the French, who re- 
treated in great confusion as far as Weis- 
senfels and Naumburg. When informed 
of this, Napoleon, according to the testimony 
of an eye-witness, turned round, and with 
a look of fury at his officers, exclaimed : 
" What, do you believe then that my star 
is on the descent ?" He however soon re- 
covered his presence of mind, and adopting 
one of those sudden resolutions, which, when 
brought into operation, disconcerted all the 
plans of his adversaries, he gave imme- 
diate orders to his general of artillery, 
Drouet, to bring together the whole of his 
cannon — eighty pieces — and planting them 
on one spot, thence scatter destruction 
amidst the ranks of his enemies : for such 
operations he always held in reserve the 
guns belonging to his guard — at the same 
time he posted sixteen battalions of the 
guard upon the heights in the rear of the 
village of Kaja. The artillery, with vol- 
cano-like fury, swept every thing before it, 
whole ranks of the allied forces were 
mowed down, the villages were reduced to 
cinders, and consequently they were aban- 
doned entirely. At the same moment the 
Russians were hard pressed on their right 
flank by the Viceroy Eugene, who had now 
arrived from Mark-Ranstadt with 30,000 
fresh troops. 

Napoleon, urged on by his impatient de- 
sire to see the victory decided, continued 
to advance, protected by the unceasing fire 
of his sixty to eighty pieces of artillery, 
planted in his centre. Nevertheless, the 
Russians and Prussians, although almost 
overcome with heat and fatigue, only re- 
tired slowly, and step by step, and bravely 
maintained every inch of ground capable 
of defence, until the fall of night. 

Profound darkness now enveloped the 
sanguinary field of battle ; nothing else 
was visible except the alternate flashes of 
the cannon which were still discharged at 



NAPOLEON IN DRESDEN— THE KING OF SAXONY. 



447 



long and irregular intervals, and the flames I 
of the villages, which were gradually be- 
coming more and more faint. Napoleon, 
having issued his orders for the operations 
of the next morning, had retired to his 
quarters, within the strong bulwark of 
the regiments of his guards ; when, sud- 
denly, the silence of the night was broken 
in upon by the clashing of swords, and a 
desperate attack, as if by magic, was made 
upon the French, even to the very guards of 
the emperor himself. This bold assault was 
made by a corps of Prussian hussars, led 
on by the heroic Bliicher, who, with his 
usual intrepidity, resolved to make a last 
attempt, in order to serve as a warning to 
the French, that the allies were not yet 
beaten. He succeeded in his object ; for 
the enemy did not venture a pursuit, but 
passed the entire night under arms. 

This first battle may be truly character- 
ized as a battle of honor, and, as such, it 
was a won battle. For, in spite of the great 
numerical superiority of the French, the 
allies had not lost a single color or cannon, 
nor had they, notwithstanding the heavy 
fire kept up by the French artillery, turn- 
ed their back upon the enemy — while the 
force of the latter was 120,000 men, and 
that of the allied army was only 70,000. 
The amount altogether, on both sides, in 
killed and wounded, was about 30,000 
men. The Prussians, especially, fought 
with such a desperate defiance of death, 
that several of their heroic leaders fell a 
sacrifice on the field, including the prince 
of Hesse-Homburg himself — and Generals 
Bliicher and Scharnhorst were both se- 
verely wounded. 

On the following morning, Napoleon ex- 
pected to be again attacked ; but the allies 
having taken into consideration the loss 
already sustained, and their great inferior- 
ity compared with the French army, de- 
termined to retreat, and, accordingly, with- 
drew across Borna and Altenburg on the 
Elbe, and took up a strong position at 
Bautzen : the Prussians crossing the Elbe 
at Meissen — the Russians at Dresden, and 
both the emperor Alexander and the king 
of Prussia quitted that city on the morn- 
ing of the 8th of May. 

On this same day, the 8th of May, Na- 
poleon marched into Dresden, whence he 
immediately dispatched an envoy to the 
king of Saxony, in Prague, in order to de- 
mand his immediate return to his capital, 



and threatened to treat Saxony as a con- 
quered country if he refused compliance 
with his order, and did not give up for his 
service the fortress of Torgau, and supply 
them with all his Saxon army for the rein- 
forcement of the French army — granting 
the king only two hours for his decision. 
The dread he entertained lest the emperor, 
who now already occupied the major por- 
tion of his territory, should carry his threats 
into execution, operated upon his feelings 
more than any other consideration ; and 
not daring to form an alliance with Aus- 
tria, as he would have wished, he returned 
to Dresden on the 12th of May. The em- 
peror met him at a short distance beyond 
the gates of the city, and they both made 
their triumphal entry — as ordered by Na- 
poleon — the latter addressing the municipal 
authorities who were waiting to receive 
them, as follows : " Behold, here I bring 
to you your deliverer ; for if your sove- 
reign had not thus shown himself a faithful 
ally, I should assuredly have treated your 
country as a conquered state. Hence- 
forth, however, my armies shall only 
march through it, and protect it against all 
its enemies." 

On the previous day, the 11th of May, 
the French army having hastily rebuilt 
the bridge over the Elbe, crossed that river, 
the passage having occupied seven hours ; 
during the whole of which time, Napoleon 
remained seated on a bench, watching the 
troops — French, Italians, and Germans — 
as they marched by, a sight which pro- 
duced in him feelings of exultation. He 
now determined to attack the allies a sec- 
ond time in the strong position they occu- 
pied near Bautzen and Hochkirch, and 
whose force now consisted of 100,000 men, 
while that of their enemy amounted to 
150,000. The emperor sent Marshal Ney 
and General Lauriston from Hoyerswerda 
to turn the right flank of the allies, which 
being perceived by the latter, they de- 
tached several battalions under York and 
Barclai de Tolly as far as Kbnigswartha 
to meet them. They came up with and 
surprised an Italian division of 9000 men, 
whom they immediately routed, and cap- 
tured all their cannon and ammunition 
wagons. But as the main body of the 
French was now advancing they retired, 
and fell back upon their own lines. 

On the following day, the 20th of May, 
after a sanguinary combat on the heights 



448 



BATTLE OF BAUTZEN— NAPOLEON'S LOSSES. 



of Burg and near Bautzen, Napoleon forced 
a passage to the Spree, which he crossed 
with his whole army ; while the allies re- 
tired in the greatest order to their head- 
quarters near Gleina and Kreckwitz, as 
far as the mountains. The Russians form- 
ed the two wings, and the Prussians under' 
Blucher occupied the centre. Although 
the movement effected by Ney had weak- 
ened their position, still they resolved not 
to leave it without a battle. Napoleon's 
plan was to cause the left wing of the al- 
lies to be attacked by Marshals Oudinot 
and Macdonald, in order to draw their 
whole attention to that side ; while at the 
same time, according to his original in- 
structions, Marshal Ney was to gradually 
surround their right flank. Early in the 
morning of the 21st of May, and before 
sunrise, the emperor mounted his charger, 
and with the attack of the left wing of the 
Russians, commanded by the prince of 
Wiirtemberg and General Milloradowitsch, 
the battle commenced. The charge was 
bravely met and sustained by the Rus- 
sians, who being masters of the heights, 
had great advantage over the enemy, so 
that after an obstinate and severe action, 
the French were obliged to give way. 
The battle did not become general until 
about mid-day, as Napoleon waited pa- 
tiently until Ney had made himself mas- 
ter of the position he was to take. The 
latter succeeded in his manoeuvre, and 
forcing General Barclai de Tolly to re- 
treat, he captured the heights of the Glei- 
ner windmill, as well as the village of 
Preititz. This was a most critical mo- 
ment for the allies, as this village lay com- 
pletely behind them ; Blucher, however, 
hastened to dispatch General Kleist to its 
aid, and it was retaken. Napoleon now 
saw that it was necessary to bring up his 
fresh troops, which he had held in reserve. 
He placed at their head his best general, 
Marshal Soult, and at the very moment 
that the Prussians had weakened their 
centre by the corps they sent to support the 
right wing, Soult was ordered to make an 
attack upon it. This was done with so 
much fury, seconded by the heavy can- 
nonade kept up by the French artillery, 
that the Prussian infantry were forced to 
give way before the overpowering enemy, 
who remained masters of the heights of 
Kreckwitz. The allies now saw that they 
were placed in such a predicament, that 



they must either sacrifice every thing, and 
collect all their remaining strength to storm 
and regain these heights, or end the battle 
at once, as their present position could no 
longer be maintained. The same reasons 
by which they were influenced to retreat 
from Liitzen, operated upon them in the 
present instance. The moment had not 
yet arrived in which it was advisable to 
risk extreme measures ; as yet, they were 
not supplied with the reinforcements which 
were en route to join them, both from Rus- 
sia and Prussia ; and they felt certain that 
the emperor of Austria must very soon 
abandon his son-in-law and join their cause. 
Accordingly, they determined upon a re- 
treat, and this they commenced about three 
o'clock in the afternoon, effecting it in such 
good order, that the French found it use- 
less to attempt a pursuit, whence they suf- 
fered little or no loss. Napoleon, who was 
at that moment on a high hill, near Nieder- 
kuyna, had mounted one of the drums be- 
longing to his guards, and thence observed 
the allies as they retreated ; he then sent 
some of his troops to harass their rear, but 
the light cavalry of both the Russians and 
Prussians, which covered their retreat, 
kept them at bay, and he was forced to 
content himself with remaining master of 
the field of battle — an advantage gained 
very dearly, for his loss in this action 
was more than 20,000 men, while that of 
the allies altogether was not more than 
12,000. 

The allied forces retired into Silesia, 
and Napoleon marched in rapid pursuit of 
them. Each time, however, that the 
French advanced too closely upon the 
heels of their rear-guard, the latter turned 
upon their pursuers, and after hard fight- 
ing, drove them back. Napoleon, vexed 
at finding that his generals took so few 
prisoners from a retreating army, took up- 
on himself the command of the advanced 
guard, and attacked the rear of the allies 
on the 22d of May, at Reichenbach. But 
his cavalry was completely beaten back, 
and a cannon-ball killed close by his side 
his generals Kirgener, Labruyere, and 
Marshal Duroc, his especial friend and 
favorite, and whose loss was acutely felt 
by Napoleon, for the marshal, possessing 
his entire confidence, never hesitated to 
express his opinions openly and sincerely, 
and they had both been school-fellows to- 
gether. 



THE ARMISTICE — DAVOUST TAKES HAMBURG. 



449 



On the 26th of May, Bliicher gave orders 
to Ziethen to wait in ambush with his cav- 
alry until the French arrived close to 
Haynau ; and when, according to agree- 
ment, the windmill of Baudmannsdorf was 
set on fire as a signal, the 3000 troopers 
rushed from behind the heights, and fall- 
ing on the enemy's squares with loud hur- 
rahs, put them to flight, after making 300 
prisoners. Colonel Dolfs, however, the 
leader of this brave squadron, fell glorious- 
lv while fighting in the midst of the enemy. 

Napoleon now plainly saw that the allies 
were not to be overcome, and accordingly 
he proposed a suspension of arms, to which 
/he allies having consented, a truce for six 
weeks was signed on the 8th of June. The 
French abandoned Breslaw, of which they 
had shortly before made themselves mas- 
ters, and retained only a portion of Silesia ; 
while, however, Hamburg, through unfor- 
tunate circumstances, now fell into their 
hands. For at the very commencement 
of May, when Napoleon opened the cam- 
paign, Marshal Davoust marched with 
14,000 men to lay siege to that place, which 
contained but a very feeble garrison com- 
manded by General Tettenburg, by no 
means sufficient to defend so large a city. 
The citizens, however, calculated upon the 
aid of their Danish neighbors in Altona, as 
well as upon that of the Swedes, who had 
collected in considerable force under their 
crown-prince in Pomerania and Mecklen- 
burg. The latter, however, were anxious 
to possess Norway, and had already stipu- 
lated with England and Russia to have it 
transferred into their hands as the price 
of their aid in the war ; and as Denmark 
on her part resolved not to submit to this 
loss of half her territory, she formed an 
alliance with France ; and accordingly, 
on the 30th of May, the very day they en- 
tered the ill-fated city, the Danes gave it 
up to the enemy. Thus Hamburg was 
sacrificed through the jealousy of these two 
powers. Napoleon, embittered against the 
inhabitants for their independent principles, 
and the opposition shown against him, im- 
posed upon them a contribution of no less 
than 48,000,000 of francs. 

The news of the armistice reached Ber- 
lin on Whit-Monday. The public were by 
no means tranquillized by this information, 
but on the contrary, when they beheld the 
present unguarded position of their city, 
which was no longer in a condition to de- 
57 



fend itself against the attack of the enemy, 
much disappointment and alarm was ex- 
pressed — far more so than if the war had 
been continued. The king, however, soon 
succeeded in restoring confidence, by pub- 
lishing a declaration, in which he assured 
his people " that this armistice was only 
concluded in order to afford time for the 
perfect development of the whole strength 
of the country. As yet the enemy was 
much too' powerful to be overcome, and 
what the nation had thus far accomplished, 
had only served to uphold once again its 
ancient honor and heroic courage ; now, 
however, they must become so strong as to 
be enabled to reconquer their independence 
and permanent liberty. He conjured his 
subjects to maintain their firmness, to con- 
fide in him, their devoted king, and the 
object so much desired must be attained." 

Meantime, whenever he could, Napoleon 
did not hesitate to increase by his treache- 
rous acts, the bitter feeling already exist- 
ing against him, and the following instance 
presents another proof of his revengeful 
disposition. Major Liitzow, with his squad- 
ron of hussars, had boldly advanced to 
the rear of the French troops far into Sax- 
ony, and even beyond, into Franconia,, 
harassing them continually, and cutting to 
pieces or making prisoners of whole de- 
tachments, so that Napoleon was much ex- 
asperated against this brave, intrepid bandi. 
According to an article of the armistice, 
the Liitzow corps was to have crossed the- 
Elbe by the 12th of June, but it was not 
till the 14th that their commander received 
official intelligence of this condition, which 
it was thus impossible for him strictly tc. 
fulfil. On this, Napoleon gave orders "to 
destroy these robbers wherever they might 
be met with," and on the evening of the 
17th of June, as they were proceeding to 
pass the Elbe, they were suddenly attacked 
in the village of Kitzen, near Leipsic, in a 
most treacherous manner by the enemy's 
cavalry, who were to escort them. The 
little band was easily dispersed, many were 
cut down, wounded, and taken, and a part 
only, with their brave leader, succeeded in- 
fighting their way through.* 

* This free corps, it may be observed, was an associa- 
tion formed of youths chiefly of the middle and superior 
classes, who united themselves under the command of 
a military officer of great gallantry and experience, the 
above-mentioned Major von Liitzow, for the freedom 
of their fatherland. Their exploits were of the most 
daring and heroic character, partaking rather of the 
bold and chivalrous spirit of the middle ages than tha 



450 THE CONGRESS OF PRAGUE — AUSTRIA JOINS THE ALLIES. 



Meantime, the emperor of Austria came 
forward as a mediatory power, and endeav- 
ored to effect a peace ; a congress assem- 
bled in Prague, and the emperor Francis 
proceeded to Gitschen, near Prague, in or- 
der to assist in person towards the promo- 
tion of the object he so much desired. Na- 
poleon, however, felt his pride hurt when he 
beheld another power attempt to dictate 
terms to him, and refused to abandon any 
of the conquests he had made. Thence, 
although the armistice had been prolonged 
to the 17th of August, the negotiations were 
attended with no results affording any 
hopes for peace ; while, in the interval, 
both sides were occupied in making their 
preparations for renewed hostilities. Napo- 
leon's army received continual reinforce- 
ments from France, so that he was soon 
enabled once more to bring into the field a 
force of no less than 350,000 men, besides 
which, his faithful adherent, the Viceroy 
Eugene, collected in Italy another army of 
$0,000 men to defend that country against 
Austria — in case a rupture should occur 
between that power and France ; and, on 
ithe frontiers of Austria, Bavaria was forced 
to support him with another army of 30,000 
men, under General Wrede. 

The emperor of Austria, finding that all 
his efforts to bring his son-in-law to agree 
to any terms of peace were made in vain, 
now resolved, without further delay, to join 
the emperor of Russia and the king of Prus- 
sia, and to take an active part in the con- 
federation for the overthrow of the usurper. 
Meantime, the latter had been anxiously 
waiting in Dresden for the declaration of 
Austria, although he continued confident in 
his expectations, that by means of his cun- 
ning management, he would continue to 
hold that power in a state of inactivity. At 
length, on the 15th of August, his envoy, 
Count de Narbonne, arrived from Prague, 
and Napoleon, summoning his minister Ma- 
rat, had a long conference with both soon 
after. They were seen, all three, engaged 
in earnest conversation, walking, with has- 
ty strides, to and fro in the garden of the 
Marcolini Palace, the residence of the em- 
cold and calculating nature of modern warfare. Among 
those who joined its standard were many who are high- 
ly distinguished in letters and the arts, as for instance, 
the Baron de la Motte Fouque, (the author of Undine, 
&c.,) Frederick Forster, (the historian of Wallenstein,) 
and more especially the gifted poet and gallant soldier, 
Korner. who fell mortally wounded. Even women, 
inspired with the prevailing spirit of patriotism, served 
in their ranks undiscovered. 



peror ; his suite, which was at a considera- 
ble distance off, watching their master with 
anxious looks, and waiting the result of this 
meeting, upon which the fate of so many 
thousands of human beings depended. Sud- 
denly, Napoleon was seen to stop, and by a 
hasty and indignant movement of his hand, 
seemed to reject at once the offered terms 
of peace. War again ! now sounded from 
every side, and spread from mouth to mouth. 
The emperor, however, his eyes still spark- 
ling with fury, returned to the palace, and 
proceeding with hasty steps across the hall 
of marshals, entered his carriage, and gal- 
loped off for Bautzen and Gorlitz, towards 
Silesia. 

The allies had, during the interval of the 
armistice, strengthened their forces to such 
an extent, that they were far superior, even 
in numbers, to the French : for Austria 
alone, when joining them, brought an addi- 
tion of 200,000 men, and which was ren- 
dered the more necessary, as their immense 
army being distributed at various points, 
they were forced to advance against the 
French in extended circles ; while Napo- 
leon, who concentrated his forces into one 
circle, was enabled to attack first one point, 
then another, and thus decide the contest at 
once with the same body of men. The po- 
sition of the allied army was as follows: 

1. The crown-prince of Sweden, Berna- 
dotte, who had likewise entered the field 
with 24,000 Swedes, was appointed com- 
mander of the whole of the northern army, 
and was instructed to defend, with a forct 
of 125,000 men, Berlin and the whole of 
Brandenburg. Besides his own troops, he 
had under his orders the Prussian divisions 
under Biilow and Tauenzien, the Russian 
divisions under Winzingerode and Wallmo- 
den. The latter general, with 25,000 men, 
consisting of Russians, English, Hanove- 
rians, Mecklenburgers, the Russian-Ger- 
man legion, and the corps of Liitzow, was 
appointed to oppose Marshal Davoust and 
the Danes on the frontiers of Mecklenburg. 

2. Marshal Blucher commanded the Si- 
lesian army of 95,000 men, and he had 
with him General York, at the head of the 
first Prussian division, and the Russian di- 
visions under Generals Sacken, Langeron, 
and St. Priest. The first general of his 
staff, however, was Gneisenau, who, from 
this time, became more and more distin- 
guished in the field. 

3. The main division of the allied army 



FORCES OF 



in Bohemia, consisting principally of Aus- 
trians, but reinforced by a Prussian divi- 
sion under Kleist, a Russian division com- 
manded by Wittgenstein, and the Russian 
guard under the orders of the Grand-duke 
Constantine, was commanded by the Aus- 
trian field-marshal, Prince Schwartzenberg, 
who, together with great courage and ex- 
perience, possessed all that calmness and 
decision of character so necessary in the 
commander of such numerous armies of 
mixed nations. This division of the allied 
forces amounted to 230,000 men. 

This position and the division of the al- 
lied forces into three armies were well 
planned, for whichever of these forces Na- 
poleon might attack, he was sure to have 
the other two in his rear or in the flank. 
When, with his grand army, he pressed 
forward from Dresden and Lusatia towards 
Silesia, Blticher retired in order to draw 
him towards the Oder ; but during this in- 
terval the main army of the allies advanced 
from Bohemia, and, taking possession of 
Dresden in his rear, caught him complete- 
ly in their net ; so that if he turned to the 
right along the Elbe, in order to penetrate 
into Bohemia, Blticher must meet him in 
the front, and pursuing him into the passes 
of the Bohemian mountains, thus place him 
between two fires. Finally, Napoleon ad- 
vanced with a superior force direct against 
Bernadotte towards Berlin ; the latter, how- 
ever, followed the example of Blticher and 
retreated, leaving the Prussian capital ex- 
posed, it is true, although only for a mo- 
ment ; for, in the mean time, the army of 
Bohemia conquered Dresden and Leipsic, 
together with all the supplies of the French 
in Saxony. 

The French emperor had little imagined 
the allies would have been capable of form- 
ing such a grand plan ; and especially of 
bringing it into operation so unobservedly 
and successfully. On the contrary, he had 
calculated, as usual, upon availing himself 
of the happy chances thrown in his way by 
the errors of his adversaries, and in this he 
was supported by his generals around him. 
Fully confiding in the lightning-like celeri- 
ty of their emperor's plans and movements, 
they comforted themselves with the assur- 
ance to which they repeatedly gave utter- 
ance, that their enemies must commit blun- 
ders which they would take advantage of, 
and falling upon their whole army, com- 
pletely annihilate it. 



THE ALLIES. 451 



The more wise and prudent, however, 
not coinciding with the majority, counselled 
their leader to abandon his position on the 
Elbe, which was too seriously menaced on 
its right from the Bohemian side. Marshal 
Oudinot, among other things, wrote to hirn, 
"That if he withdrew his garrisons from 
the fortifications he held, reinforced his ar- 
my with them, and then retreated to the 
Rhine, distributing his invalided troops in 
good cantonments, and establishing the rest 
of his army in suitable positions, it might 
still be in his power to dictate to the allies 
his terms of peace." But such advice, 
however wise and discreet, appeared mad- 
ness itself to that mighty and all-violent 
man, who held himself so much beyond all 
others in thought and action ; and thus it 
was ordained that his obstinate pride and 
egotism should eventually produce the de- 
liverance of Germany. 

In order not to lose the advantage of 
making the first attack, he determined to 
turn all his strength against the Silesian 
army, and fall upon that division separate- 
ly ; while, meantime, to prevent the Aus- 
trians from advancing from Bohemia and 
harassing his rear, he posted Marshal Gou- 
vion St. Cyr with 40,000 men at the en- 
trance of the mountains near Giesshubel. 
At the same time Marshal Oudinot received 
orders to march, with his 80,000 men, di- 
rect against and capture the city of Berlin. 
If his plan had succeeded, his complete tri- 
umph must have been infallibly secured ; 
but the old and expert general in Silesia 
was too much on his guard. For when he 
perceived, after several encounters between 
the 18th and 23d of August, that the main 
army of the French was now in full march, 
and was gaining upon him near Lowen- 
burg on the Bober river, he refused to give 
battle, and according to the previously ar- 
ranged plan, retreated to Jauer. Napo- 
leon, who in the mean time had received 
hasty news of the advance of the Schwartz- 
enberg forces upon Dresden, could not ven- 
ture to pursue him ; but on the 23d of Au- 
gust he, with his guards and the sixth corps 
of his army, commenced his retreat back to 
Dresden. 

On the same day the brave Biilow came 
up with the French army en route for Ber- 
lin, and attacked it near Gross-Beeren. 
They had already advanced to within eight 
or nine miles of the capital, and Napoleon 
had already publicly announced that Oudi- 



452 



BLUCHER'S VICTORY AT KATZBACH. 



not would be there on the 23d of August, j 
General Regnier had, by Marshal Oudi- 1 
not's orders, already taken possession of 
Gross-Beeren on the 23d of August, and 
thus the road to Berlin being secured, he 
made sure of making his triumphal entry 
there on the following morning. But his | 
hopes of the attainment of this grand object 
were completely destroyed, even on the 
very night before ; for scarcely had the 
day declined and evening set in, before 
Biilow with his brave Prussians attacked 
the French with such fury in Gross-Beeren 
itself, that they were completely routed, 
and obliged to abandon the village in the 
greatest disorder, the darkness of the night 
alone protecting them from total destruc- 
tion. In another quarter, on the extreme 
left wing and with a very small force, 
General Tauenzien had bravely resisted, 
and finally repulsed, the attack made by 
General Bertrand. 

The French marshal now clearly seeing 
that he had to contend with a superior ene- 
my, would not venture upon a general bat- 
tle, but retreated in all haste as far as the 
Elbe, having suffered a loss of twenty-six 
cannon, and several thousands of his men 
made prisoners. Berlin, which had been 
in a state of fearful suspense, was now full 
of joy and rapture when the news arrived 
of the glorious victory by which it was de- 
livered from the invaders, and thousands of 
the citizens poured out of its walls, and 
eagerly sought the battle-field, in order to 
cheer and rescue their wounded preservers, 
conveying all back with them to the city, 
where they were carefully attended to. 
Just about the same time, on the 27th of 
August, the French general, Gerard, who 
had made a sally with the flower of his 
troops forming the garrison of Magdeburg, 
in order to assist in the taking of Berlin, 
was attacked by the brave veteran, Gene- 
ral Hirschfeld, near Lubnitz and Hagels- 
berg, and completely routed, being forced 
to shut himself up within the walls of Mag- 
deburg. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Glorious Victory of the Prussians under Blucher at 
Katzbach— Blucher created Prince of Wahlstadt— 
Battle of Dresden— Defeat of the Austrians— Death 
of General Moreau— Battle of Kulm— General Kleist 
—Generals Vandamme and Haxo made prisoners — 
Battle of Dennewitz— Battle of Wartenburg— General 



York— Preparations for the Battle of Leipsic— The 
French Army — Honors and Promotions conferred by 
Napoleon — The Allied Forces — Prince Schwartzen- 
berg. 

Napoleon, on quitting Silesia for Dres- 
den, had left behind him Marshal Macdon- 
ald with a body of 80,000 men, in order to 
hold at bay the Prussians and Russians. 
But no sooner did Blucher perceive who 
was now his opponent, than he forthwith 
advanced against him — for it was not his 
system to keep the enemy waiting long. 
He soon learned that Marshal Macdonald, 
with his whole army, was in full march 
across the mountains on the left bank of 
the river Katzbach, in order himself to 
make an attack upon the allies. The wary 
veteran allowed his enemy to proceed with- 
out interruption until he knew him to be 
secured amidst the ravines and narrow 
passes, when, the favorable moment having 
now arrived, he exclaimed to his soldiers : 
Now, lads, there are enough Frenchmen 
passed over — come on — forwards! 1 ' And 
on the Prussians rushed after their leader, 
with re-echoed shouts, and soon the battle 
became general. This attack took place 
on the 26th of August between Brechtels- 
hof and Groitsch, amidst torrents of rain. 
The right wing was commanded by Sacken, 
the centre by York, and the left by Lan- 
geron ; while the heroic Blucher, as com- 
mander-in-chief, with all the fire of his 
youthful days, led on the cavalry himself, 
and, at their head, dashed among the para- 
lyzed foe. Such an unexpected, overwhelm- 
ing attack the French could not withstand, 
and, consequently, they were everywhere 
put to flight. One entire division, under 
General Puthod, which attempted to attack 
the Prussians in the rear, was, at Lowen- 
berg, either cut to pieces or taken prison- 
ers. Terror and dismay seized upon the 
whole of the French army, and they were 
pursued in every direction by the embit- 
tered Prussians. At length Blucher sound- 
ed the recall, and, in an address, congrat- 
ulated his troops upon the laurels they had 
gained, and so truly merited, by their cour- 
age displayed in this grand battle. The 
results of this victory are thus described 
by him in the conclusion of his address : 

" By this great victory we have forced 
the French to abandon the whole of Silesia ; 
we have captured one hundred and three 
pieces of cannon, two hundred and fifty 
ammunition-wagons, two French eagles, 
together with numerous other trophies, and 



THE ALLIES BEFORE DRESDEN— NAPOLEON'S ARRIVAL. 



453 



we have made 18,000 prisoners, including 
many of their superior officers."* 

Henceforth from the day of this trium- 
phant battle of Katzbach, the great Prus- 
sian general was called, by his army, Mar- 
shal Forwards, and in honor thereof, and 
as a mark of his own and the nation's grat- 
itude and esteem, the king of Prussia short- 
ly afterwards made him a field-marshal, 
and created him a prince by the title of 
Prince of Wahlstadt.j* 

On the same day that the battle of Katz- 
bach was gained, and also on the following 
day, the two grand armies met and fought 
with great obstinacy near Dresden ; but the 
results were not yet ordained to be deci- 
sive. Prince Schwartzenberg and the three 
allied sovereigns, after having marched 
with their grand army across the mountains 
which separate Saxony from Bohemia, and 
driven the French from their position at 
Giesshiibel, arrived before Dresden on the 
25th of August. The city, during the ar- 
mistice, had been strongly fortified and sup- 
plied with a numerous garrison ; neverthe- 
less, it might have been taken if the attack 
had been made a day sooner. But the roads 
across the mountains were, in some parts, so 
impassable that twenty and even a greater 
number of horses were scarcely able to drag 
along a single cannon, while the convoys of 
provisions for this army of 100,000 men were 
obliged to remain behind, and the troops 
were reduced to the greatest possible want. 
Thence the allies were only able to assem- 
ble before Dresden in the night of the 25th 
of August ; while Napoleon arrived in that 
city on the following morning, followed by 
a great portion of his army. His presence 
was quite unexpected, as it was generally 
believed that he was in the depths of Sile- 
sia. He had a short conference with the 
king of Saxony, and then gave directions 
for the defence of the city. The grand gar- 
den of his palace was already in possession 
of the Prussian sharp-shooters, one of whom 
shot a page dead close to the side of his im- 
perial master. The principal attack was 
made about four o'clock in the afternoon. 

* Once when Bliicher's heroic deeds were lauded 
in his own presence, he exclaimed : " What is it my 
friends you are praising 1 What I did was accomplished 
through my own natural temerity, seconded by Gnei- 
senau's presence of mind, but above all, through the 
Almighty's mercy !" 

t Wahlstadt is a princely but spiritual domain in Si- 
lesia, founded by St. Hedwig in remembrance of Duke 
Henry of Lower Saxony, who lost his life on this spot 
in the year 1241 , in a great battle against the Mongo- 
lians. 



the allies occupying the whole range of 
heights along the left bank of the Elbe to 
the extent of three miles around the city. 
The signal being announced by three can- 
non-shots, the allied troops descended from 
their position on the heights in six separate 
divisions of attack, each preceded by fifty 
pieces of cannon. Having arrived in the 
plain, they drew up in line of battle, and the 
infantry advanced and stormed the French 
intrenchments, upon which their artillery, 
at the same time, poured forth the most de- 
structive fire. One brave corps of Austri- 
ans succeeded in making themselves mas- 
ters of an intrenchment defended by eight 
pieces of artillery, and pressed forward to 
the very walls of the city ; but they were not 
sufficiently strong to maintain their ground, 
while Napoleon now kept sending forth from 
the city gates, and under shelter of his bat- 
teries, large bodies of infantry and cavalry. 
Both sides fought with great courage, and 
the city itself was much injured and many 
of the inhabitants killed by the artillery of 
the allies. The latter, however, who were 
forced to contend against intrenchments, 
ramparts, and masses of the enemy's troops, 
continually increasing in number, could not 
succeed in gaining their object, and accord- 
ingly, night having set in, they retreated 
and fell back upon their former position on 
the hills. 

During the whole of this night reinforce- 
ments of French troops kept incessantly 
arriving at Dresden from the opposite shore 
of the Elbe, and on the next morning, at 
about seven o'clock, they were marched 
forth from their intrenchments. Napoleon's 
object as to force the allies to abandon al- 
together the neighborhood of Dresden, where 
he had established his head-quarters, and to 
drive them back across the Bohemian moun- 
tains. He had now assembled together the 
flower of his army, and even his guards, which 
were only employed in extreme and decisive 
moments, were now selected to share in the 
battle. His plan of battle was to occupy 
the attention of the enemy's right wing and 
centre by a well-sustained fire from his 
heavy guns, as if intending to direct his 
entire force against that quarter; while, 
meantime, the king of Naples, with a nu- 
merous body of infantry, and the ilite of 
the cavalry, was to march on to Freiberg 
and fall upon the left wing of the Austrians ; 
and, as the latter portion of the allied army 
was divided from the main body by the 



454 



GENERAL MOREAU KILLED— GENERAL VANDAMME. 



valley of Plauen, and the rain poured down 
in such torrents that every thing around 
was obscured, the French were completely 
successful, and came up close to the Aus- 
trians before they could be discovered. 
The attack commenced, and the heavy 
cavalry of the assailants dashed among the 
Austrian newly-levied foot-soldiers, and as 
the latter, owing to the deluging rain, found 
their firelocks perfectly useless, they were 
all either killed or made prisoners, of which 
the latter, amounting to 12,000, including 
their general, Mezko, were all marched into 
Dresden. 

Among those who lost their lives on this 
sad day was General Moreau, who had just 
returned from America, whither he had 
been banished by Napoleon, and who had 
engaged to aid the emperor Alexander 
with all his knowledge and experience for 
the deliverance of Germany and Europe, 
in the cause of which he entered most 
heartily. Both his legs were shot off by 
a cannon-ball on the morning after his 
arrival at head-quarters, and while he was 
in conversation with the emperor Alexan- 
der. Fie underwent the painful operation of 
amputation of both thighs with the firmness 
and resignation of a hero accustomed to 
meet death in any form ; but he, neverthe- 
less, sunk under it, and died at Laun in 
Bohemia, on the 2d of September. He was 
an excellent general, an upright and noble- 
minded man, and one whose whole soul was 
so devoted to liberty that it was universally 
regretted he was not spared to witness as 
well as to assist in its restoration. 

The want of supplies and of the means 
of their conveyance, together with the over- 
throw of the left wing, by which the high 
road to Freiberg was completely cut off, 
induced the allies to withdraw their forces 
and retire into Bohemia, more especially 
as news now reached them that General 
Vandamme, with a chosen body of troops, 
was advancing by hasty marches from the 
opposite side across Pirna, in order to cut 
off likewise the second grand route. Na- 
poleon's chief aim was to annihilate the al- 
lied army, by forcing it to retreat across 
bad roads, and thus, by entangling it in the 
difficult passes of the mountains, destroy it by 
famine and disease, or, having thus reduced 
the whole of the forces to the last extreme, 
oblige them to lay down their arms and 
give themselves up prisoners. And truly the 
dangers to which they were exposed might 



have produced what he so much wished — 
but all his plans very soon rebounded against 
himself. 

Presumption, ambition, and especially 
the sanguine hopes he entertained of ob- 
taining the marshal's baton by a brilliant 
action, stimulated General Vandamme to 
march boldly forward, and he well nigh 
succeeded in giving the allies a decisive 
blow. But on the 20th of August, when 
he arrived at the entrance of the valley of 
Toplitz. he found his passage opposed by 
the Russian guard, amounting to 8000 men. 
commanded by General Ostermann — a pha- 
lanx of heroes, who firmly planted them- 
selves across his path like an impenetrable 
wall of adamant. His own force consisted 
of 30,000 picked men, but who were, never- 
theless, held at bay by these 8000 guards 
the entire day, who at length slowly retired, 
and disputed every inch of ground before 
the superior numbers of their foe ; nor did 
they retreat indeed, until half their force 
was either killed or wounded, and their 
brave leader, Ostermann, had lost an arm. 

Nevertheless, it was determined that Van- 
damme should not maintain the position he 
commanded, which was so dangerous to the 
allies, and he was again attacked upon the 
heights of Kulm and Arbesau, on the 30th, 
by the Russians and two divisions of the 
Austrians, who had come up during the 
night. His right flank was protected by 
the Geiers mountain, and by the road across 
the hill of Nollendorf he expected aid from 
the forces under Marmont, St. Cyr, or Mor- 
tier, who were likewise in pursuit of the 
allies, and were only distant a few hours' 
march. Both armies fought with great 
obstinacy, and the rocks and precipices 
around vibrated a thousand-fold with the 
cries of the combatants, the clashing of 
their swords, and the fire of their guns. 
Suddenly, however, appeared upon the 
heights, in his rear, what Vandamme at 
first thought was the very aid he expected, 
but he soon found out his mistake, it being, 
on the contrary, several battalions of Prus- 
sians led on by Kleist, and who were now 
descending upon the French in all haste. 
The latter were struck as with a clap of 
thunder, and no longer thought of victorv, 
but only of their own safety, and a portion 
of the cavalry unexpectedly rushing upon 
the Prussians with the greatest fury, suc- 
ceeded in cutting their way through and 
i escaping. But the Austrians and Russians 



TE DEUM— BATTLE OF DENNEWITZ. 



455 



coming up now joined the Prussians, and 
they completely surrounded Vandamme 
and the rest of his army. From ten to 
twelve thousand men were made prisoners, 
together with Vandamme himself and Ge- 
neral Haxo ; in addition to which, eighty 
pieces of artillery, all their ammunition- 
wagons, two eagles, and three standards, 
fell into the hands of the victors. 

This was an unexpected blow to Bona- 
parte ; and while he praised the courage 
displayed by his general, he condemned 
him for his want of prudence. On the 
other hand, the brave Prussian general, 
Kleist, was honored by his sovereign with 
the title of " Kleist von Nollendorf." 

Nearly about the same time that these 
glorious achievements were effected in the 
presence, as it were, of the three sovereigns 
themselves, the news arrived of the vic- 
tories gained at Katzbach and Gross-Beer- 
en ; which was immediately followed by 
the announcement of the triumphant battle 
fought at Vittoria by the British troops un- 
der their heroic leader, Wellington. In 
gratitude to Heaven for these glorious re- 
sults, the three monarcns ordered a solemn 
Te Deum to be celebrated at Toplitz on the 
3d of September, in the presence of them- 
selves and the whole of the allied army. 

Napoleon now resolved to make up for 
the losses he had sustained by gaining ad- 
vantages in another quarter, and appointed j 
Marshal Ney, whom he had created Prince 
de la Moskwa, to succeed General Oudinot 
in command of the army which was to take 
possession of Berlin. The crown-prince 
of Sweden, Bernadotte, managed very suc- 
cessfully to deceive and draw him into the 
net, by pretending to detach 25,000 men 
from his army in aid of General Wall- 
moden against Davoust, taking care, how- 
ever, to allow his preparations to be made 
known to the watchful spies of Napoleon, 
to whom the information thereof was very 
speedily conveyed. Ney received imme- 
diate orders to march from the Elbe with 
his 80,000 men, and attack all before him 
— under the idea that the aforesaid 25,000 
men were en route for Mecklenburg. 

Ney succeeded, nevertheless, in deceiv- 
ing the crown-prince as to his intentions, 
by counter-marches, and on the 6th of Sep- 
tember he fell all at once, with the whole 
of his army, upon the Prussians command- 
ed by Bulow and Tauenzien, at Dennewitz 
near Jiiterbogk. The Prussian army, which | 



consisted of only 40,000 men, suffered a se- 
vere shock from this overwhelming force, 
against which they had to contend the 
whole day, until the arrival of the Russian 
and Swedish troops. The French generals 
used all their efforts in order to gain the 
battle ; Ney exposed himself so much that 
half of his staff officers were killed around 
him, and his example was followed by 
Oudinot, who attacked the corps under 
Tauenzien at the head of his men ; while 
Regnier continued for a long time fighting 
amidst the enemy's sharpshooters, as if 
seeking his death at their hands. But the 
courage of the Prussians was not to be 
overcome, although more than a third of 
their number became a sacrifice ; and at 
length, towards the evening, when fifty bat- 
talions of the Swedish and Russian infan- 
try, together with 6000 cavalry and 120 
pieces of artillery, marched into the field 
and joined in the battle, the French were 
forced to yield, and were put to rout at 
once, pursued by the allied cavalry to the 
very banks of the Elbe, losing from 18,000 
to 20,000 men in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners, together with eighty pieces of 
cannon and other trophies. 

After such repeated reverses experienced 
by his generals, Napoleon gave up planning 
any fresh attacks, and had he only given 
ear to the voice of reason and moderation, 
he would, at the same time, have perceived 
at once that he could only defend himself 
for a short time longer in Saxony. But 
the presumption, wrath, and the thirst after 
vengeance with which his heart was filled, 
completely blinded him, and like the gam- 
bler, who in his despair stakes his all upon 
the last throw, Napoleon madly resolved to 
lose or gain all, and obstinately determined 
not to move from the spot. 

Throughout the whole of September he 
was continually marching either between 
Dresden and Lusatia on the one side, or 
towards the mountains of Bohemia on the 
other, in order to inflict a decisive blow upon 
the Silesian army, or to keep at bay the 
main body of the allied forces in the latter 
country. The allies, however, took good 
care not to venture an action in an unfavor- 
able position, and as he advanced they se- 
cured themselves in such a locality as com- 
pletely prevented him from attacking or 
drawing them into a general battle. This 
continual marching and counter-marching 
harassed and depressed his soldiers so much, 



458 



BLUCHER'S BOLD MANOEUVRE. 



that they began now to murmur and express 
disgust at the war which but a short time 
previously they entered upon with such en- 
thusiasm. 

He now advanced once more from Dres- 
den with his guards, apparently for the 
purpose of gaining upon Blucher, who 
neared the Elbe more and more; but he 
changed his plan, and irritated and furious 
at being so often foiled, he turned his march 
against the allied army in Bohemia, and on 
the 17th attacked them in a narrow valley 
of the mountains near Nollendorf, in order 
to force a passage on to Toplitz. Once 
again, and for the last time, the thunder of 
artillery vibrated here from rock to rock, 
and the sanguinary struggle was resumed; 
but Napoleon was again unsuccessful, and 
was forced to fall back with the loss of ten 
cannon and 2000 prisoners taken by the 
Austrians under General Kolloredo. On 
the 22d he advanced once more against 
Blucher, who took up a strong position on 
the river Spree, and on the 24th Napoleon 
was forced to return to Dresden. 

This was a losing game at war, which 
the longer it lasted must turn the tide of 
fortune more and more against him ; while, 
in addition to this, the want of supplies was 
felt increasingly by his whole army. He 
was now almost surrounded on every side, 
and only a narrow road across Leipsic 
was still left open for him, by which to 
keep up his communication with France. 
And even of this he was very soon deprived, 
for several daring leaders at the head of 
their light squadrons were now constantly 
harassing his troops in that quarter ; among 
these was more especially Colonel Mens- 
dorf, who more than once advanced to the 
very gates of Leipsic itself ; General Thiel- 
mann, who, having abandoned the Saxon 
service, now devoted his arm to the allied 
cause, and made frequent incursions in 
Weissenfels, Liitzen, Naumburg, and Mer- 
seburg ; and, finally, the Russian general 
Czernitschef, who, with his daring flying 
cossacks, penetrated even as far as Cassel, 
and, driving before them the effeminate and 
voluptuous Jerome from his usurped king- 
dom of Westphalia, returned to the Elbe 
loaded with rich booty. 

These bold operations were extremely 
annoying and injurious to Napoleon. All 
his convoys were seized, and the guards 
killed or made prisoners ; every passage 
being so unsafe that he could neither re- 



ceive or dispatch messengers, for they were 
sure to be attacked and robbed of their 
letters. He determined to put these daring 
intruders to rout, and accordingly gave 
orders to General Lefebvre-Desnouettes to 
march with eight thousand infantry and 
cavalry of the guard against them, and ex- 
terminate them. But he was met at Zeitz, 
on the 28th of September, by the Hettmann 
Platoff and General Thielmann, who so 
completely defeated him that he never ven- 
tured to show himself before them a second 
time. 

Those events, however favorable to the 
allied powers, or disastrous to the French, 
effected, nevertheless, nothing decisive ; 
while unhappy Saxony was suffering dread- 
fully from the presence of such large ar- 
mies. Blucher, who in spite of his age 
still evinced all the fire and activity of 
youth, could no longer endure this state of 
uncertainty, and he resolved to form a 
junction with the army of the north, which 
had already shown the example by throw- 
ing a bridge across the Elbe, near Dessau, 
and making other preparations for more 
active measures. Suddenly, by a rapid 
counter-march, equally bold and unexpect- 
ed, he arrived at Jessen on the Elbe, at the 
moment he was thought to be at Bautzen ; 
and while, in order to deceive the enemy, 
he ordered music and dancing to be con- 
tinually performed in his camp, he caused 
two bridges to be constructed during the 
night on the river, and on the following 
morning the Silesian army was already 
marching along its left bank. This was a 
bold and dangerous undertaking, for the 
army was exposed to the fire of two fortifi- 
cations in front and rear, Torgau and Wit- 
tenberg ; General Bertrand had likewise 
just marched into that country with 20,000 
men, and had taken up a very strong posi- 
tion near Wartenburg. Scarcely had he 
established himself there before he beheld 
advancing upon him the veteran marshal 
and his Prussians, whom he little expected, 
and who themselves were equally surprised 
by the presence of so strong a French force. 
General York, however, at the head of the 
vanguard, immediately attacked the ad- 
vanced posts, and an obstinate and sangui- 
nary battle took place. The French, how- 
ever, were forced to retreat after a loss of 
1000 prisoners, and thirteen pieces of can- 
non ; and the Prussians suffered likewise 
considerably, especially the Landwehr or 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE OF LEIPSIC. 



457 



militia of Silesia, commanded by General 
Horn, which eminently distinguished itself. 
Shortly afterwards, in honor of this victory, 
the king of Prussia conferred upon General 
York the title of " York von Wartenburg." 

Bliicher marched thence to Diiben, and 
joined the army of the north, which had 
crossed the Elbe, and arrived at Dessau. 
At the same time the grand allied army 
broke up from Bohemia, and leaving Napo- 
leon in Dresden, to the right, advanced 
across the passes of the Hartz mountains, 
and reached the large plains of Saxony. 
On the 5th of October, the army established 
its head-quarters at Marienberg. 

Napoleon could now no longer remain in 
Dresden ; the allied forces threatened to 
close upon his rear, and to cut off his road 
back to France. Accordingly, he marched 
away on the 7th of October, accompanied 
by the king of Saxony. He left in Dresden 
itself a corps of the army amounting to 
28,000 men, under the command of Mar- 
shal Gouvion Saint-Cyr, and this circum- 
stance shows clearly, that he had not as yet 
decided upon abandoning the Elbe. 

He now directed his march against Blii- 
cher ; but what was his astonishment when, 
on arriving on the 10th of October at Du- 
ben, he found the Prussian general was no 
longer there, and learned that instead of 
withdrawing to the Elbe, he had marched 
behind the Saale, there to be ready to form 
a junction with the Bohemian army, as 
soon as it arrived in the neighborhood of 
Leipsic. Under these circumstances there 
remained nothing else for him to do but to 
march to Leipsic himself, and to assemble 
there all the forces he could command. 
But before this could be effected, and every 
thing be prepared for action, he was forced 
to pass four tedious days of supense at Dii- 
ben itself. 

The whole of the French army had now 
collected at Leipsic, and Marshal Auge- 
reau having arrived from Naumburg with 
15,000 of the old troops, including a corps 
of cavalry from Spain, Napoleon immedi- 
ately followed, and entered Leipsic on the 
14th of October. The greater part of his 
army was encamped near Wachau, about 
four miles southeastward of Leipsic, where 
they awaited the appearance of Prince 
Schwartzenberg with the main body of the 
allied army, for whom, however, they had 
not long to wait. His cavalry had already 
come ud, and caused the French to feel 
58 



their presence on that day at Liebertwolk- 
witz. Murat had placed himself at the 
head of six squadrons of the old cavalry 
from Spain, and was determined to give 
the allies some farther proofs that the 
former bravery of the French horsemen 
could still be maintained ; but he had to 
deal with those who sat yet more firmly in 
their saddles. The Russian, Prussian, and 
Austrian cavalry fell upon them with such 
fury, that they were completely overthrown 
and put to flight, and Murat himself nearly 
taken prisoner. 

According to official statements made 
at the time, the French army, originally 
300,000 strong, now amounted to 203,000 ; 
the rest having been already swept off by 
the war. If from this number are deducted 
the 28,000 men forming the garrison of 
Dresden, it will be found that the numer- 
ical force of the entire army at Leipsic 
was 180,000 men. These forces Napoleon, 
on the 15th of October, drew up in a circle 
around the city, an action being now in- 
evitable. The army was still strong and 
select, for all those of its ranks who had 
become tired and disgusted with the war 
had returned to France, and such again as 
were of weakly constitution had been car- 
ried off by famine and the severity of the 
weather, or had sunk under the infirmities 
and illness produced by their continual 
marching. The troops that now remained 
formed a firm and hardy body of men, 
defying all danger, and well aware that, 
surrounded as they were at every point by 
an embittered and vengeance-seeking foe, 
their united strength and courage alone 
could save them. At the same time the 
confidence they continued to place in their 
master was so strong and unchangeable 
that they regarded victory as certain, and 
themselves as invincible in his presence. 
At the same time Napoleon sought still 
more by every possible means to inflame 
the courage of his men. He created new 
leaders, made fresh promotions, distributed 
crosses of the Legion of Honor and other 
marks of distinction, while several regi- 
ments were furnished with the imperial 
eao-le. Thus he celebrated a ^rand mili- 
tary fete throughout the entire camp, as 
was his custom on the eve of any great and 
decisive event. 

On his part, Prince Schwartzenberg, the 
commander-in-chief of the allied army 
neglected nothing in order to encourage 



458 



THE THREE DAYS 5 BATTLE OF LEIPSIC. 



his troops, and in his address pointed out to 
them, that the moment had now arrived, 
when by their valor and firmness they 
must reconquer and establish, once more 
and forever, the liberty of their country. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The Three Days' Battle of Leipsic— Marat— The Aus- 
trian General Meerveldt taken prisoner— Battle of 
Moeckern — Marshals Marmont and Bliicher — Gen- 
eral Horn— Total Defeat of the French — Bonaparte's 
Offers to Negotiate rejected — Breitenield — Bernadotte 
— Bennigsen — The Prince of Hesse Homburs — Prince 
Poniatowsky— Probstheyda— The Saxon Army de- 
serts Bonaparte and joins the Allies — The Allied 
Sovereigns — Night Scene on the Field of Battle — Bo- 
naparte's Slumber— Retreat of the French— Destruc- 
tion of the Elster Bridge — Prince Poniatowsky "s 
Death — Triumphant Entry of the Allies into Leipsic. 

The French army had so encamped 
itself around Leipsic that it commanded all 
the approaches to it within a distance of 
four miles, except on the west side near 
Lindenau, whence Napoleon felt secured 
from any serious attack, and where, about 
two miles from the city, General Bertrand 
was posted with the fourth division of the 
army. 

During the night of the 15th of Octo- 
ber, Prince Schwartzenberg ordered three 
rockets to be fired off as the agreed signal 
to the Silesian army on the other side of 
Leipsic, which was immediately answered 
by the ascension of four rockets in that 
quarter, an acknowledgment producing 
universal joy and confidence among the 
allied forces. 

The morning of the 16th was at first I 
extremely misty and gloomy, but towards j 
nine o'clock, after a second signal had | 
been given by the discharge of three can- 
non-shots, which was succeeded by the 1 
thunder of artillery on both sides, the | 
clouds of vapor gradually disappeared, the 
sky became serene, and during the whole 
of this sanguinary day the sun shone upon 
the field of battle. The cannonading kept 
up on both sides was so terrific that the 
very earth trembled with the continued 
concussion, and the oldest warriors present 
declared never until that moment to have 
witnessed such awful discharges of artil- 
lery : for on the side of the French alone 
the number of cannon employed in this 
destructive work was 600 pieces, and that 



on the part of the allies amounted to be- 
tween 800 and 1000. 

The battle raged with great fury at 
three principal points, but the most serious 
engagement was southwest of the city, 
near Markleeberg, Wachau, and Liebert- 
wolkwitz, where the main body of the 
allied army fought; next, to the west near 
Lindenau, between Bertrand and the Aus- 
trian general, Giulay ; and, finally, towards 
the north, near Moeckern and Lindenthai. 
between Bliicher and Marshal Marmont. 
This last action assumed a more distinct 
form, and was called the battle of Moeckern, 
Prince Schwartzenberg had posted at 
his extreme left, on the other side of the 
Pleisse, General Meerveldt, who was to 
attack the flank of the right wing of the 
French ; at this point was stationed Prince 
Poniatowsky with his Poles, who, as usual, 
fought with the greatest bravery for Napo- 
leon. The centre was occupied by the 
Russians and Prussians, commanded by- 
Wittgenstein and Kleist ; and at the right 
wing were the Austrians under Klenau. 
All these divisions of the allied army had 
arrived in the morning, prepared for the 
attack. General Kleist took possession of 
i Markleeberg ; to the left, the prince of 
| Wtirtemberg penetrated through the centre 
into Wachau with the Russians and Prus- 
sians; and the Austrians under Klenau 
made themselves masters of Kolmberg 
near Liebertwolkwitz to the right. The 
whole battle-line of the French army fell 
back, and Napoleon himself with his guards 
was so close to the fire of the allies, that 
several of his staff were killed around 
him ; but he was not the man to abandon 
the field of battle on the first assault. 

In the midst of the battle's rage, he had 
with his keen eye examined the whole 
range of contention around him. and to the 
right and left of Wachau had prepared 
meantime two strong columns of attack, 
composed of the flower of his infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery; which he now. 
seeing it the most favorable moment, 
pushed forward against the centre. This 
attack, ordered by himself and effected 
under his own eyes, was so impetuous that 
the allies were forced to abandon the vil- 
lages they occupied, and to retreat within 
the lines they had quitted in the morning. 
The French now succeeded in capturing 
several of the heights on the opposite side 
of these villages, and penetrating as far as 



MURAT AT GULDENGOSSA — DEFEATED. 



45S 



the village of Guldengossa, took possession 
of the hills called the Swedish intrench- 
ments, which command the country many 
miles round. 

Victory appeared now as if inclined to 
pronounce in favor of Napoleon ; already 
the left and right wings of the allies were 
nearly both cut off from their centre, and 
at three o'clock in the afternoon Napoleon 
dispatched a courier to Leipsic to an- 
nounce his triumph to the king of Saxony, 
with the command that all the bells should 
be rung in honor of the glorious event. 
These sounds brought with them but 
gloomy prospects to our fellow. Germans 
shut up within the walls of their city — but 
circumstances very speedily produced a 
more cheerful state of feeling, for the can- 
nonading had not yet discontinued, nor had 
its echo become more distant ; nay, it ap- 
peared, on the contrary, to approach more 
and more closely. This changed aspect 
in affairs was produced by the following 
happy circumstance : 

Some officers of Prince Schwartzen- 
berg's army stationed in Gautsch, having 
observed from the tower of the church, 
whence they commanded a full view of 
the field of battle, the dangerous turn 
events had taken, made their report to the 
prince forthwith, who saw at once that this 
was now the decisive moment. It was of 
the last importance not to allow the enemy, 
against whom the powers of Europe were 
assembled in arms, to retain even a mo- 
mentary advantage. Accordingly he or- 
dered forth the Austrian reserve under the 
command of the hereditary prince of Hesse- 
Homburg, and these troops, consisting of 
the various regiments of cuirassiers de- 
nominated those of Albert, Lorraine, Fran- 
cis, Ferdinand, and Sommarina, advanced 
across difficult roads, crossed the Pleisse, 
and attacking the French division, which 
had established itself to the right of Wa- 
chau, dislodged it ; whence the junction 
of the left wing with the centre was re- 
formed. Thus Kleist, who with his Prus- 
sians had maintained possession of Mark- 
leeberg against every attack, was, at five 
o'clock, relieved from his arduous duty by 
the arrival of the Austrians, and was per- 
mitted, after his hard-fought defence, to 
take a little breath. 

On the other side, the left column of 
Napoleon's attack, led on by the impetuous 
Murat, had already reached Guldengossa, 



and used every effort to take possession of 
the place ; and had they succeeded, the 
allied army would have been thrown into 
the utmost confusion, and its centre forced 
into the marshes of the valley of Gosel. 
The enemy's battalions of infantry had al- 
ready penetrated into the middle of the vil- 
lage, their cuirassiers attacked and carried 
by a desperate assault a battery of twenty- 
six cannon, cutting down all before them, 
and pushing on, they had nearly gained 
the height where the monarchs of Russia 
and Prussia were attentively surveying the 
battle, when the emperor Alexander im- 
mediately ordered his body-guard of Don 
Cossacks, under the command of Count 
Orloff-Denissow, to attack the daring in- 
truders, and he was immediately obeyed ; 
with their usual loud and savage shouts 
they rushed down like lightning with their 
lances, and completely overthrew their 
mailed and more heavily accoutred adver- 
saries, whose principal leader, Latour- 
Maubourg, in a charge he made, had his 
leg completely smashed. 

The danger was now over ; the enemy 
lost all the advantages previously obtained. 
It was now five o'clock, and the day was 
drawing to a close, when Murat ventured 
upon another attack against Guldengossa ; 
but it was valiantly met and repulsed by 
Prince Eugene of Wiirtemberg with his 
Russian grenadiers, and the Prussians un- 
der Pirch and Jagow, and the enemy was 
forced to give it up. This was the last 
effort made on this side ; night broke in 
and terminated the contest. 

Thus, after a struggle of ten hours, 
during which so much blood had been 
shed, both armies at this point remained in 
the same position as in the morning ; ex- 
cepting that the French retained posses- 
sion of the Swedish intrenchments on their 
left wing ; while, on the other side, the 
moiety of the village of Markleeberg re- 
mained in the hands of the Prussians and 
Austrians. 

By this plan of battle the allies did not 
realize their expectations, and in this re- 
spect, therefore, Napoleon was a gainer by 
this sanguinary day : their object having 
been to cut off his retreat to the Saale. 
An Austrian division had been dispatched 
in advance to Weissenfels ; General Giulay 
was to make himself master of Lindenau, 
and General Meerveldt with the left wing 
was to advance along the Pleisse against 



460 



BATTLE OF MOECKERN— GENERAL HORN. 



Leipsic, and form a junction with General 
Giulay. Had these objects been effected, 
and had Bliicher at the same time ad- 
vanced from the northwest as far as Leip- 
sic, the French army must have been com- 
pletely cut off and lost. But Giulay en- 
deavored in vain throughout the entire day 
to gain possession of Lindenau, which was 
defended by General Bertrand ; the strong 
intrenchments were gained for a moment 
by the Austrians, but were almost immedi- 
ately afterwards recaptured by the French, 
and the former were eventually forced to 
withdraw. General Meerveldt was still 
more unfortunate ; he made various at- 
tempts to advance from the other side of 
the Pleisse and dislodge the Poles from 
Dolitz, Losnig, and Connewitz ; but, owing 
to the marshy ground and the incessant fire 
kept up by the enemy, he failed in his ob- 
ject altogether for a length of time, and 
when, finally, at five o'clock in the after- 
noon, he did succeed in taking Dolitz with 
a portion of his troops, he was immediate- 
ly followed by a large body of the guards 
which Napoleon dispatched to relieve the 
Poles, and thus the Austrians being pressed 
on all sides, were completely overthrown 
and their brave leader himself made pris- 
oner, at the moment when his horse was 
shot under him in a final charge he made. 
This was a fortunate event for Napoleon, 
and he determined to avail himself of the 
circumstance by getting General Meer- 
veldt to use all his influence with the em- 
peror of Austria, and persuade that mon- 
arch to abandon the other allied powers. 

But Napoleon lost at Moeckern against 
Bliicher three times over the benefits he 
derived from the action gained at Linde- 
nau and the capture of General Meer- 
veldt ; for at the very moment that he 
made known his victory at Leipsic, and 
the bells were set ringing in order to stim- 
ulate the courage of his soldiers by their 
deceptive sound, Bliicher by one well- 
timed blow, entirely disappointed his pre- 
mature calculations. He had not been 
prepared for this promptitude displayed by 
the old warrior, however willing he was 
to acknowledge the celerity of his move- 
ments generally. That general had ar- 
rived about mid-day, and immediately 
ordered the attack to be made, with the 
entire force under York, against Marshal 
Marmont in Moeckern, simultaneously with 
that executed by Langeron against Gross I 



and Klein Wiederitsch ; and as the two 
points of attack were widely apart from 
each other, Sacken was stationed in the 
centre with the reserve, to furnish aid 
either to the right or left. 

Glorious recollections were attached to 
this field of battle, inasmuch as it was the 
same spot on which the great Gustavus 
Adolphus had, in former times, completely 
defeated Tilly, the ruthless destroyer of 
Magdeburg. 

The Prussians had to sustain the most 
obstinate and hard-fought contest of all in 
Moeckern and its neighborhood ; never- 
theless they did not flinch, although their 
numbers diminished very seriously ; and 
the reserve, consisting of General Horn's 
brigade, was all now left to them. Field- 
marshal Bliicher now sent orders to Gene- 
ral Sacken to advance with his troops ; 
but the distance was too great, and York 
saw well that at this critical moment he 
had no time to lose, but must depend upon 
his own resources. Accordingly, he dis- 
patched one of his aides-de-camp to Gene- 
ral Horn, who was stationed in the open 
plain, and announced to him the pressing 
danger in which he was placed : " Eh ! is 

it so, Captain ?." exclaimed the brave 

general.* " Well, then," addressing his 
soldiers, " let us in our turn, comrades, 
advance to the rescue with our cheers !" 
Saying which, he led on his troops amidst 
loud shouts to the attack, and, penetrating 
to the left of the village, charged the ene- 
my with the bayonet, and before the latter 
were enabled to load their cannon a third 
time, they were captured and their ranks 
overthrown. Happily arrived also, just 
at this moment, the entire corps of Meck- 
lenburg hussars, who, dashing upon the 
French squares of infantry, completely 
overpowered them, and putting them to 
flight, pursued them as far as the Partha, 
thus coming up just in time to terminate 
gloriously the fate of the day, without 
awaiting the arrival of Sacken and the 
Russian reserve. More than fifty pieces 
of artillery, besides ammunition, were cap- 
tured. 

Langeron, on his part, had fought at the 

* By a singular coincidence of good fortune, it was 
ordained that General Horn should thus essentially 
contribute to the glorious decision of this day, on the 
very same spot where, in 1631, his ancestor, Gustavus 
Horn, leader of the left wing of the Swedes, fought so 
valiantly at the head of his foot-soldiers against Pap- 
penheim's cavalry that he produced the most triumph- 
j ant results in that great battle. 



NAPOLEON REFUSED AN ARMISTICE. 



461 



head of the Russians with no less courage, 
and carried the villages of Gross and 
Klein Wiederitsch, taking thirteen cannon ; 
so that Marmont found himself, on the eve- 
ning of this day, pursued as far as the 
left hank of the Partha, close to Leipsic. 

On the following day, the 17th, Napo- 
leon used every effort in order to divide 
the allied parties, and obtain a suspension 
of arms, during which he hoped to recover 
from his present dilemma. But the pro- 
posals he caused to be made to the emperor 
Francis through the medium of Count 
Meerveldt were not listened to for a mo- 
ment ; for his character was now too well 
known not to see that his object was only to 
gain time. If, as he declared, his only 
motive was to save all farther effusion of 
blood, it was only necessary for him to 
withdraw and make the retreat, which, 
after all, he was forced to effect two days 
later, and after an additional sacrifice of 
50,000 men. He might have known by 
the actions already fought on the 10th, 
that he could never succeed in beating the 
brave forces of the allies. He himself 
could expect no more reinforcements, all 
the troops he commanded were now as- 
sembled around him; while the allies, on 
the other hand, still had large corps of 
reserve. Bernadotte arrived during the 
night, driving before him General Regnier, 
whose troops were chiefly composed of 
Saxons ; while Bennigsen marched up in 
the morning with a fresh army of Rus- 
sians, and at mid-day Kolloredo advanced 
with an Austrian division. 

Napoleon, however, could not summon 
up resolution to quit the field of battle as 
long as there was the least shadow of hope 
remaining ; and yet, at the same time, he 
lost all that activity he had on former oc- 
casions so frequently shown, and which had 
so often crowned him with victory. 

The French army which Napoleon had 
drawn up in the form of a crescent, was to 
be attacked from three sides : from the 
north by Bernadotte and the Silesian army ; 
from the east by Bennigsen, who, with the 
Russians, had also under his command the 
Austrians under Klenau, and a division of 
the Prussians under Ziethen ; and from the 
south, whence, however, the grand attack 
was to be made, as that was the enemy's 
strongest point. Here, accordingly, the 
general-in-chief divided his army into two 
grand divisions, of which one composed of 



Russians and Prussians under Wittgenstein 
and Kleist was to attack the central point 
of the French, and the other constituting 
the flower of the Austrian army, under the 
hereditary prince of Hesse-Homburg, was 
to fall upon Prince Poniatowsky, who had 
defended himself so obstinately on the 
Pleisse, and force him to retreat to Leipsic. 

Napoleon, on his part, had drawn togeth- 
er more closely his half circle in order to 
render it more firm. He had abandoned 
Wachau and Lieberwolkwitz, where so 
much blood had been spilt on the 16th, 
and made Probstheyda the central point of 
operations ; he himself, however, with his 
guards, took up his position between this 
village and the right wing on the Pleisse, 
establishing his head-quarters upon a hill 
close to a wind-mill, pierced through and 
through with cannon-balls and half in ruins. 

•Exactly as the clock struck eight the 
battle commenced. The hereditary prince 
of Hesse-Homburg advanced towards the 
Pleisse against Dolitz, which he stormed. 
The Poles and the French under Ponia- 
towsky defended themselves with despera- 
tion, and the struggle was extremely fierce 
and sanguinary. The Austrians were sev- 
eral times repulsed, and their brave com- 
mander himself receiving two wounds, his 
place was immediately filled by Kolloredo. 
Finally, being supported by Bianki, he suc- 
ceeded in conquering Dolitz, Dosen, and 
the heights on the right bank, and main- 
tained his position the whole day in spite of 
Marshal Oudinot and the guards, who came 
up to the aid of the Poles. 

To the right, the Russians and Prussians 
had likewise been successful, and drove the 
enemy before them as far as Probstheyda, 
where, at mid-day, they came right in front 
of Napoleon. Here was fought the most 
obstinate battle ; for upon the retention of 
this village depended the fate of the whole 
French army. Thence Napoleon had as- 
sembled within and around it, large bodies 
of troops of all arms, and had erected be- 
sides several strong intrenchments ; while 
he himself remained on the spot with his 
guards, in order to furnish aid without a mo- 
ment's loss of time, every house in the vil- 
lage being converted into a kind of citadel. 
The Prussians, nevertheless, under the 
command of Prince Augustus and Pirch, 
penetrated into the place after a fierce and 
heroic combat ; but it was only for a mo- 
ment, for they were unable to maintain 



462 



THE ALLIES VICTORIOUS— JOINED BY THE SAXONS. 



their ground. A strong division of Russians 
now advanced to the attack, but they were 
likewise repulsed, and were equally unable 
with all their courage to make themselves 
masters of the village. The carnage was 
so great that the allied troops could scarce- 
ly move along, the bodies of their slain 
comrades completely choking up every pas- 
sage. At length the three allied sovereigns, 
having from a neighboring height where 
they were assembled in order to watch the 
progress of the battle, observed the super- 
human efforts made by their brave troops 
in that quarter, gave orders at five o'clock 
to give up the contest for the place, and 
spare the lives of the men ; especially as 
the victory was now made decisive in dif- 
ferent parts of the field, and Napoleon had, 
in fact, already given orders to Marshal 
Bertrand to retire with his troops from Lin- 
denau towards the Saale — an undeniable 
proof that he had decided upon the retreat 
of his whole army. 

Such were the results produced in this 
part of the field of battle. On the west 
side Bennigsen attacked Marshal Macdon- 
ald, who was ordered to defend the French 
lines in this direction. The marshal main- 
tained his position with great bravery, es- 
pecially in Holzhausen, which was taken 
and retaken several times. At length, 
however, about two o'clock, the Austrians 
and Russians made themselves masters of 
this place ; while the Prussians took Ziick- 
elhausen, and now Macdonald retired to 
Stotteritz, close to Probstheyda. The whole 
of the troops which had formed the centre 
were now concentrated around these two 
villages, and they maintained their position 
there until night. 

On the left wing, however, Marshal Ney 
experienced the most severe defeat of the 
whole day. He had under his charge the 
defence of the entire line of country from 
Macdonald's position to the Partha ; but 
he found it impossible to hold out against 
the two armies — the Northern and Silesian 
—which now advanced against him, and 
he was forced to retreat to within a short 
distance of Leipsic itself. The two armies 
crossed the Partha in two directions, Blu- 
cher, with the Russians, fording the river 
at once near Mockau, although up to the 
waist in water, because he found it would 
take up too much time to cross over by 
Taucha. The French, under Marmont, 
made no resistance, but retreated in all 



haste to Schonfeld; while the Saxon regi- 
ments of hussars and lancers, together with 
several battalions of infantry, received the 
allies with open arms and joined their ranks 
at once. 

About mid-day the army of the north, 
which had remained to cross the river at 
Taucha, advanced to fill up the gap left 
between Bliicher to the right and Bennig- 
sen to the left, thus making the line perfect 
to its whole extent, and by which the 
French were gradually surrounded more 
and more closely. Langeron, at the head 
of the Russians, took possession of Schon- 
feld, on the Partha, which, however, was 
defended with the greatest obstinacy by 
Marmont. The contest lasted four hours, 
and fresh troops on both sides were con- 
tinually brought forward ; until, at length, 
between five and six o'clock, when the vil- 
lage and its church were completely in 
flames, the French quitted the place and 
retreated by Reudnitz and Volkmansdorf 
to Leipsic. Ney and Regnier, who had to 
maintain possession of the open country be- 
yond Paunsdorf, being attacked, in the 
afternoon, by the army of the north and the 
Prussians under Blilow, were driven alto- 
gether out of Paunsdorf, and when they at- 
tempted to defend themselves in the plain 
the Russian and Prussian cavalry, which 
had all this time been unemployed, as the 
fighting had been confined to the villages, 
dashed with all their fury among them, 
seconded by several congreve-rockets, 
which were fired into their squares, and 
spread death and destruction in every part. 
They were completely overthrown and put 
to flight, never stopping until they reached 
Volkmansdorf, and the villages were re- 
captured. 

It was at this moment that the entire 
army of the Saxons, which had been led 
forth, very unwillingly, to draw the sword 
in the cause of Napoleon, resolved to 
abandon him ; and forthwith marched 
over in a body to the ranks of the allies, 
under their various commanders, and with 
their ensigns flying, accompanied by the 
music of their different bands, and followed 
by all their cannon, ammunition, and bag- 
gage-wagons. 

Napoleon, completely disconcerted by 
this event, hastened to send the cavalry of 
the guard, under the command of Nausou- 
ty, to fill up the vacant ranks. These 
troops had no sooner arrived than, aceom- 



NIGHT— NAPOLEON'S SLUMBER— HIS RETREAT. 



463 



panied by a heavy train of artillery, they 
advanced to attack the flank of Bulow's 
division ; but the Austrians, under Bulow, 
who were close by, marched forward 
themselves to meet the enemy's assault ; 
while from another quarter the Swedes, 
by Bernadotte's orders, discharged among 
their ranks the artillery just brought over 
by the Saxons. The old French guard 
was accordingly forced to retire and aban- 
don possession of the country to the al- 
lies. 

At length the sanguinary day approach- 
ed its end ; the last rays of the sun shed 
their parting genial lustre over the heads 
of the three sovereigns and their distin- 
guished companions, as, standing upon the 
hill, they contemplated the gradual termi- 
nation of this memorable scene of action. 
Thither also Prince Schwartzenberg sum- 
moned a council of war, including the 
principal leaders of the allied army, and 
arrangements were forthwith made for the 
operations of the ensuing day. 

Napoleon, on his part, awaited the ap- 
pearance of night with impatience and 
anxiety, for then the remainder of his 
troops might hope to be rescued from the 
farther fury of the enemy. He had lost a 
great deal of ground, and had reduced 
considerably his crescent-formed army of 
the morning, so that it was now diminished 
into the form of a triangle, of which one 
point was at Probstheyda, whence the line 
joining Connewitz and the Pleisse com- 
posed one side, and that joining Stotteritz 
and Volkmansdorf formed the other. Had 
not his army fought with the greatest cour- 
age, and, notwithstanding the difficulties 
with which they were beset, retreated in 
perfect order — for this praise cannot be 
withheld from them — one of these lines of 
the triangle would inevitably have been 
destroyed before the evening, Leipsic taken, 
and the entire army lost. Napoleon this 
day fought only for a retreat, and already, 
at ten o'clock in the morning, immense 
trains of baggage-wagons and others of 
every description, together with innumera- 
ble horses, had quitted Leipsic under an 
escort of troops, belonging to General Ber- 
trand's division. 

When darkness covered the wide field 
of battle, Napoleon still remained at his 
station on the hill near the windmill, where 
he sat gazing on the watch-fire he had 
ordered to be lighted. He had confided 



the charge of the retreat to his superior 
general, Berthier, who gave the necessary 
orders to his aides-de-camp before another 
watch-fire which appeared behind his mas- 
ter ; during which a profound silence 
reigned around. The French emperor, 
overcome at length by the extraordinary 
exertions of the present and preceding 
days, as well as by the agitations of his 
mind, now gradually sunk into a slumber; 
with his elbows upon his knees and his 
head resting between his hands, he thus 
for a short time reposed amid the horrors 
of the gory scene around him — of that 
field covered with the lifeless bodies of 
those who had fallen the victims of his in- 
ordinate ambition and pride. His generals 
near him preserved a deep and gloomy 
silence, which was interrupted at intervals 
by the low murmuring noise of the retreat- 
ing columns as they marched underneath 
at the base of the hill, or pursued their 
course in the distant plain. At the end of 
a quarter of an hour Napoleon awoke, and 
cast around him a look of inquietude and 
wonder. The present reality may have 
struck him for a moment as a dream, for, 
starting up from his chair, he mounted his 
horse and galloped on to Leipsic, which he 
re-entered at nine o'clock. 

The retreat of the whole army through 
Leipsic commenced immediately after mid- 
night ; but as the various regiments, 
marching from all parts of the field of 
battle, could arrive by one route alone — 
the narrow paved road of Ranstadt — con- 
siderable obstruction and confusion was 
unavoidable ; wagons and cannons were 
mingled and clogged together, while the 
foot-soldiers with difficulty extricated 
themselves from this scene of disorder. 
The rear-guard was ordered to remain be- 
hind and defend Leipsic as long as was 
possible, and although the place was not 
fortified, the utmost was done to render it 
strong by forming intrenchments, barrica- 
ding the gates, and putting in a state of de- 
fence the moats and garden-walls. 

Meantime the allied army, by no means 
inclined to permit the French to retire so 
quietly, and carry away with them the 
spoils and supplies of ammunition they had 
accumulated in Germany, advanced at 
eight o'clock in the morning and stormed 
the gates of the city. This sudden attack 
increased the disorder still reigning, and 
Napoleon himself was forced to quit the 



464 



THE ALLIES ENTER LEIPSIC— BAVARIA. 



place by a by-path. The allies might 
have added to this embarrassment consider- 
ably, and have caused more extensive de- 
struction, if they had brought their artillery 
to bear against the gates and walls of the 
city. But such a proceeding, which must 
have involved the innocent as well as the 
guilty in one common ruin, would have 
been too cruel, and they, accordingly, con- 
fined themselves to storming the gates. 
The French and the Poles made an obsti- 
nate resistance and disputed every inch of 
ground ; the victory, however, was not 
long doubtful, and the allied troops made 
themselves masters of the city. 

It was just at this moment that the bridge 
on the other side of the city, that of the 
Elster-Miihlengraben, the only one left for 
the French to cross over, was blown up in 
the air, without its being known positively 
by what cause : whether by command of 
Napoleon to secure his army from the pur- 
suit of the allied troops, or whether it origi- 
nated in the too precipitate alarm of the 
officer in charge of it. An exclamation of 
horror arose from the crowds as they 
hastened to reach the spot in time to cross. 
A. great number threw themselves into the 
Elster, in order to swim to the other side, 
but the majority were either drowned or 
perished in the mud-banks. Several of 
the generals sprang likewise with their 
horses into the river, in order to escape 
being made prisoners ; but they nearly all 
lost their lives, and among the sufferers 
was Prince Poniatowsky, whom but three 
days before, Napoleon had created a field- 
marshal of France ; Macdonald fortunately 
escaped, whilst Regnier, Bertrand, and 
Lauriston were taken prisoners. 

Napoleon lost more men on this day than 
on the day of battle itself. More than 
15,000 well-armed soldiers were taken 
prisoners after the bridge was blown up, 
and more than 25,000 sick and wounded 
were abandoned and left to the discretion 
of the conquerors. In the city, and on the 
road leading to it, an incredible quantity 
of cannon and ammunition-wagons were 
everywhere scattered, of which more than 
300 of the former, and 1000 of the latter, 
fell into the hands of the allies. 

At one o'clock, the emperor Alexander 
and the king of Prussia, attended by their 
numerous staff of generals, entered the 
city of Leipsic, the acclamations of their 
own brave troops mingling with those of the 



happy inhabitants, who greeted with joy 
the appearance of their deliverers ; the 
emperor Francis arrived a few days later, 
and participated in this glorious scene. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Napoleon's Retreat across the Rhine— Bavaria— Gen- 
eral Wrede— Hanau— The Allied Forces invade 
France— The Minister Von Stein— Their rapid March 
—Napoleon against Blucher— Battle of Brienne— Bat- 
tle of Rothiere— Repulse of the French— Temporarv 
Successes of Napoleon— The Congress of Chatillon— 
Napoleon's Confidence restored — His Declaration — 
Bliicher's bold Movement — Soissons — Laon — Napo- 
leon against Sehwartzenberg— Rheims— Arcis— Na- 
poleon's desperate Courage and final Charge with his 
Cavalry. 

Bavaria, by the treaty of Ried, had al- 
ready joined the grand alliance before the 
battle of Leipsic ; and she now sent her 
general, Marshal Wrede, to the provinces 
on the Maine, with a large army, to which 
were united some Austrian and Wiirtem- 
berg troops, in order to oppose the passage 
of the French across the Rhine, and effect 
their total annihilation. W rede directed 
his march to Hanau and Frankfort, while 
the grand army of the allies pursued the 
fugitives from another side, and York es- 
pecially overtook and attacked them at 
Freiberg on the Unstrut, causing them 
great loss. In front and on each side of 
them, they were harassed by Czernitschef 
and other light troops, and all who detached 
themselves from the main body were made 
prisoners. Thus they proceeded along the 
route from Leipsic to Erfurt, and thence 
to the Rhine, abandoning at every moment 
all that could not follow in their train, can- 
nons, baggage, and such of their comrades 
as were too ill to proceed along with them ; 
for the march was so rapid and continuous, 
that at the end of eleven days, the army 
had already reached Frankfort. 

Napoleon arrived with the remnant of 
his forces of from 70,000 to 80,000 men 
before Hanau, where he encountered Mar- 
shal Wrede, who determined to oppose his 
passage, although his army was inferior in 
numbers ; for if he succeeded in detaining 
him until the arrival of the allied grand 
army, his ruin was certain. This Napo- 
leon well knowing, he employed his guard, 
as yet in good condition, to force their pas- 
sage onward. During three entire days, 



THE ALLIES INVADE FRANCE— THEIR ARMIES. 



405 



the 29th, 30th, and 31st of October, the 
contest was carried on with the greatest 
obstinacy before and within the town of 
Hanau, Marshal Wrede himself being 
severely wounded. Finally, however, the 
French succeeded in cutting their way 
through, although at a great loss. 

On the 2d of November Napoleon 
gained the banks of the Rhine, which he 
now saw for the last time ; he was imme- 
diately followed in all haste by his troops 
over the bridge of Mentz, while General 
Bertrand intrenched himself on the heights 
of Hochheim. This, however, was not 
tolerated by the allies, who would not suffer 
the French to possess an inch of ground on 
this side of the Rhine ; accordingly, on the 
9th of November, Prince Schwartzenberg 
caused him to be attacked by General 
Giulay, and he was forced to retreat to 
Mentz. The three allied sovereigns were 
now reunited in Frankfort, where they de- 
termined together upon the continuation of 
the war. 

With the commencement of the new 
year, 1814, the allied powers, seeing clear- 
ly that nothing but the sword could decide 
between them and their obstinate adver- 
sary, redoubled their efforts, confiding in 
their superior strength and in the justice 
of their cause. The Russians brought at 
least 200,000 men into the field ; the Prus- 
sians 160,000 ; and Austria 230,000, equal- 
ly divided on the Rhine, in Italy, and in 
the interior of Germany. In addition 
to these forces, the brave Field-marshal 
Wellington had already placed his foot on 
the French territory with the British army 
of 80,000 men. Finally, the other states 
of Germany furnished their contingent of 
troops of 150,000 to 160,000 men. 

These were divided into eight distinct 
corps, viz : the first comprised 36,000 
Bavarians under General Wrede ; the 
second was under the command of the duke 
of Brunswick, and consisted of 33,000 
Brunswickers, Hanoverians, Oldenburgers 
and Mecklenburgers, together with some 
Hanseatic troops ; the third, amounting to 
23,000 men from the Saxon territories, was 
commanded by the duke of Saxe- Weimar ; 
the fourth, consisting of 14,000 Hessians, 
was led on by the elector of Hesse-Cassel 
himself ; the fifth, comprising 10,000 men 
from the provinces of Waldeck, Lippe, 
Nassau, Coburg, Meiningen, Hildburghau- 
sen, and Strelitz, was under the orders of 
59 



the duke of Saxe-Coburg ; the sixth was 
commanded by the prince of Hesse- Hom- 
burg, and formed the contingent furnished 
by Darmstadt, Wiirzburg, Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine, Isenburg, and Reuss ; the seventh 
consisted of 12,000 Wiirtembergers under 
the leadership of their own crown-prince 
himself ; and, lastly, the eighth was placed 
under the command of the Baden general, 
Count von Hochberg, which included the 
troops of Baden, Hohenzollern, and Lich- 
tenstein. 

Although the entire mass of these troops 
could not be sent into the field all at once, 
and there was a necessity for continuing to 
retain possession of a great extent of 
country, while many thousands of troops 
were required to invest the numerously 
fortified towns which the allies would not 
lose time in laying formal siege to, it is, 
nevertheless, certain, that an army con- 
sisting of at least 500,000 men was now in 
full march against France, and which 
would surround the enemy's forces, not 
amounting now to half that number. At 
the same time, in the rear of the allied 
army every preparation was made neces- 
sary to ensure its complete equipment and 
organization, for which purpose, and in 
order that operations might be carried on 
with all possible order and uninterrupted 
unanimity, a sort of central administration 
or council of war was established and pre- 
sided over by a man who might truly be 
characterized as a hero, and one, too, who 
worked indefatigably for the liberty of our 
country, although not actually marching 
at the head of her armies. This noble- 
minded patriot and persevering champion 
was the minister Baron von Stein. He 
was one of those who, while Germany was 
sighing under the yoke of the usurper, in- 
dignantly and resolutely spurned even- 
attempt made to render him subservient p 
for, on the contrary, he never ceased, as be- 
fore stated, devoting his superior genius as 
well as all his thoughts and actions towards 
the emancipation of his country, and gain- 
ing thus the confidence of his fellow-coun- 
trymen, he was looked up to as a tower of 
strength in their cause. When the war 
of 1812 broke out against Russia, he re- 
paired thither at the head of many others 
of an equally bold and dauntless mind,, 
in order to assist in annihilating the expe- 
dition thus directed against a nation whose 
energy was well known to, and appreciated 



466 



RAPID MARCH OF THE ALLIES. 



by him. The emperor Alexander found 
in him all the support he so much needed 
at that all-important, trying moment, and 
it must ever be acknowledged that it is to 
the bold and active genius of Yon Stein 
that Germany owes her complete deliver- 
ance from the yoke of foreign despotism. 

During the first twenty days of January, 
the allies had already traversed Switzer- 
land, Franche-Comte, Alsace, Lorraine, 
and Burgundy, without meeting with any i 
obstacle ; and the mountains of the Jura, i 
the Waldensis, the Hundsruck, and the j 
forest of Ardennes, together with numer- ! 
ous rivers and a triple line of fortifications 
on the frontiers, were all happily captured 
and cleared, and the armies of Schwartzen- 
berg and Blucher were already, within a 
short distance of each other, in full march 
along the banks of the Seine and the Aube, 
and within some ninety or a hundred miles 
of Paris itself. Now, however, Napoleon 
entered the field at the head of his army. 
His object was to penetrate between his 
enemies, prevent their junction, drive them 
back one after the other to the mountains 
they had just left, where the effects of the 
winter and the armed inhabitants would 
combine together to render their retreat one 
equally disastrous and fatal. Blucher had 
established his head-quarters in Brienne, a 
small town near the Aube, with a castle 
which had served as a military-school for 
young Frenchmen, and where Napoleon 
had himself learned that science in which 
he afterwards so distinguished himself. 
Suddenly the French appeared and attack- 
ed the town. The assault was repulsed, 
but as soon as it was dusk, the French 
general, Chateau, who was well acquainted I 
with the localities of the place, penetrated 
with his grenadiers into the gardens of the 
castle as far as the terrace itself, without 
being observed. Blucher was in great 
danger of being taken, and had scarcely 
time to mount his horse and escape by a 
private road. He immediately placed him- 
self at the head of his troops, and inspiring 
them with the most undaunted courage, he 
warned them not to let the enemy boast of 
having put them to flight on their first en- 
counter upon French ground, and he main- 
tained the contest until midnight, and 
completely drove back the left wing of the 
•enemy, not abandoning the place before it 
was set on fire by the French, " in order," 
as he wrote in his dispatch, " that Napo- 



leon might set fire to his cradle with his 
own hand." Nevertheless, the latter did 
not succeed in cutting off Blucher's army 
from that of Schwartzenberg. 

The battle of Brienne took place on the 
29th of January, and on the 1st of Feb- 
ruary the intrepid Blucher was already 
again on the same spot, drawn up in battle 
array. He had not as yet assembled all 
his troops, for Langeron was still at Mentz, 
and York and Kleist were en route ; but 
Schwartzenberg had furnished him with 
the greater part of his army — the divisions 
of Giulay and the prince of Wurtemberg — 
together with the Russian reserve corps : 
by which means he found himself sufficient- 
ly strong to advance against Napoleon. 
The latter had taken up a strong position 
in the neighborhood of Brienne, and estab- 
lished his centre in the village of Rothiere, 
about four miles distant. The battle began 
at mid-day at all points. To the right the 
prince of Wurtemberg, having paved his 
way through the forest of Eclance, took 
possession of the villages of Lagibrie and 
Petit-Mesnil. On the side of the Wurtem- 
bergers, General Wrede, at the head of the 
Bavarians and Austrians, advanced like- 
wise and conquered the villages of Morvil- 
liers and Chaumenil. and thus laid bare 
the whole of Napoleon's left wing. The 
latter now came up himself with the artil- 
lery of his guard, and fired upon Morvil- 
liers, whence he succeeded in dislodging 
the Bavarians. Wrede now detached his 
best regiment of cavalry, commanded by the 
brave Diez, which forthwith threw itself upon 
the French and completely routed them. 

Meantime the battle was continued with 
the utmost fury in the village of Rothiere, 
which formed the principal point in the 
position held by the French. Here Napo- 
leon commanded in person, and continually 
brought up fresh troops against the Rus- 
sians. On the other side, the emperor 
Alexander and the king of Prussia encour- 
aged on. their troops by their presence, 
whence prodigies of valor were performed. 
At length Marshal Blucher placed himself 
at the head of his troops, and threw him- 
self into the village, exclaiming, " For- 
wards !" The village was carried and 
taken definitively. The right wing of the 
enemy, which had defended the village of 
Dieuville against Giulay, was likewise 
forced to retreat at midnight, and the vic- 
tory was now decisive at all points. 



SUCCESSES OF NAPOLEON. 



467 



The allies finding that Napoleon's force 
was not so extensive as they imagined, 
and knowing that the late actions must 
have reduced it still more, deemed a com- 
bined plan of operations unnecessary, and 
determined therefjre to divide their armies : 
that of Bliicher to take the route towards 
the Marne, while that of Schwartzenberg 
was to proceed along the Seine. This was 
exactly what Napoleon wished ; for by this 
separation he should be enabled to resort to 
his former promptitude of manoeuvring. 
He maintained his position between the 
two armies, and watching his opportunity, 
alternately attacked the one or the other 
division as his prey, and overpowered it by 
the superiority of his forces. By this means, 
he succeeded in obtaining those temporary 
successes which enabled him to detain them 
on their march to Paris several months. 

The Silesian army, accordingly, advan- 
ced towards the capital by the route of 
Champagne, in detached bodies ; Sacken 
to the rear, Kleist the centre, and Bliicher, 
the general-in-chief, brought up the rear- 
division of Kleist. The Russian advanced- 
guard had now arrived to within fifteen 
leagues of Paris, which many of the in- 
habitants were now abandoning in all haste, 
believing the emperor's reign completely 
at an end. Suddenly, however, the latter, 
being now reinforced with 20,000 men of 
the old troops, which he had conveyed from 
Spain in coaches and light wagons, oblique- 
ly traversed the immense plains between 
the Seine and the Marne, in spite of the 
representations of his generals, who held 
the execution of his plan to be impossible ; 
and, although forced to leave his cannons 
in the mud behind him, he came in front 
of the enemy, and seeking his opportunity, 
fell upon the rear-guard of Sacken, com- 
manded by General Olsufiew, cutting the 
moiety of them in pieces, or making them 
prisoners. This was the first ray of good 
fortune which once more shone upon Na- 
poleon, and reproduced confidence within 
him. He wrote to the duke of Vicenza, 
his plenipotentiary at the congress of Cha- 
tillon, then sitting, that his arms had been 
once more crowned with a brilliant victory, 
and that the French government might 
now reassume its independent, dictatorial 
tone. 

Meantime, Field-marshal Bliicher, when 
news reached him of the danger threaten- 
ed, marched with all possible haste en route 



for Champaubert with Kleist's division., 
and the Russians under General Kapcze- 
witsch, in all about 20,000 men. But 
the generals whom he wished to join 
had already recrossed the Marne, and on 
the 14th he found himself attacked by the 
French, with a far superior force. Their 
cavalry threw itself upon the two wings, 
while the infantry and artillery attacked 
the centre with such desperate fury, that 
on the first onset several of the Prussian 
battalions were completely destroyed. In 
addition to this force, the allies found an- 
other body of French cavalry advancing 
upon them in their rear upon the high road 
between Champaubert and Etoges. No 
other resource was left them now but to 
trust to their courage and resolution and 
cut their way through. They formed 
themselves into solid squares, and advan- 
ced with charged bayonet against the cav- 
alry, which gave way before them. The 
enemy now attacked them in the flank, 
and harassed them in every direction, in 
order to bring their ranks into disorder ; 
but by the able management of the brave 
and prudent general, Gneisenau, the furi- 
ous attacks were received with firm and 
unshaken courage and order, and to this 
alone is the preservation of the army to be 
attributed. 

At length night arrived, and promised 
the Prussians the repose they so much 
needed. They, however, were forced to 
encounter some hard fighting when they 
arrived at Etoges ; but they once more 
opened for themselves a road at the point 
of the bayonet, and gained at length their 
former position at Verge res. The divisions 
of the Silesian army united together behind 
the Marne, and shortly after marched to- 
wards the Aube, in order to form a junction 
with the grand army. 

Napoleon was delighted beyond all meas- 
ure in being able once again to boast of 
his victories in his bulletins and gazettes ; 
but these triumphant strains were very 
speedily hushed when it was known as a 
certainty, that the advanced guard of 
Schwartzenberg was only ten leagues dis- 
tant from the capital, while the French 
army was fighting on the Marne. Napo- 
leon gave up at once all farther pursuit of 
the Silesian troops, in order to turn his 
force against Schwartzenberg. The latter 
had detached Wrede and Wittgenstein to 
the rear of the French army, in order to 



468 



BLUCHER'S BOLD MARCH. 



relieve the Silesian army ; but as all the 
operations in that quarter had been ex- 
tremely rapid, the aid came too late, and 
these two generals found themselves op- 
posed to Napoleon, who with his superior 
army forced them, after a severe action, 
to retreat to the Seine. The brave prince 
of Wiirtemberg, who led the advanced 
guard of the grand army, had taken up his 
position with his Wiirtembergers and Aus- 
trians, in the village of Montereau. Na- 
poleon, after pursuing Wittgenstein, on the 
17th of February, as far as Nangis, made 
a violent attack on the prince's troops on 
the 18th. The latter, nevertheless, main- 
tained themselves firmly throughout the 
whole day ; but having expended all their 
ammunition, and finding themselves taken 
in the flank by the French, they were for- 
ced to give way and to recross the river. 

These ten days of success restored to 
Napoleon all his former presumption, espe- 
cially as just at this moment Marshal Au- 
gereau sent him a message from Lyons, 
that he had driven back the Austrian gen- 
eral, Bubna, as far as Geneva, and was 
penetrating into Switzerland with a power- 
ful body of troops. If the French general 
succeeded in reconquering that country, 
then the retreat of the allied army must 
be completely cut off, and already calcu- 
lating upon this conquest, Napoleon's ima- 
gination foresaw Alsace and Lorraine 
rising en masse against the allies, and all 
the numerous garrisons along the frontiers 
uniting with the national guard to anni- 
hilate the enemy. Thence, although the 
conference at Chatillon was still continued, 
he would no longer hear of peace ; and 
when, among the terms stipulated, it was 
required that he should resign Holland and 
Italy, he exclaimed : " What are our ene- 
mies thinking of? Tell them, I am at this 
moment closer to Vienna than they are to 
Paris !" 

Paris was in a state of joyful excite- 
ment, and the whole of France shared in 
the hopes of the emperor. At the same 
time any acute observer could easily see 
that it was merely a moment of illusion ; 
for although the grand army did partially 
withdraw, still it was in accordance with 
the plan of the campaign, and not after 
any general defeat, nor because there was 
any discouragement in the soldiers, who, 
on the contrary, were more eager than 
ever to march to Paris. 



Meantime, at head-quarters, the ques- 
tion of a peace was seriously discussed, 
and it was already suggested, that the 
allied forces should gradually retire to the 
Rhine, in order to await the result of the 
conference held at Chatillon. The vete- 
ran Bliicher, however, opposed this with 
his whole force. He offered, in a dispatch 
he sent to the allied sovereigns, from his 
quarters at Merry, to march direct to 
Paris, and thus draw off Napoleon from 
the grand army, if they would place under 
his orders the divisions of Biilow and Win- 
zengerode. He would then find himself 
again at the head of an excellent army of 
100,000 men, and with that alone he would 
venture to threaten the capital without any 
farther delay. His wish was accorded. 
This unexpected movement — pronounced 
by a French historian to be the boldest 
throughout the campaign — completely dis- 
concerted the French emperor, who was 
at this moment in Troyes. He had just 
refused the offer of an armistice, and al- 
ready beheld himself in imagination once 
again on the banks of the Rhine, whereas 
he found himself now forced to abandon 
the grand allied army, and devote all his 
attention to the bold adversary he thought 
he had completely beaten. 

Napoleon's object was to come up with 
the old marshal before he had formed a 
junction with the other corps of the army, 
from which he was separated by the river 
Aisne. But Biilow and Winzengerode had 
already laid siege to Soissons, situated on 
this river, where an excellent bridge form- 
ed a desirable point of reunion for the two 
armies. This strongly fortified city con- 
tained a numerous garrison, but Biilow 
forthwith made preparations for an assault. 
Already, towards night, the scaling-ladders 
were fixed and the assailants about to mount 
them, when the commandant of the place, 
not aware of Napoleon's presence in the 
vicinity, surrendered the city, and retired 
with his garrison. Bliicher immediately 
crossed the river and advanced north- 
ward as far as Laon, where he united 
all his forces and took up a strong position 
near that city. Napoleon, in order to grap- 
ple with and overthrow this daring oppo- 
nent, pursued him closely to the other side 
of the river, although by so doing he left 
more and more distant in his rear both the 
grand army of the allies and Paris itself, 
which was three-and-thirty leagues off. 



NAPOLEON AGAINST SCHWARTZENBERG. 



469 



On the 7th of March he attacked Win- 
zengerode and Woronzovv in their intrench- 
ed position on the heights of Craone, and 
only forced them to retreat toLaon after he 
himself had suffered a great loss. Here 
Bliicher awaited him, having made the city, 
which was situated upon an almost impreg- 
nable height, the central point of his position. 
On the 9th of March, at break of day, the 
French attacked and took the village of Se- 
milly, at the base of the hill, which, how- 
ever, they retained only a short time, being 
driven from it by Billow's troops, and Napo- 
leon did not venture to ascend the height. 
The contest, at both wings, lasted the entire 
day, Napoleon's object being especially to 
drive the Prussians from the high road to 
Belgium. Towards mid-day he succeeded 
in obtaining the advantage, and the Prus- 
sian advanced-guard was forced to abandon 
the village of Athis ; but, in the evening, 
Generals Kleist and York resolved to an- 
nihilate his plan at once by a coup de main. 
As soon as it was completely dark, and the 
enemy, believing the sanguinary day at an 
end, had already lighted their fires in the 
camp, the Prussians returned to the attack. 
Every thing succeeded ; the enemy was ut- 
terly overthrown and forty-six pieces of 
artillery captured. This complete victory 
was gained with scarcely any loss on the 
side of the Prussians ; while that of the 
corps of Marmont, which had suffered this 
defeat, was very considerable. 

Napoleon was not a little mortified at 
finding this attack upon the Silesian army 
so unsuccessful. Nothing now remained 
for him but to turn his arms against 
Schwartzenberg, surprise the grand army, 
and, endeavoring to separate it, attack and 
destroy each detached corps. 

The commander-in-chief had again taken 
up his position on the Aube, whither he had 
marched immediately after the departure 
of Napoleon in pursuit of the Silesian army. 
The issue of operations between Bliicher 
and Napoleon he soon learned by the sud- 
den appearance of the latter himself, who 
returned from Laon to commence his move- 
ments against the grand army. He had 
scarcely arrived before he, on the 13th 
of March, suddenly attacked and took the 
town of Rheims, which was occupied by 
General Saint-Priest and the Russians, 
killed that general, and on the 20th he was 
in front of the grand army, and took pos- 
session of Arcis-sur-Aube. He hoped by a 



prompt manoeuvre to bring the allies into 
confusion, and thus be enabled to make the 
attack contemplated ; but he found their 
ranks too firmly knit together, and he was 
thus, a second time, defeated in his design. 
The emperor Alexander and the king of 
Prussia themselves, who were resolved not 
to defer longer a decisive battle, had has- 
tened by forced marches to rejoin the army, 
and on this day, the 20th of March, a most 
serious engagement took place near Arcis. 
The regiments of French guard were re- 
pulsed with so much force, that Napoleon, 
in order not to lose such an important place, 
drew his own sword, and rallying the fly- 
ing squadrons, placed himself at their head, 
and led them on to the attack again. In 
this charge he exposed himself so much 
that, in order to defend himself against a 
cossack who rushed upon him with his lance, 
he was forced to fire at him one of his own 
pistols. A great number of his staff were 
killed and wounded around him, and his 
own horse was shot under him ; neverthe- 
less, instead of shunning danger, he ap- 
peared only to court it. It was only by 
these extraordinary exertions, and the arri- 
val of a reinforcement of infantry, that he 
was enabled to save the town. 



CHAPTER XL. 

The French and Allied Armies in Battle Array— Napo- 
leon's sudden and mysterious Retreat before Action 
— His secret Designs for the Destruction of the Allies 
—His Plot Discovered— The Allies before Paris— Its 
Capitulation — Triumphant Entry of the Allies in 
that City — Napoleon Deposed — Louis XVIIL King 
of France — Napoleon at Fontainebleau— His Abdi- 
cation—Banishment to Elba— Peace signed in Paris 
—Conclusion. 

The allied army prepared for a grand 
and final action on the following day ; Na- 
poleon himself formed his line of battle in 
front of Arcis, and the two armies thus 
facing each other waited a considerable 
time — extending even to several hours — for 
each other's attack. In truth, it was a 
solemn moment, and one portending the 
most important and decisive results to the 
whole world. It was during this interval 
that Napoleon brought into operation a plan 
he had long contemplated, and upon which 
he based all hopes ; but which, neverthe- 
less, produced his ruin. While, therefore, 
the eyes of the allied army were anxiously 



470 



NAPOLEON'S RETREAT— HIS PLOT DISCOVERED. 



fixed upon his movements, it was observed, 
to their no little astonishment, that the ranks 
of the enemy were broken up, and the 
troops, crossing over the Aube in confused 
masses, were seen ascending the opposite 
hills, and the field of battle was abandoned 
by them without a blow being struck. Af- 
ter long consideration, Napoleon felt he had 
already good reason to remember how often 
he had met the allied armies in the open 
field, and he accordingly determined now 
to change the plan of battle. 

His manoeuvre this time was to gain the 
rear of Schwartzenberg by forced marches, 
and as the allies would doubtless fall back 
in order to secure for themselves a safe re- 
treat, he was in good hopes they might fall 
into the various ambuscades, which he 
would take good care, with the aid of the 
different garrisons and the inhabitants them- 
selves, to have planted ready to meet them 
in Lorraine and Alsace. He had, in fact, 
long since made his preparations for the 
execution of this design ; all his command- 
ants throughout those countries having re- 
ceived his instructions to this effect through 
secret messengers and spies. The inhabit- 
ants entered most cordially into the spirit 
of the plot, and had already commenced 
operations by concealing themselves in the 
woods, narrow passes, and cross roads, and 
attacking all the couriers and small detach- 
ments of soldiers proceeding in those direc- 
tions. All the convoys were stopped, and 
the allies already began to experience the 
want of ammunition ; and thus a retreat 
must have produced the total ruin of the 
allied armies. 

Meantime, a letter addressed by Napo- 
leon to the empress, in which he detailed to 
her the whole of his plan, was found upon 
one of his messengers who was taken pris- 
oner, and was the means of making the 
whole plot known to the allies. This then 
was a most important moment for them. 
One party held it advisable to secure their re- 
treat and march back to the Rhine ; the other 
again, more confident, deemed it preferable 
to proceed direct to Paris, which could not 
resist : and this last counsel was adopted. 
It was resolved to leave Napoleon in the 
rear, and that the grand army should forth- 
with march in advance, in order to form a 
junction with Bliicher on the Marne. 

On the following day, the 24th of March, 
it was found that the Silesian army was 
already in the vicinity, and the council of I 



war, assembled at Vitry, resolved at once 
that the two united armies should march 
for Paris, and that General Winzengerode 
should remain behind to meet Napoleon 
with 10,000 cavalry and flying artillery, 
in order to make him believe that the main 
body of the allied army followed them in 
the rear. 

After various victories, the allied armies 
marched forward in conjunction, and ar- 
rived at length, on the 29th of March to- 
wards evening, before the gates of the 
proud city which had styled itself the capi- 
tal of the whole world. Joseph, Napo- 
leon's brother, and formerly king of Spain, 
was there with numerous partisans, and he 
continued to deceive the inhabitants, by 
assuring them that it was merely a de- 
tachment of the allied army, which had 
advanced for the purpose of frightening 
the city. Marshals Marmont and Mortier 
had assembled all the troops they could 
muster, and posted them on the heights 
outside the city, with all their artillery ; 
their army thus distributed on the Mont- 
martre and other hills, consisted altogether 
of 25,000 men, and 150 pieces of cannon. 
Their object was to hold the allies at bay 
until the emperor marched up to their re- 
lief. 

Napoleon was in truth advancing with 
all speed to their aid, but he was at too 
great a distance to arrive in time. He 
had been the victim of his blind confi- 
dence, and had thus given the allied army 
the advantage of four days' march in ad- 
vance of him. Generals Winzengerode 
and Czernitschef had completely deceived 
him, in making him believe they were the 
advanced guard of the allied army in pur- 
suit of him, and he already congratulated 
himself upon the successful results of his 
ruse. Nevertheless, finding the troops 
consisted of nothing else but cavalry, and 
that not a single foot-soldier was visible, 
he became suspicious, and, determined to 
convince himself, he attacked General 
Winzengerode, who was accordingly forced 
to give way before him. Still he could 
ascertain nothing certain, until the 29th 
of March, when an estafette arrived from 
Paris and met him at Doulancourt, on the 
Aube. He hastened to peruse the contents 
of these mysterious dispatches, and was 
struck as by a clap of thunder, when he 
found that the allies were before the gates 
of the capital, while he himself was at 



THE ALLIES BEFORE PARIS — ITS CAPITULATION. 



471 



that moment more than forty leagues dis- 
tant ! He lost not a moment, but aban- 
doning his army at once, departed with a 
few followers in hopes of still arriving in 
time : but he urged his postilions on in 
vain, for in spite of all the efforts made, he 
was forced to content himself with only 
hearing at a distance the heavy cannon- 
ading before his capital • and on the 30th, 
at six o'clock in the evening, on reaching 
Fromenteau, five leagues from the metrop- 
olis, he learned he had arrived a few 
hours too late — Paris had surrendered. 
Napoleon was only separated by the Seine 
from the advanced posts of the allied army ; 
the fires from their bivouacs lighted up the 
whole length of the left bank, while the 
darkness of the night concealed from ob- 
servation the presence of himself, a few 
companions, and the two post-chaises. At 
four o'clock on the following morning, 
when he was convinced positively that the 
capitulation was signed, he turned his 
horses' heads and drove off to Fontaine- 
bleau. 

On the morning of the 30th of March, 
General Barclai de Tolly, who commanded 
the Russians and Prussians, under the 
orders of Prince Schwartzenberg, com- 
mander-in-chief, attacked the heights of 
Belleville, which formed the central point 
of defence. The contest was extremely 
obstinate, and at the same time indecisive ; 
because the gardens, vineyards, and shrub- 
beries everywhere around greatly facilita- 
ted the means of defence, but more espe- 
cially because the troops of the prince of 
Wiirtemberg and Bliicher, who ought to 
have aided on the right and left, did not 
arrive before mid-day. The French artil- 
lery, which commanded a good position, 
did great execution in the ranks of the 
brave assailants ; but, finally, the heights 
of Belleville were carried, and the cannon 
taken. Then it was that the Parisians 
perceived that the troops before the place 
formed a more numerous and powerful 
body than a mere detachment, and they 
soon had too much reason to know the real 
state of things. At mid-day, the Silesian 
army stormed the heights of Montmartre. 
York, Kleist, and Langeron, drove the 
French before them out of all the villages, 
and on this occasion, the cavalry bore a 
principal part in the achievements of this 
day ; the black hussars, and those of Bran- 
denburg especially, making a most valiant 



attack upon the enemy — who defended the 
village of La Villette to the last — and 
forced them to evacuate it, and thence 
Montmartre fell forthwith into the hands 
of the allies. 

At the extreme left, the prince of Wiir- 
temberg had, likewise, in spite of the vig- 
orous defence maintained by the various 
troops posted in the quarter of Vincennes, 
forced them to give way and advanced to 
the gates of the city on that side. Thus 
the entire army of the allies was now as- 
sembled on and around the heights they 
had conquered, ready to follow up their 
victory by penetrating at once into the 
capital. But the two marshals, and the 
authorities of the city, having come for- 
ward and offered to capitulate, it was ac- 
cordingly agreed that the place should be 
surrendered to the allies on the following 
day^ the 31st of March, and that the said 
Marshals Marmont and Mortier should re- 
tire with the remnant of their troops. 

Accordingly, as arranged, and on the 
day fixed, the emperor Alexander and the 
king of Prussia — the emperor Francis hav- 
ing remained behind at Lyons with his ar- 
my — accompanied by their staff, and fol- 
lowed by a portion of their army, made 
their triumphant entry into the city. 

On the 1st of April the emperor Alexan- 
der published, in the name of himself and 
allies, a declaration, " That he would, in 
no way whatever, treat either with Napo- 
leon or any one of his family ; and the 
French were at liberty to choose another 
government." 

In consequence of this decree, the muni- 
cipal council of the metropolis declared it- 
self absolved from its oath of fealty to Na- 
poleon, and demanding the restoration of 
the ancient royal house, that body, on the 
2d of April, in the name of France, de- 
clared the deposition of Napoleon. 

This event acted with the force of a 
thunder-stroke upon Napoleon, who had 
continually flattered himself with the cer- 
tainty of reassembling his army, and once 
more trying the chances of war. He was 
still at Fontainebleau, twelve leagues from 
Paris, where he remained a prey to his 
feelings, and alternately excited by disap- 
pointment and hope ; at length he resolved 
on marching to Paris, being full of confi- 
dence in his army. The 3d of April was 
fixed for his departure, and already a crowd 
of warriors assembled to follow him ; but 



472 



PEACE SIGNED IN PARIS — CONCLUSION 



just at that moment his marshals refused to 
act in co-operation with him for the promo- 
tion of his design. Ney and Lefebvre fol- 
lowed him into his chamber, and made 
known to him the fact of his deposition, 
and declared they could not depend upon 
the army. He was, however, still desirous 
of securing the crown of France for his 
son, whom he had made king of Rome, 
and he offered to abdicate on this condition ; 
but neither the allies nor the provisional 
government would accede to it. 

Accordingly, on the 6th of April, the 
senate acknowledged Louis XVIII. as 
king of France, and invited him to ascend 
the throne, while to Napoleon was offered 
the possession of the island of Elba, on the 
coast of Italy. Against all expectation he 
calmly signed the abdication of all his im- 
perial power and sovereignty, and de- 
parted, on the 20th of April, for his new 
dominion, where he arrived and fixed his 
residence. Louis XVIII. made his entry 
in the capital on the 3d of May, and 
mounted the throne of his ancestors twenty- 
one years after his brother's execution. 

On the 30th of May the first peace of 
Paris was concluded between France and 
Europe. France retained the same limits 
as she had possessed under her kings, and 
consequently held possession of Alsace and 
Lorraine, which in former times belonged 
to Germany ; while she also had secured 
to her an extent of territory conquered 
during the wars of the republic. She had 
likewise, in addition to this, no share to 
pay of the expenses of the war ; the city 
of Paris was not obliged to restore the 
valuable productions of art and science, 
collected from all parts of the world, and 
all the thousands of French prisoners in 
Germany, Russia, and England, were 
forthwith set at liberty. 



We have now traced the history of Ger- 
many from the earliest time down to the 
moment when it was fervently hoped, that 
the peace of that severely-dealt-with coun- 
try, together with that of Europe gene- 
rally, was finally and permanently es- 
tablished. The restless ambition, how- 
ever, of Napoleon produced a renewal of 
hostilities, and once more, but for the last 
time, all the sovereigns and princes of 
Germany, as well as the whole of Europe, 



armed and advanced against him, and 
Providence crowned their wishes with suc- 
cess. On the memorable plains of Ligny 
and Waterloo, the pride and ambition of 
that dangerous man were forever crushed, 
his troops completely beaten and almost 
annihilated, and he himself forced eventu- 
ally to yield himself a prisoner, and end 
his days on the rock of St. Helena. 

It is not necessary here to describe the 
well-known details of a victory unparal- 
leled in history, the beneficial results of 
which have been, and still continue to be 
so distinctly felt and gratefully acknow- 
ledged. The great and glorious achieve- 
ments of the arms of combined Europe 
under Wellington and Blucher, can never 
be forgotten or too highly appreciated. 

According to the arrangements made in 
the general and — happily as it has proved — 
lasting peace, concluded by all the powers 
of Europe at the congress of Vienna, in 
1815, Germany received back all the 
provinces she possessed anteriorly to the 
Revolution, but of which she had been de- 
prived during that and the subsequent 
period. They were now so divided among 
the members of the newly-formed Con- 
federation of Germany, that the majority 
received either the same territories they 
previously owned, those granted to them by 
the peace of Luneville, or such as they 
held at the period of the Rhenish league. 

The members of the Confederation con- 
stituted at first a body of thirty-eight, viz. : 
Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Han- 
over, Wlirtemberg, Baden, Hesse-Cassel, 
Hesse-Darmstadt, Holstein, Luxemburg, 
Brunswick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Meck- 
lenburg-Strelitz, Nassau, Saxe- Weimar, 
Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Meiningen, 
Saxe-Hilburghausen, Oltenburg, Anhalt- 
Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Coeth- 
en, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarz- 
burg-Rudolstadt, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, 
HohenzollernSigmaringen, Lichtenstein, 
Waldeck, Reuss, (senior branch.) Reuss, 
(junior branch,) Schaumburg-Lippe, to- 
gether with the free cities of Liibeck, 
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Bremen, and Ham- 
burg. Subsequently was added Hesse- 
Homburg ; but, on the other hand, the 
house of Saxe-Gotha becoming extinct, in 
1825, it was incorporated with that of Co- 
burg, so that the number of members still 
remained thirty-eight. The ducal houses 
of Saxonv are divided thus : Saxe-Coburg- 



THE STATES OF GERM 



ANY— HOLY ALLIANCE. 



473 



Gotha ; Saxe-Meiningen-Hilburghausen ; 
and Saxe-Altenburg. 

Austria has received back her faithful 
Tyrol, together with Salzburg and the coun- 
try around ; Bavaria rules over her own 
herditary lands as well as Franconia ; 
while, as an indemnification for the losses 
she sustained, she has been accorded the 
palatinate of the Rhine ; her entire popu- 
lation thus forming more than 4,000.000 of 
subjects. Wiirtemberg holds dominion in 
Swabia over more than 1,500,000 subjects, 
and is separated by the Black Forest from 
Baden, whose possessions extend along the 
Rhine to Basle, and beyond Manheim, 
through a beautiful and fertile country. 
Hesse-Darmstadt has likewise enlarged 
her former line of territory very considera- 
bly, and holds in her possession the city 
of Mentz, the most important stronghold of 
the Confederation. Above all the rest, 
however, the king of Prussia has under his 
sovereignty the greatest number of subjects 
speaking the mother tongue, amounting to 
more than 14,000,000. So that Prussia is 
at the present moment one entire, and all 
but exclusively, German state. 

As regards the government of Germany, 
it has been converted by the so-called Holy 
Alliance into a confederation of free and 
independent states, according to the follow- 
ing decrees : — 

" The object of the alliance is the main- 
tenance of the internal and external securi- 
ty of Germany, together with the indepen- 
dence and inviolability of the confederated 
states. 

" All the members of the alliance have, 
as such, equal and uniform rights. 

" The general interests of the body shall 
be discussed and arranged at a Diet, the 
seat of which it is appointed shall be fixed 
at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and at which 
Austria shall hold the presidency ; this diet 
is perpetual, and the period for the adjourn- 
ment of the session, when the state of busi- 
ness allows, must not extend beyond four 
months at the most. 

" The assembly must devote its attention 
especially to the subject of the fundamental 
laws of the Confederation and its organic 
regulations, in connection with its internal, 
external, and military relations. 

" All the members of the Confederation 
promise to unite together against any and 
every attack, and when a war takes place 
they pledge themselves not to enter upon 
60 



any secret compact, nor conclude any par- 
tial armistice or peace with the enemy. 
Meantime they reserve to themselves the 
right of forming alliances of every kind, but 
they bind themselves down not to conclude 
any one such alliance which may injurious- 
ly affect the welfare and security of the 
country, or be opposed to the interests of 
any one individual member. At the same 
time the members shall not be allowed, 
under any pretext whatever, to carry on a 
war against each other, but shall lay all 
matters of dispute before the Diet, which 
shall either mediate or adjudge accordingly, 
and to the decision of which the parties 
must submit. 

" In all the states of the Confederation 
there shall be a constitutional government, 
(Landstandische Verfassung.) 

" The difference of Christian sects can- 
not affect the enjoyment of civil and political 
rights in any of the states of the Confedera- 
tion ; but as amelioration is necessary in the 
civil condition of those professing the Jewish 
faith, the Diet of the Confederation shall 
advise and determine upon the matter. 

" The subjects of the German princes 
shall have the right to pass from one state 
into the other, and to accept of either civil 
or military service therein, if no military 
engagement already binds them to their na- 
tive place. 

" The Diet shall occupy itself with the 
formation of laws for the liberty of the press 
and against piracy, as well as for the com- 
mercial and trading intercourse between 
the states of the Confederation. 

" Further, the Diet has decreed the exact 
numerical force of the army of the Confed- 
eration to be maintained in peace and war ; 
of what arms it shall consist ; a fixed con- 
tingent to be supplied by each member ; to 
whom and by whom the chief command 
shall be given ; and, finally, how many 
and what fortifications shall be garrisoned 
and maintained by the Confederation." 

The army of the confederation consists 
of 300,000 men : to which Austria con- 
tributes 94,000 ; Prussia, 79,000 ; Bavaria, 
35,000 ; Wiirtemberg, 13,600; Hanover, 
13,000; Saxony, (the kingdom,) 12,000; 
Baden, 10,000 ; Hesse-Darmstadt, 6000 ; 
Hesse-Cassel, 5400 ; and thus in proportion 
the other members. The whole army is 
placed under the command of one general- 
in-chief, who is appointed by the Diet, to 
whom he renders the oath of duty and ser- 



474 



THE ARMY OF THE CONFEDERATION. 



vice, and from whom he receives authority 
and orders, and to which body, likewise, 
he is bound to send in his reports. The 
Diet also appoints a lieutenant-general as 
his representative or successor in command. 
The army is divided into ten distinct corps, 
the leaders of which receive their orders 



only from the general-in-chief. Of these 
ten corps Austria contributes three ; Prus- 
sia, three ; Bavaria, one ; and the remain- 
ing three are formed out of the other con- 
tingents. The fortified places garrisoned 
and maintained by the Confederation are 
Mentz, Luxemburg, and Landau. 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



Abderachman the Arab, Page 88. 

Abderam the Arab, 94. 

Abdication of Charles V., 301. 

Aboukir, battle of, 425. 

Abulabaz the elephant, 101. 

Abuses of the Papacy, 254. 

Acre, the siege of, 170. 

Acts of the Apostles, 146 

Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, 142. 

Adalbert, archbishop of Mentz, 154. 

Adalbert of Carinthia, 137. 

Adalbert of Prussia, 134. 

Address by Bliicher to his soldiers, 452. 

Address of the Emperor Charles V. at 

his abdication, 301. 
Adelaide, the princess, 124. 
Adelbert, the son of Berengar, 124. 
Adelhard, bishop of Reggio, 124. 
Ademar of Fuy, 156. 
Adgandaster the Chatti, 31. 
Adjustment of the religious differences 

in Germany, 346. 
Administration ot affairs in Germany 

under Maximilian, 238. 
Adolphus III., of Holstein, 166. 
Adolphus of Nassau, 209. 
Adrian, Pope, 93. 

, death of, 97. 

Adrian IV., Pope, 161. 

Adrian VI., Pope. 260. 

Adrianople, the city, 69. 

^Eneas Sylvius, Pope Pius II., 188. 

Affairs, religious, 276. 

Age of Frederick the Great, 408. 

Ages, the Middle, 182. 

architecture of, 190. 

arts of, 189. 

chivalry of, 182. 

cities of, 185. 

convents of, 194. 

Faustrecht of, 196. 

Freistuhls of, 200. 

Hanse towns of, 187. 

jurisprudence of, 197. 

laws of, 199. 

literature of, 191. 

monasteries of, 193. 

monks of, 194. 

nuns of, 194. 

painting of, 191 . 

peasantry of, 189. 

poetry of, 191. 

Roman priesthood of, 195. 

sciences of, 189. 

troubadours of, 191. 

Vehmgericht, or secret tribunal 

of, 201. 

warlike spirit of, 192. 

Aggrandizement of Charles IV., 218. 
Agitolfingi, the, 95. 
Agricola of Berlin, 293. 
Agriculture of Germany, 350. 
Aistulph, the Longobard, 88. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, the city of, 101. 

■ peace of, 354. 

Alani, the, 71. 
Alaric the Goth, 72. 

death of, 71. 

Alba, the Duke of, 291, 307. 

Albert I. of Austria, 209. 

Albert II. of Austria, 226. 

Albert of Brandenburg, 229. 

Albert of Lor.gwy, 141. 

Albert of Saxonv, 188. 

Albert the Bear,' 158. 

Albert, the Margrave of Brandenburg— 

Culmbach, 296. 
Vlboni, the Longobard, 81. 



Alcuin, the historian, 98. 
Alexander III., Pope, 161. 

and Frederick the Emperor, 

165. 

Alexander, the Autocrat of Russia, 446. 

Alexandria, a city of Italy, 165. 

Alfred of England, 174. 

Algiers, the siege of, 1541, 274. 

Aliso, castle of, 33. 

the battle of, 56. 

Allemanni, the, 64. 

Alliance against Austria, 378. 

Alliance against France, 419. 

Alliance between the Emperor Charles 
V. and the Pope, 266. 

Alliance between Ferdinand of Bohe- 
mia and Maximilian of Bavaria. 318. 

Alliance of Britain with Prussia, 382. 

Alliance of the princes of the empire 
formed by Frederick the Great, 416. 

Alliance, the first electoral, 215. 

" Alliance, the Holy, so called," 473. 

Alliance, the Protestant, at Torgau, 267. 

Allied armies, the, of Austria and Rus- 
sia, 432. 

Allied Protestants, retreat of the, from 
before the army of Charles V., 283. 
Allies of Britain against France, 419. 

defeat of, 420 



Allies, the, before Dresden, 453. 

before Paris, 1814, 471. 

enter Leipsic, 1813, 464. 

forces of the, 1813, 451. 

invade France, 18] 4, 465. 

rapid march of, 466. 

the Saxons join, 1813, 462. 

victorious over Napoleon, 

461. 

Alphonso of Castile, 178. 
Alsace, the Count of, 181. 
Alsace, the Shoe-league of, 242. 
Amalians, the, 66. 
Amasia, 33. 

Ambassadors, the, of the Emperor Fer- 
dinand at the Council of Trent, 304. 

Ambition of Wallehstein, 322. 

Ambroni, the, 45. 

Ambrosius of Milan, 163. 

America, discovery of, 246. 

Amiens, peace of, 430. 

Amisia, 33. 

Amsivarians, the, 33. 

Anabaptists, the, 272. 

Anarchy in Germany and Italy, 248. 

Ancient German history, sources of, 15. 

Ancient Germans, 19.' 

arms of, 28. 

— arts of, 30. 

civil institutions of, 25. 

customs of, 23. 

Gefolge of, 28. 

history of, 15. 

manners of, 23. 

manufactures of, 31. 

music of, 31. 

races of, 20. 

religion of, 29. 

trade of, 31. 

war — regulations of, 27. 

Ancona, siege of, 192. 

Anecdotes of Frederick the Great, 396, 
404, 408, 410, 412, 417. 

Angaria, 34. 

Angeli, the, 36. 

Angilbert the poet, 103. 

Angrivari, the, 34. 

Annals of Tacitus, 17. 

Ansibari, the, 33. 



Anti-German feelings of Frederick the 
Great, 411. 

Antony of Freisingen, 113. 

Appeal of Frederick the Great to his 
army, 391. 

Appeal of Maria Theresa to the Hun- 
garians, 379. 

Ara Flavia, 42. 

Arabs, the, 87, 94. 

Arbalo, 34. 

Arbesau, battle of, 454. 
Arcadius, Emperor, 69. 
Archbishop Boniface, 86. 
Archbishop of Cologne, ducal authority 
of, 179. 

Archbishoprics of Germany, 182. 
Archbishops, the, 142. 
Archduke Charles, 423. 
Arcis, the battle of, 469. 
Arctaunum, 37. 

Arderic, king of the Gepidi, 75. 
Ardovine of Italy, 136. 
Arechis the Longobardian, 95. 
Ariovistus the Marcoman, 47-49. 
Aristocracy, the German, 183. 
Aristotle, 174. 
Armanarich the Goth, 66. 
Armies allied with Austria, 385. 
Armies of the Allies for the invasion of 
France, 1814, 465. 

rapid march of, 466. 

Anninius, 55-61. 

Armistice between Napoleon and the 

Allies, 1813, 449. 
Armistice proposed by Napoleon to the 

Allies, 1813, refused, 461. 
Armorica?, the, 76. 
Arms of the ancient Germans, 14. 
Army and Treasury of Frederick the 

Great, 412. 
Army of Bonaparte in Italy, 1796, 422. 
Army of Gustavus Adol phiis, 329. 
Army of Modern Germany, 473. 
Army of Schmalkald, 280. 
Army of Wallenstein, oppressions and 

tyranny of the, 335. 
Army, the Prussian, 1806, 435. 
Arnold of Winkelried, 220. 
Arnulf of Bavaria, 114. 
Arnulf, the king, 109. 
Arquebus, invention of the, 243. 
Arrival of Napoleon at Dresden, 453. 
Arrogance of France, 1697, 364. 
of the French, 1802, 429. 



Arslan, the Sultan of Iconium, 169. 
Artillery, the invention of, 243. 
Arts and industry of modern Germany, 
352. 

Arts of the ancient Germans, 30. 
Ascalingium, 33. 
Aspern, battle of, 439. 
Assembly of Crusaders at Clermont, 155. 
Athanaric the Goth, 69. 
Athaulf the Goth, 71. 
Athens, the city of, 164. 
Attack on the French armv by Ziethen, 
403. 

Attempted reconciliation of the Protest- 
ants and Catholics vain, 277. 
Attila the Hun. 72-75. 
Auerstadt, the battle of, 435. 
Augsburg Confession, the, 269. 
Augsburg, the city of, 37. 

— — Diet of, 1518. 242, 255. 

Diet of. 1530. 267. 

Diet of, 1555, 300. 

submission of the city to the 



Romanists, 300. 



476 



INDEX. 



Augustiilus, the last of the Roman em- 
perors, 75. 
Augustus III. of Poland, 378. 
Augustus the Roman emperor, 50. 
Aulic Council, the, of Germany, 239. 
Austerasia, 35. 
Austerlitz, the battle of, 432. 
Austria, alliance against, 378. 
and Prussia, alliance against 

France, 418. 
and Prussia, peace between, 

1742, 380. 

and Prussia, peace between, 

1763, 407. 

declaration of war by, against 

France, 438. 

emperor of, 434. 

grand duke of, 208. 

house of, 373. 

invasion of by Frederick the 

Great, 376. 

joined the alliance against 

France, 1813, 450. 
Austrian and Prussian armies, condition 

of, in the year 1757, 396. 
Austrian and Russian generals, jealousy 
of, 400. 

Austrians, defeat of at Leipsic, 332. 

in Silesia, 405. 

retreat of, 402. 

victorious over Frederick the 

Great, 1757, 401. 
Authentic history of the Germans, the 

commencement of, 15. 
Authors on the ancient history of the 

Germans, 15, 16. 
Avari, the, 92-95. 
Azzo the Italian, 144 

Baden, margrave of. 229. 
Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, 157. 
Baldwin II., 184. 
Baltians, the, 66. 

Banquets of the ancient Germans, 25. 

Barbarossa, Frederic, 159. 

Barrit, the, or war-cry of the ancient 

Germans, 29. 
Bartholomew, massacre of, 306. 
Basle, the Council of, 227. 
Bastarnians, the, 20. 
Batavi, the, 40. 
Battles — of Aboukir, 425. 

■ — Adrianople, 69. 

Aldenhoven, 419. 

Aliso, 56. 

Amberg, 423. 

— Aquae Sextia, 45. 

Arbesau, 454. 

Arcis, 469. 

Aspern, 439. 

Auerstadt, 435. 

Austerlitz:, 432. 

Bautzen, 448. 

Belgrade, 228. 

Belleville, 471. 

Bergen, 397. 

Besancon, 49. 

■ Blenheim, 367. 

Breslau, 391. 

Brienne, 466. 

Cassano, 426. 

Catalaunian plain, 74. 

Chanipaubert, 467. 

Chateau-Cambresis, 420. 

• Cortenuova, 173. 

Craonz, 469. 

Crefeld, 393. 

Crecy, 243. 

Cuma, 80. 

Custrin, 394. 

Czaslau, 379. 

Dennewitz, 455. 

Detmold, 95. 

Dorneck, 236. 

Dresden, 453. 

Eckmuhl, 438. 

Esslingen. 439- 

Etoges" 467. 

Eylau, 436. 

Famars, 419. 

— — Ferbellin, 355. 



Battles — of Fleurus, 420. 

Frankenhau^en, 262 

Freiburg, 406. 

Friedland, 436. 

Giengen, 229. 

Gross-beeren, 451 

Gross-jiigersdorf. 389. 

Guldengossa, 459. 

Hanau, 464. 

Hastenbeck, 287. 

Hochkirk, 395. 

Hochst, 421. 

Hochstadt, 367. 

Hohenburg, 145. 

Hohenlinden, 428. 

Hohenfriedburg, 381. 

Idistavius, 60. 

Jankau, 344. 

Jemappes, 419. 

Jena, 435. 

Jerusalem, 1099. 156. 

Kaiserslautern, 421. 

Katzbach, 452. 

Kay, 398. 

Kesseldorf, 331. 

Kollin, 387. 

Kulm, 454. 

Kunersdorf, 399. 

Landshut. 284, 401. 

Langensalza, 145. 

Laon, 469. 

Lauffen, 271. 

Lechfeld, 125. 

Leipsic— 1631, 322. 

Leipsic— 1642, 343. 

Leipsic— 1813, 458. 

Lenzen, 119. 

Leuthen, 391. 

Liegnitz, 402. 

Lignano. 165. 

Ligny. 472. 

Lowbsitz, 384. 

Lutterberg, 407 

Lutzen— 1632, 336. 

Lutzen— 1813. 446. 

Magdeburg— 1631, 330. 

Malplaquet, 37] . 

Marchfeld— 1273, 207. 

Marengo, 428. 

Melrichstadt, 151. 

Merseburg, 119. 

Milan, 162. 

Minden, 397. 

Moeckern, 460. 

Molwitz, 377. 

Morgarten, 213. 

Muhlberg, 288. 

Muhldorf— 1322, 214. 

Murten, 231. 

Nancy, 231. 

Nangis, 423. 

Neerwinden, 419. 

Nordlingen, 341. 

Noreja, 44. 

Novi, 426. 

Oudenarde, 370. 

Paunsdorf, 462. 

Pavia— 1004, 136. 

Pavia— 1525, 264. 

Pfaffenhofen, 438. 

Pillerent— 1456, 230. 

Prague, 386. 

Probstheyda. 461. 

Ramillies, 369. 

Ratisbon, 438. 

Raucour, 381. 

Raudian plain, 47. 

Riesenberg, 225. 

Rome— llil, 153. 

Rome— 1520, 266. 

Rossano, 390. 

Rossbach, 390. 

Rothiere, 466. 

Saalfeld, 435. 

Schweidnitz, 405. 

Sempach, 220. 

Soltau, 248. 

Sorr, 381. 

Southern Gaul, 44. 

Spurs, the, 237. 

Squillace, 131. 



Battles— of Stralsund, 324. 

Taun, 438. 

Teutoburger forest, 59 

Topiitz, 456. 

Torgau, 403. 

Tournay, 420. 

Tours, 88. 

Tunis, 273. 

Turin, 369. 

Ulm, 432. 

Veronice, 78. 

Vienna, with the Turks— 

1683, 358. 

Vienna, with the Turks- 

1809, 439. 

Wachau. 458. 

Wagram, 440. 

Wartenburg, 456. 

Waterloo, 472. 

Weissenberg, 319. 

Wittstock, 342. 

Xeres de la Frontera, 8S. 

Zeitz, 456. 

Zorndorf, 394. 

Zulpich, 78. 

Zurich, 427. 



Bavaria, elector of, 366. 
Bavaria, the house of, 216. 
Bavarian war of the succession, 375. 
Bavarians, the ancient. 21. 
Beginning of the Thirty Years' War 

316. 
Belisarius. 72. 
I Benedict VIII., Pope, 136. 
Benedict IX., Pope, 140. 
Benedict XII.. Pope, 215. 
Benedict XIII., Pope, 223. 
Benedict of Nursia, the monk. 193. 
Benevento. the principality of, 81. 
Berengar, the king of Italy, 12G. 
Eernadotte, Prince, 450. 
Bernard of Seckau, 206. 
Bernard, the Abbot, 195. 
Berne, the city of, 219. 
Bern ward of Hildesheim, 133. 
Bertrand, General, 452. 
Besancon, the city of, 48. 
Bible, "the first printed— 1462, 245. 

the Gothic translation of, 67. 

the, with other religious books of 

the elector of Saxony seized, 294. 
Blucher, Marshal. 452. 
Bohemia, 76. 

evangelical union of, 309. 

united with Hungary, 238. 

Bohemians, the, 1415, 225. 
Boi, the, 43. 

Bojorix, a German prince, 45. 
Boleslas the Pole, 136. 
Bologna, council at, 292. 
Bonaparte, Jerome, 437. 
Bonaparte, Joseph, 433. 
Bonaparte, Louis, 433. 
Bonaparte, Xapoleon, 422. 

army of. in Italy— 1796, 422. 

character of, 422. 

emperor, 431. 

first consul, 427. 

— in Egypt, 426. 

in Germany, 432. 

in Italy, 422. 

marrh-.ge of, to Maria Louisa 

of Austria, 442. 

success of, 441. 

Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, 86. 
Bonn, the fortress of, 51. 
Botschkai of Hungary, 309. 
Bourbon, the duke of, 265. 
Brahe, Tycho, 309. 
Brandenburg, elector of, 354. 

proclaimed king of 

Prussia, 363. 
Brandenburg, margraviate of, 229. 

marches of, 118. 



Bravery of Wallenstein, 322. 
Bremen, the city of, 95. 
Brenmts the Gaul. 47. 
Bridge of Elster-Muhlengraben, 464. 
Brittany, 76. 
Brukteri, the, 32. 
Bruno the Monk, 194. 



INDEX. 



477 



Brunswick, the duke of, 277. 

Brutal character of the German Lanz- 
knechte, 244. 

Bulgarians, the, 155. 

Bull of Pope Leo X., burning of by Lu- 
ther, 256. 

Bull of the pope in favor of the crusade 
against the Protestants by Charles 
V., 282. 

Bull, the golden, 217. 

Burgundians, the, 39. 

Burgundy, Charles duke of, 230. 

Burgundy, Mary of, 230. 

Burkhard, duke' of Swabia, 114. 

Burning, the, of Moscow, 443. 

C^isar, Julius, 48. 
Cajetan. Cardinal, 255. 
Calamities of the fourteenth century, 
216. 

Calixtus II., Pope, 154. 

Calixtus III., Pope, 227. 

Calvinism, 308. 

Calvinists, the, 303. 

Camaldulensian Monks, the, 195. 

Cambray, the League of, 237. 

Camp of Bunzehvitz, 404. 

Camp of Charles V. at Ingolstadt, 284. 

Campaign of 1793, 419. 

Campaign of Napoleon in Eussia, 443. 

Campo-Forroio, peace of, 424. 

Canninefati, the, 40. 

Canute of England, 138. 

Capistran, John, the Hungarian, 227. 

Capitulars, 106. 

Capitulation of Paris, 1814, 471. 
Capitulation of the French in Italy, 265. 
Caretta the Italian, 339. 
Carinthia, grand dukes of, 182. 
Carlovingians, the, 89. 

end of the, 110. 

Carlstadt, Andrews, the Reformer, 261. 
Carnage at Torgau, 403. 
Carnot, the French Minister of War, 420. 
Carocium, the, 163. 
Carthage, the city of, 429. 
Carthusian Monks, the, 194. 
Casimir III. of Poland, 233. 
Casimir, John, Count Palatine, 308. 
Cassiodorus, 77. 
Castellum Valentiani, 42. 
Catalaunian Plain, the, battle of, 74. 
Catharine of Russia, 406. 
"Catholic League," the, 310. 
Catulus, the Roman Consul, 46. 
Causes of the Schism in the Papacy, 

250-254. 
Celestin III., Pope, 176. 
Centgrafen, the, 26. 
Centgraviates, the, 200. 
Challenge, the, of Claudius Barre, 243. 
Chamavl, the, 33. 
Chamber, the Imperial, 239. 
Chambres de reunions, 356. 
Champaubert, battle of, 467. 
Changes in the Germans, 82. 
Character, the brutal, of the Lanz- 

knechte, 244. 
Character of Bonaparte, 422. 

of Charlemagne, 100 

of Ferdinand of Bohemia, 313. 

of Frederick of Prussia, 409. 

of Gustavus Adolphus of 

Sweden, 327, 337. 

of Maurice of Saxony, 299. 

of Maximilian I., 234. 

of the ancient Germans, 24. 

of Wallenstein, 322. 

Charlemagne, 90. 

administration of, 105. 

character of, 100. 

coronation of, 98. 

death of, 99. 

decrees of, 105. 

portraiture of, 100-106. 

Charles IT. of Spain, 361. 
Charles HI. of Spain, 369. 
Charles IV., Emperor, 216. 

aggrandizement of, 213. 

at Rome, 218. 



-- death of, 218. 



Charles V., Emperor, 248. 

abdication of, 301. 

and the Pope, 279. 

character of, 249. 

coronation of, 250. 

death of, 302. 

declaration of, 269. 

farewell address of, 301. 

flight of, 297. 

foreign relations of, 263. 

in Africa, 273. 

in France, 274. 

in Saxony, 287. 

Charles VI., Emperor, 372. 
death of, 375. 



Charles VII., Emperor, 379. 
death of, 380. 



Charles VIII. of Anjou, 235. 
Charles XII. of Sweden, 373. 
Charles Martel, 87. 
Charles of Anjou, 178. 
Charles of Burgundy, 230. 

and the Swiss, 231. 

defeat and death of, 231. 

wealth of, 231. 



Charles of Lorraine, 359. 
Charles, the Archduke, 423. 
Charles the Bald, 108. 
Chasuari, the, 33. 
Chateau-Cambresis. battle of, 420 
Chatillon, Congress at, 468. 
Chatti, the, 35. 
Chattuari, the, 33. 
Chauci, the, 18, 34. 
Cherusci, the, 34. 

alliance of, 2" 



Chevalier Bayard, 264. 

Childeric HI., the Frank, 88. 

Chivalry, decline of, 235 

— end of, 243. 

legends of, 191. 

period of, 183= 

Choiseul, duke of, 396. 

Christian architecture, 190. 

Christian doctrine, perversions of, 252. 

Christian liberty, 262. 

Christian of Me'ntz, 192. 

Christianitv in Germany, 85. 

Christiem IV. of Denmark, 321. 

Christina, of Sweden, 338. 

Christopher ofStadion, 251. 

Church, Roman, abuses in the, 254. 

schism in the, 250. 

Church, the, dominion of, 127. 

protection of by Otho the Em- 
peror, 128. 

Chytraus, David, of Rostock, 308. 

Cimbri, the, 35, 43. 

Cimbrlan era, the, 16. 

Cimbrian panic, the, 44. 

Cimbrian war, the, 17. 

Circles of Germany, the, 240. 

Cisalpine republic, the, 424. 

Cistercian Monks, the, 195. 

Cities of Germany, the origin of, 122. 

Cities, the free imperial, 241, 285. 

decline of, 350. 

surrender of, 351. 

— — yield to Gustavus Adolphus, 333. 

Civil Institutions, 25. 

Civilization, progress of, 122. 

Civitas Aurelia Aquensis, 42. 

Claims of Indemnification by France 
and Sweden for the Thirty Years' 
War, 344. 

Clairfait, General, 421. 

Classes of the people, 183. 

Claudius Barre, the challenge of, 243. 

Claudius Civilis, the Batavian 62. 

Clement II., Pope, 140. 

Clement III., Pope, 169. 

Clement IV., Pope, 178. 

Clement VI., Pope, 216. 

Clement VII., Pope, 266. 

Clergy-, the, ignorance and vices of, in 
the year 1500, 251. 

Clergy, the, in the year 614, 87. 

Clermont, the Crusaders at, 155. 

Cleves, the duke of, 275. 

Climate of Germany, 19. 

Closterseven, convention of, 388. 



Clothaire II., the Frank, 86. 

Clotilda the queen, 78. 

Clovis the Frank, 77. 

Cluny, the Monks of, 195. 

Coalition against Napoleon, 431. 

Code of Laws, the Imperial, 197. 

Ccecina the Roman general, 59 

Caeur-de-Lion, 170. 

Colbert, the Abbe, 353. 

Cologne, diet of, 240. 

elector of, 278, 312. 

university of, 278. 

Colonia Agrippina, 62. 

Combination of Powers against Freder- 
ick of Prussia, 383. 

Comes palatii, 106. 

Commerce of Germany, 31. 

Commodus, the Emperor, 63. 

Commotions of 1270, 205. 

Companionship in arms, 28. 

Concessions, mutual, of the German 
princes, 300. 

Concordat of Vienna, 227. 

Condemnation of the Elector Frederick, 
289. 

Condition of Germany, 18. 

Condition of the Austrian and Prussian 

armies, 396. 
Confederation of modern Germany, 472. 

of Saxons, 65. 

of the Swiss, 211. 

of Swabia, 219, 233. 

the Germanic tribes, 27, 

64. 

the, of Lombardy, 163. 

the Rhenish. 353. 434. 



Conference between Frederick HI. and 

Charles of Burgundy, 230 
Confession of Augsburg, 269. 
Confidence of Xapoleon, 468. 
Confiscation of Wallenstein's estate, 

340. 

Congress at Chatillon, 468. 
Congress of Prague, 450. 
Conquest of Jerusalem, 156. 
Conquest of Magdeburg by Tilly, 330. 
Conquests of Clovis, 77. 
Conrad I., the Frank, 111. 
death of, 115. 



Conrad II., Emperor, 137. 
Conrad III., Emperor, 158. 

in Palestine, 159. 



Conrad IV., Emperor, 177. 
Conrad League, the poor, 242. 
Conrad of Franconia, 157. 
Conrad of Hochstedt, Archbishop, 190 
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, 181. 
Conrad of Swabia. 132. 
Conrad of Wurzburg, the poet, 191. 
Conrad, the Emperor, 111. 
Conradin of Swabia, 178. 
Conspiracy against Wallenstein, 339. 
Constance, Council of, 222. 
Constantine the Great, 67, 154. 
Constantinople, 67. 
Constanza, the Norman princess, 168. 
Constitution of the Germans, the, 82. 

progress of, 180. 

the^Germanic, 179. 



Consulship of Bonaparte, 431. 
Convention of Closterseven, 388. 
Convents, the, 196. 
Coronation of Matthias I., 311. 

of Rudolphus, 206. 

Corpus Christi day. 26?. 
Corvinius, John, the Hungarian chief, 
228. 

Cortenuova, battle of, 173. 

Council of Basle, 227. 

Council of Constance, 222. 

Council of Trent, 278, 292. 

the imperial ambassadors at 

the, 304. 
Council, the Aulic. 241. 
Council, the Imperial, in the year 1530, 

269. 

Count Mansfeld, 317 
Count Thurn. 315 
Count Tilly, 330. 
Counts of Germany, 82 
, Courage of Napoleon, 446. 



478 



INDEX. 



Cranach the painter, 298. 

Craon, battle of, 469. 

Crecy, battle of, 243. 

Crefeld, battle of, 393. 

Crepi, the peace of, 276. 

Crequi, the duke of, 361 

Cross, the, vice the Sceptre, 206. 

Crown Prince of Sweden, the, 450. 

Crown, imperial, inscription on the, 151. 

Cruelties of the French in Germany by 

order of Louis XIV., 361. 
Cruelty, success of at Magdeburg, 331. 
Crusade of Frederick, 169. 
Crusade, the first, 156. 
Crusaders, the assembly of at Clermont, 

155. 

Cuma, battle of, 80. 
Cunigunde of Isenberg, 209. 
Custine, General, 419. 
Customs of the Germans, 23. 

changes in, 82. 

Czaslau, battle of, 379. 
Czernitchef, the Russian, 406. 

Dagobert the Frank, 87. 
Dalmatia, 63. 
Dalmatians, the, 118. 
Damasus II., Pope, 140. 
Dampiere, General, 419. 
Danes, the, 124. 

subjection of, 120. 

Dantzic, the city of, 436. 
Danube, the, 18. 
Daun, Marshal, 387. 
Davoust, Marshal, 435. 

capture of Hamburg bv, 449. 

Death of Albert the Margrave, 299. 

of Conrad, 115. 

of Gessler, 211. 

of Henry, 136. 

of Luther, 279. 

of Maurice of Saxony, 299. 

of Moreau, 454. 

of Otho, 135. 

of Rudolphus, 151. 

of Wallenstein, 340. 

Debate at Leipsic, between Carlstadt 

and Eck, 255. 
Decanus the German, 198. 
Declaration of Charles V., 269. 
Declaration of war by Gustavus Adol- 

phus, 328. 
Decline of chivalry, 235. 
Decrease of freemen in Germany, 113. 
Defeat of Frederic, 388. 

of Murat at Guldengossa, 459. 

of Otho, 131. 

of the Anabaptists, 272. 

of the Prussians near Landshut, 

401. 

of the Saxons, 145. 

of the Turks, 271. 

Degeneracy of the monks, 196. 
Degradation of Germany by the Thirty 

Years' War, 351. 
Demands for reformation, 252. 
D'Enghien, duke, 431. 
Denmark and Germany, peace between, 

325. 

Dennewitz, battle of, 455. 
Deposition of Napoleon, 471. 
of three popes by the Coun- 
cil of Constance, 223. 

of Wenceslas, 221. 

Description of the battle of Vienna — 

1683, by John Sobieski, 359. 
Desertion of Charles V. by Maurice, 

296. 

Desiderius the Longobard, 91. 
Despotic father of "Frederic the Great, 
411. 

Despotic government of Frederic of 

Prussia, 412. 
Despotism of Bonaparte, 435. 
Dessaix, General, 428. 
Dessau, the league of, 267. 
Destruction of the French fleet at Abou- 

Mr, 425. 
Detmold, battle of, 95. 
Devil's Bridge, the, 427. 
Devil's Wall, the, in Germany, 41 . 



Devotion of the emperor Otho, 125. 
Diet of Augsburg— 1518, 242, 255. 

of Augsburg— 1530, 267. 

of Augsburg— 1548, 293. 

of Augsburg— 1554, 300. 

of Cologne, 240. 

of Ingelheim, 95. 

of Mentz, 242. 

of Ratisbon— 1757, 396. 

of Worms— 1521, 258. 

Dieterich of Berne, 79. 

Dieterich, archbishop of Cologne, 230. 

Dieterich the Goth, 73. 

Diether of Mentz, 229. 

Dio Cassius, 17. 

Disasters of Frederic the Great, 401. 
Discontent of the people, 261. 
Discovery of gunpowder, 243. 

of Mexico, 250. 

Dismemberment of Poland, 414. 

of the empire, 345. 



Dispute on the Investiture, 154. 
with the popes, 172. 



Dissensions in Germany, 262. 
Distribution of the circles in Germany, 
240. 

Distribution of the Germanic tribes, 76. 
Division among the chiefs in the league 

against Charles V., 283. 
Doctrine of popish indulgences, 254. 
Doctrines of the Gospel, perversion of, 

by the papal priesthood, 252. 
Doctrines of the Reformation, rapid 

propagation of, 256. 
Doernberg, General, 445. 
Dominic the Monk and Inquisitor, 195. 
Dominicans, the, 195, 254. 
Domitian, the Roman emperor, 63. 
Domitius iEnobarbus, 53. 
Dorneck, battle of, 236. 
Doublet of Rudolphus, 207. 
Dreadful visitations, 217. 
Dresden, battle of, 453. 
evacuation of, by the Prus- 
sians, 400. 

peace of, 381. 

the allies before, 453. 



Drusus the Roman, 51. 

apparition to, 52. 

Drusus Vaart, the, 51. 

Dschinges Khan, the Mongolian, 176. 

Duke of Alba, 307. 

Dukedoms hereditary, 112. 

of Germany, 179. 

Dulgibini, the, 33. 
Dumourier, General, 419. 
Durer, Albert, the painter, 350. 

Earliest history of Germany, 15. 

" Earth," a deity among the ancient 

Germans, 30. 
Earthquake, the great, 217. 
East Germany, 176. 
East Indies, the, 246. 
East Roman empire, 90. 
Eastern Goths, 66. 
Eastphalians, the, 66. 
Ebbo, archbishop of Rheinis, 107. 
Eberhard of Wiirtemberg, 208. 
Eberhard, the French duke, 111. 
Eccard of Meissen, 180. 
Ecclesiastical reservation, the, 300. 
Echte Ding, the court of session, 198, 

201. 

Eck, the papist disputant, 255. 
Eckbert the Saxon, 114. 
Eckmuhl, the battle of, 438. 
Economy of Frederic the Great, 409. 
Edgitha, the Saxon princess, 120. 
Education of Frederic the Great, 411. 
Education, zeal of Frederic II. for, 175. 
Edward I. of England, 209. 
Eginhard, the historian, 98. 
Egypt, Bonaparte in, 425. 

the sultan of, 172. 

Einhart the Frank, 103. 
Eisleben, the battle of, 154. 
the birth-place of Martin Lu- 
ther, 254. 

Ejection of Martinitz from Prague, 315. 
of Slavata from Prague, 315. 



Elba, Napoleon at, 472. 
Eleanor of Portugal, 234. 
Election of emperor, the, 157. 
Elector of Bavaria, 335, 366. 
Elector of Brandenburg, 312, 355. 
Elector of Cologne, 312. 
Elector of Mentz, the, Bertold, 238. 
Elector of Saxony, the, captured by 
Charles V., 288. 

outrages on, 294. 

release of, 298. 



Elector of Saxony, the, Frederic the 
Wise, 248. 

Elector of Saxony, the, Maurice, 295. 

Electoral alliance, the first, 215. 

Electress of Saxony, the, 290. 

Eleonora of Spain, 266. 

Elephant, the, Abulabaz, 101. 

Elevation of German princes, 362. 

Elizabeth of Aragon, 214. 

Elizabeth of Russia, 383. 

Elizabeth the Bohemian, 212. 

Elizabeth the Holy, 180. 

Eloquence of Gustavus Adolphus, 337. 

Elster, the battle of, 151. 

Elster-gate of Wittemberg, 256. 

Elster-Miihlengraben, the bridge of, 464. 

Elysi, the, 38. 

Emmaus, in Palestine, 156. 

Emmeran the missionary, 85. 

Emperor and Pope, the, at Canossa, 150. 

Emperor and Wallenstein, 334. 

Emperor Charles V. and the Pope, rup- 
ture between the, 293. 

Emperor Francis I., 381. 

Emperor triumphant, 240. 

Emperors and Popes, 127. 

rivalry of, 151. 

Empire, dismemberment of the, 345. 

of Charlemagne, 98. 

state of the, in the year 800, 

99. 

in the year 1500, 247. 

in the year 1630, 350. 

the Western renewed, 126. 

End of the Hohenstaufens, 179. 
Engelbert the Frank, 103. 
Engerians, the, 66. 
England, 91. 

and allies against France, 419. 

and France, peace between, 

429. 

and Prussia, alliance between, 

382. 

and Russia, 427. 

conquests of, 407. 

war declared by, against 

France, 419, 430. 
war of, with France in the 

year 1742, 379. 
Eniva the Goth, 66. 

Entrance of the allies into Leipsic, 464. 

Enzius of Sicily, 174. 

Epke von Repgow, the first compiler of 

German law, 199. 
Erasmus, 302. 
Erfurt, diet of, 168. 
Eric of Calenberg, 239. 
Ernest Augustus of Hanover, 362. 
Ernest of Brunswick, 288. 
Ernest of Mansfeld, 317. 
Ernest of Swabia, 138. 

death of, 139. 

legends concerning, 139. 

Esslingen, the battle of, 439. 
Etoges, the battle of, 467. 
Etzel, the Hun, 72. 

Eucharist, the, division of opinion con 

cerning, 280. 
Eudocia, the empress, 75. 
Eudosi, the, 36. 
Eugene III., Pope, 136, 158. 
Eugene IV., Pope, 226. 
Eugene de Beauharnois, 431. 
Eugene of Savoy, 359, 364. 
Eugene of Wiirtemberg, 459. 
Europe, changes in, 234. 
northern, 91. 



" Evangelical Union" of Bohemia, the, 
309. 

Excitement, religious, 307. 



INDEX. 



479 



Exclusion of Hildebrand from the pope- 
dom, by Henry IV. the emperor, 148. 

Excommunication of Henry, 149. 

Excommunication of Martin Luther,266. 

Execution of Palm, 440. 

Exile of Henry the emperor, in Eng- 
land, 168. 

Expeditions in Germany, 320. 

Extraordinary character of Wallenstein, 
322. 

Eylau, battle of, 436. 

Fabricius, chaplain of Gustavus Adol- 

phus, 335. 
Fall of Henry of Brunswick, 167. 
Famars, the battle of, 419. 
Fanatics, the, in Germany, 262, 272. 
Father, the, of Frederick the Great, 411. 
Faust, John, the printer, 245. 
Faust-Recht, the, 112, 196, 306. 
Fehde-Recht, the, 197. 
Felix V., Pope, 226. 

Female decorations of the ancient Ger- 
mans, 24. 

Female occupations of the ancient Ger- 
mans, 31. 
Femgericht, the, 200. 
Feods, the, 83. 
Ferbellin, the battle of, 355. 
Ferdinand I., Emperor, 302. 

death of, 305. 

erdinand II., deposition of in Bohemia, 
318. 

death of, 342. 

Ferdinand III., Emperor, 343. 

death of, 352. 

Ferdinand, king of Rome, 341. • 
Ferdinand, king of the Romans, 270. 
Ferdinand of Bohemia, 313. 

devotedness of to popery, 314. 

Ferdinand of Brunswick, 386. 

defeat of the French by, 393. 

Ferdinand the Catholic, 236. 

Fermer, the Russian General, 394. 

Festivals of the ancient Germans, 25. 

Feudal system, the, 83. 

Feudatories, the, 83. 

Fifth Period, the, 204. 

Final adjustment of religious questions, 

Fire, the worship of, 29. 

First Consul of France, Bonaparte, 427. 

First Electoral alliance, 215. 

First German New Testament, 261. 

First grand Crusade, 156. 

First king of Prussia, 363. 

First Period, the, 43. 

First printed Bible in Latin, 245. 

First Silesian war, 377. 

Flacius Illyricus, 295. 

Fleet of Bonaparte destroyed at Abou- 

kir, 425. 
Fleurus, the battle of, 420. 
Fleury, Cardinal, 378. 
Flevum Ostium, the, 51. 
Flight of Charles V., 297. 
Forces of the allies against France, 451. 
Forsheim, diet of, 150. 
Fosi, the, 34. 

Foundation of the cities, 122, 185. 
Fourth Period, the, 115. 
Framen, the, German arms, 28. 
France, 76, 130, 275. 

alliance against, 419. 

and England, position of— 1802, 

430. 

and Germany, war between, 

354, 360. 

and Prussia, peace between,421. 

and Russia, conference between 

the emperors of, on the river 

Niemen, 436. 

Austria at war with, 438. 

invasion of by the allies, 465. 

war between, and Charles V., 

266. 

Francis I., Emperor, 381. 
Francis I., of France, 237, 248. 

a prisoner, 265. 

liberation of, 265. 

Francis H., Emperor, 418. 



Francis II., alliance of with Prussia, 418. 
Francis of Assisi, the monk, 195. 
Franconia, 85, 137. 

dukes of, 181. 

Franconian house, the, 137. 
Frankenhausen, the battle of, 263. 
Frankfort, capture of by Gustavus Adol- 

phus, 329. 

conferences at, 357. 

diet of, 208, 217. 

Franks, the, 65, 77. 

fine-money of, 84. 

kingdom of, 86. 

laws of, 81. 

Franz of Selbitz, 241. 
Franz of Sickingen, 241, 257. 
Frederick I. Barbarossa, the emperor, 

159. 

and Pope Adrian IV., 161. 

and Pope Alexander, 166. 

death of, 169. 

grand crusade of, 169. 

qualities of, 160, 169. 

siege of Alexandria by, 165. 

successes of, 169. 

Frederic I.'of Prussia, 363. 
Frederic II., emperor, 171. 

death of, 174. 

erudition of, 175. 

excommunication of, 173. 

genius of, 174. 

marriage of, 172. 

talents of, 174. 

zeal of, for education and 

science, 175. 
Frederic III. a fugitive, 232. 

besieged in Vienna, 229. 

conference of, with Charles 

of Burgundy, 230. 

return of, 232. 

Frederic IV., the elector, 308. 
Frederic V. of Bohemia, 318. 
Frederic and Lewis, 212. 
Frederic, archbishop of Mentz, 125. 
Frederic of Austria, 212, 227. 
Frederic of Baden, 178. 
Frederic of Hohenzollern, 206. 
Frederic of Liegnitz, 375. 
Frederic of Svvabia, 157. 
Frederic the Great of Prussia, 376. 

age of, 408. 

and the allied princes, 416. 

anecdotes of, 396, 404, 408, 410, 

412, 417. 

armies against, 385. 

camp of, at Bunzelwitz, 404. 

combination of powers against, 

383. 

conversaziones of, 410. 

death of, 417. 

defeat of, 388. 

despotic father of, 411. 

despotic government of, 412. 

disasters of, 401. 

economy of, 409. 

education of, 411. 

improvement of the kingdom 

by, 409. 

industry of, 410. 

march of into Silesia, 377. 

musical performances of, 410. 

perseverance of, 410. 

promptitude of, 410. 

recreations of, 410 

reunions of, 410. 

youth of, 411. 

Frederic the Warlike, 226. 
Frederic the Wise of Saxony, 248. 

and the Protestant princes, 258. 

Frederic William of Brandenburg, 354. 
Frederic William of Prussia, 418, 443. 

war declared by, against j 

France, 444. 
Free cities, the imperial, 285. 
Freedom of Silesia, 402. 
Freemen, decrease of, 113. 

privileges of, 25. 

Freiburg, the battle of, 406. 
Freigerichte, the, 201. 
Freigraf, the, 200. 
FreischofFen, the, 200. 



Freistuhls, the, 200. 

French, the, arrogance of, 353. 

at Malta, 425. 

Directory of, 424. 

in Germany, 361. 

influence of, 351. 

outrages of. 361. 

in Italy, 426. 

literature in Prussia, 413. 

republic, dangers from, 424 

Fridigcrn the Goth, 69. 
Friedland, the battle of, 436. 

the dukedom of, 322. 

Frilingi, the, 25. 

Frisi, the. and the Frisians, 35, 96. 
Fronboten, the, 200. 
Fugitive, a, Henry IV. 149. 
Fugger, the Austrian historiograpner 
243. 

Fulda, the abbey, 85. 

writers employed at, 105. 

Funerals, ancient, 30. 
Fiirst of Attinghausen, 211. 
Furst, the German, 26. 
Futi, the, 72. 

Gallicia, a domain of the Goths, 88. 
Gallus, the emperor, 66. 
Gallus, the priest, 85. 
Gambling among the ancient Germans, 
25. 

Gattinava the Spaniard, 265. 
Gau, the, 27. 
Gaul, ancient, 48. 
Gauls, the, 43. 

Gauna, the pretended prophetess, 30. 

Gefolge, the, 28. 

Geisa of Hungary, 160. 

Gelasius II., Pope, 153. 

Gelimer the Vandal made captive, 72. 

Gemeinde, the, 26. 

Genoa, the city of, 266. 

Genserich the Vandal, 72. 

George I. of England, 363. 

George II. of England, 378. 

George Lewis of Hanover, 362. 

George of Freundsburg, 264. 

George of Saxony, 262. 

George William of LUneburg, 362 

Gepidi, the, 39. 

Gerbert the Monk, 132. 

German Achilles, the. 232. 

German army at Antioch destroyed by 

disease, 169. 
German character, 214. 
German diets, 228. 

German electoral princes at Reuse, 215. 

German grammar, the, 104. 

German Hiitte, the, 190. 

German league at Dessau, the, 267. 

German migrations and settlements, in 

the year 1200, 176. 
German New Testament, 261. 
German, origin of the word and name, 

20. 

German prelates of the year 1150, 161. 

German princes, elevation of, 362. 

reconciliation of, 160. 

the, inimical to Henry 

IV., 150. 

Germanicus the Roman, 57-61. 

Germans, the, at the Council of Con- 
stance in favor of a Reformation, 
224. 

Germans, the, in Italy, a pestilence 

among, 164. 
Germany, the Achilles, of, 232. 

ancient. 15. 

archbishoprics of, 182. 

architecture of, 189. 

arms of, 27. 

army of the confederation 

of, 474. 

arts of. 189. 

at war with France— 1674, 

354. 

in the year 179-2, 419. 

in the year 1805, 431. 

calamities of. 217. 

changes in, 110. 

Christianity in, 85. 



480 



INDEX. 



Germany, circles of, 240. 

cities of, 187. 

civil institutions of, 25. 

civil war of, 262. 

climate of, 19. 

code of laws of, 199. 

commerce of, 31. 

confederations of, 64, 187. 

constitution of, 82. 

country of, 18. 

counts of, 82. 

crusade in, 228. 

customs of, 23. 

diets of, 228. 

disasters of, 216. 

disputes in, 125, 151, 164, 

174, 177, 205, 228. 
distribution of the tribes of, 



— dress of the inhabitants of, 

24. 

— dukes of, 182. 

— early history of, 15. 

— earthquake in, 217. 

— " ecclesiastical reservation" 

of, 300. 

— electors of, 182. 

— " Evangelical Union" of, 309. 

— famine in, 217. 

— festivals of, 25. 

— food of, 24. 

— forces of the allies in, 451. 

— forests of, 18. 

— Gogerichte, the, of, 200. 

— great events in, during the 

year 1796, 423. 

— Heerbann, the, of, 27. 

— " Holy Alliance," the, of, 

473. 

— "Holy War," the, of, 282. 

— Hiitte, the. of, 190. 

— judicial system of, 197. 

— language of, 82, 113. 

— laws of, 84. 

— manners of, 23. 

— manufactures of, 30. 

— march of Napoleon to, in the 

year 1813, 444. 

— middle ages, the, of, 182. 

— military expeditions in, 320. 

— music of, 112. 

— natives, the, of, 19. 

— " nobility," the, of, 257, 351. 

— organs of, 113. 

— paintings of, 191. 

— papal bull for, 282. 

— passion of, for war, 221. 

— pastimes of, 85. 

— peace of, with Denmark, 325. 

— peasantry of, 189. 

— plague, the, in, 217. 

— poems of, 191. 

— polygarchy of, 111. 

— races of, 20. 

— religion of, 29. 

— religious affairs of, 276. 

— religious excitement of, 307. 

— religious parties of, 300. 

— religious peace of, 400. 

— repose of, 299. 
■ rivers of, 18. 



sacrifices of, 429. 

sciences of, 189. 

state of affairs in the year 

1730, 474. 

state of in the year 1650, 350. 

states of, 473. 

superstitions of, 30. 

the French in, 361. 

the Thirty Years' War of, 

316. 

trade, the, of, 31. 

tribes, the, of, 32. 

troubadours, the, of, 191. 

• war regulations of, 27. 

writers of in the year 800, 

103. 

Ghent, revolt of the city of, 274. 
Ghibelins, the, and Guelfs, 158. 
Giselbert of Lorraine, 118. 
Giselbrecht of Lorraine, 124. 



Glengen, the battle of, 229. 
Godefroy of Bouillon, 151. 

conquest of Jerusalem by, 156. 

Godegiesel, "God's scourge," or "the 

scourge of God," the favorite title 

of Attila the Hun, 73. 
Gogerichte, the, 200. 
Golden Bull, the, 217. 
Gothic confederation, the, 75. 
Gothic translation of the Bible, 67 
Goths, the, 38, 66. 

conquest of Rome by, 71. 

Gothini, the, 37. 

Gotz of Berlichingen, 244. 

Graf, the, 26, 200. 

Granvalla, the chancellor of Charles V., 

290, 294. 
Gratian the emperor, 68. 
Great migration, the, in the year 373, 

68. 

Grecian dominion in Italy, 91. 
Grecian princess, marriage of a, to Otho, 

129. 
Greece, 70. 

Greek army, the, in the year 970, 129. 

Greek authors respecting Germany, 16. 

Greek empire, the, 90. 

Greek school, the, at Osnaburg, 104. 

Greeks and Arabs, the, 131. 

Greeks, the, in Lower Italy, 136. 

Greeks, treaty of the, 169. 

Gregory IV., Pope, 140. 

Gregory V., Pope, 133. 

Gregory VI., Pope, 140, 146. 

Gregory VII., Pope, 140, 146. 

arrogance of, by asserting 
the universal supremacy 
of the Roman pontiff, 148 
at Canossa with Matilda 

of Tuscany, 150 
claims of the power of in 

vestiture, 147 
denunciation of by the 
Emperor Henry IV., 148. 
avvs of, 147, 

priestly celibacy enforced 
by, 147. 

rejoicing of at the misery 

of Germany, 148. 
Gregory VIII., Pope, 169. 
Gregory IX., Pope, 172. 
Gregory X., Pope, 208. 
Gregory XIT., Pope, 223. 
Gregory XV., Pope, 321. 
Greuthungi, the, 39, 66. 
Gross-beeren, the battle of, 451. 
Gross-jagendorf, the battle of, 389. 
Guelf of Altorf, 158. 

the pilgrimage of to Palestine, 168. 

Guelf of Swabia, 141. 

Guelf the Italian, 144. 

Guelfs, the, and Ghibelins, 158. 

Gugerni, the, 41. 

Guiscard of Normandy, 151. 

Guldengossa, the battle of, 459. 

Gundikar the Burgundian, 72. 

Gunther of Schwarzburg, 216. 

Guodan the German, 30. 

Gustavus III. of Sweden, 413. 

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 327. 

'and Tilly, 331. 

death of, 336. 

declaration of war by against 

Germany, 328. 

landing of in Germany, 328. 

monument of, 338. 

portraiture of, 337. 

the daughter of, Christina, 

338. 

victory of at Leipsic, 332. 

Gustavus Horn, the Swede, 338. 
Guttenburg, John, the printer, 245. 

Hamburg, the city of, 36, 107. 

capture of by Davoust, 449. 

Hanau, the battle of, 464. 
Hannibal of Carthage, 62, 337. 
Hanno of Cologne, 142. 
Hanover, 66, 362, 366. 

the French in, 430. 

Hanse Towns, the, 187. 



Hanseatic league, 350. 

Hapsburg, house of, 205. 

Haradin Barbarossa of Algiers, 272. 

Harold of Denmark, 130. 

Haroun al Raschid of Bagdad, 101. 

Harudi, the, 49. 

Harz, the generic word, 18. 

Hascen of Tunis, 273. 

Hasenburg, the baron of, 200. 

Hastenbeck, the battle of, 387 

Hatto of Mentz, 114. 

Heerbann, the, 27. 

Heidelberg, the library of, 320. 

Heldenbuch, the, 191. 

Helveconi, the, 38. 

Helvetia, 41. 

Hengist the Saxon, 72. 

Henry I. of Saxony, emperor, 114, 115, 

death of, 121. 

institutions of, 122. 

tranquillity effected by, 117. 

Henry II., emperor, 135. 

coronation of, 136. 

death of, 136. 

superstition of, 135. 

Henry II. of England, 168. 
Henry II. of France, 299. 
Henry II. of Liegnitz, 176. 
Henry III., emperor, 139. 

courage of, 141. 

death of, 141. 

Henry III. of England, 178. 
Henry IV., emperor, 142. 

a fugitive, 149. 

and Pope Gregory VII. at 

Canossa, 150. 

— death of, 152. 

— denunciation of Hildebrand 

by, 148. 

excommunication of,by Pope 

Gregory VII., 148. 

injustice of, 144. 

-revenge of, on the Saxons, 

145. 

revolt of the sons of, 152. 

Henry IV. of France, 310. 

Henry V., emperor, 152. 

at Rome, 153. 

death of, 154. 

dispute of, with the popes re- 
specting the investiture, 
154. 

Henry VI., emperor, 170. 

death of, 171. 

tomb of, 171. 

Henry VII. of Luxembourg, 212 

Henry VIII. of England, 263. 

Henry of Altenburg, 276. 

Henry of Bavaria and Saxony, 158. 

Henry of Breslau, 176. 

Henry of Brunswick, 262. 

Henry of Hesse, 180. 

Henry of Meissen, 180. 

Henry of Schwarzburg, 244. 

Henry of Thuringia, 111. 

Htiry the Liorv, 160, 166. 

exile of, to England, 167, 168. 

peace by, with the emperor, 170 

Henry the Turbulent, 132. 

Hercynian forest, the, 18. 

Hereditary dukedoms, 112. 

Herisson, the, 245. 

Hermann Bilburg of Saxony, 125. 

Hermann of Cologne, 276. 

Herman Salza, Grand Master of the 

Teutonic order, 176. 
Hermann Gessler of Bruneck, 210. 
'Hermann the German, 55-61. 
Hermanrich the Goth, 66. 
Hermionian tribes. 20. 
Hermunduri, the, 37. 
Heroism of Arnold of Winkelried, 220 
Heruli, the, and Herulians, 39, 75. 
Herzog, the, 27. 
Hesse Cassel, 437. 
Hessia, 111. 
Hessians, the, 35. 
Hildebrand, Pope, 146. * 
Hispania, 51. 

Historians of Germany — 
Acerbus Morena, 116. 



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